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Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
Atomic at Nighttown
by Matt Marshall
Atomic Nighttown Cleveland Heights, OH February 10, 2015 Fresh in the glow of its 50th anniversary celebration, kicked off by a party a few nights earlier and extending through the end of the month, Nighttown put its eclecticism fully on display February 10, presenting powerful Scandinavian free-jazz group Atomic. The Nighttown faithful are, by and large, a straight-ahead crowd (two Manhattan Transfer shows set for Friday, February 13, sold out well in advance, for example), ...
Continue ReadingAtomic alla Sala Vanni di Firenze
by Neri Pollastri
Atomic Musicus Concentus Superjazz Firenze, Sala Vanni 10.10.2014 Il primo appuntamento del Musicus Concentus per la serie Superjazz 2014 ha visto di scena uno dei gruppi più interessanti sulla scena europea, il quintetto scandinavo Atomic. Ben lontano dalle sonorità che si è soliti associare al jazz nordico, Atomic è invece dinamicamente e creativamente esplosivo, con una ritmica nervosa -Ingebrigt Håker Flaten al contrabbasso e Hans Hulbækmo alla batteria -un pianista, Havard ...
Continue ReadingAtomic al Carambolage, Bolzano
by Giuseppe Segala
Piccolo Teatro Carambolage Bolzano 14.04.2014 Quando si pensa alla scena scandinava, l'associazione mentale va subito a musicisti che percorrono le strade delle atmosfere soffici, levigate, spesso con melodie evocative, dalle tinte sfumate e leggere. Spesso poco stimolanti. Oppure ci si riferisce alla ricca scena degli esploratori elettronici, che specialmente in Norvegia annovera alcuni tra i suoi campioni più celebrati. Nulla di tutto questo accade con il quintetto Atomic, tre quinti svedesi e due norvegesi, che sul ...
Continue ReadingAtomic: Retrograde
by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
Every time I have the opportunity to attend a performance by Atomic, I find myself asking, how does a band this dynamic and creative miss the radar on so many different media and industry levels? If the Miles Davis Quintet with Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock could have rocked, they would have been the brilliant and ass-kicking Atomic. If they were from New York, my peers would be drooling at the opportunity to discover the arrival ...
Continue ReadingAtomic: Retrograde
by John Kelman
Plenty has been written about the intersection--past and present--between members of the Swedish/Norwegian collective Atomic, and Chicago's Ken Vandermark's countless projects. Most telling, perhaps, is this simple fact: were Atomic American-based, there's little doubt it would garner similar accolades from a considerably larger audience unafraid of the kind of fearless experimentation that's been the quintet's signature since convening around the turn of the millennium. Retrograde is the group's fifth release and second three-CD set, following its all-live The Bikini Tapes ...
Continue ReadingAtomic: Happy New Ears!
by Eyal Hareuveni
The Swedish-Norwegian quintet Atomic was founded five years ago as an antithesis to the “frosty tundra bite of ECM lyricism," as Atomic's label, Jazzland, describes Atomic's raison d'etre. But things seem to have changed on this, their third studio recording, Happy New Ears!, (not including a Ken Vandermark collaboration, Nuclear Assembly Hall, Okka Disk, 2004).
The members of Atomic--Swedish/Stockholm-based reed player Fredrik Ljungkvist and trumpeter Magnus Broo; and Norwegian/Oslo-based pianist Havard Wiik, bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love--sound ...
Continue ReadingAtomic: The Bikini Tapes
by Eyal Hareuveni
Atomic The Bikini Tapes Jazzland Recordings 2005
The Norwegian-Swedish quintet Atomic may be considered the Scandinavian equivalent of Chicago's Vandermark 5. Atomic's compositions, like Ken Vandermark's, are loaded with clever references to the history of modern and free jazz, and both groups' players know how to integrate these influences without losing their original voices. The architecture of the compositions is very tight, with well written and complex ensemble passages, ... Continue Reading
