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Jakob Bro: Gefion
by Henning Bolte
Gefion, Danish guitarist Jakob Bro's ECM-debut as leader, is a fascinating reinvention of melodicism. His music leads listeners deep into the rich resonances emerging from brilliantly simple melodic motifs imbued with seductive atmospheres. Like Möbius strips his music's lines wind seemingly endlessly. Its evocative melodic nuclei very often reach the lower limits of dynamics, thereby opening up spaces in which the individual voices selflessly unfold in wave-like movements. It yields sounds of elegant ease, expressive depth, and solid perseverance.
Continue ReadingJakob Bro: A Happy Unintended Consequence with Kenny Wheeler
by Henning Bolte
A while ago a group of Danish musicians recorded an album entitled “Unintended Consequences." It was an enterprise to play music in a non-intentional way which demanded dealing with the paradox of intending something unintended. Sometimes however unintended consequences can “just happen" due to circumstances. That is what Danish guitarist Jakob Bro experienced a time ago. It had a significant impact on how his music developed and got shape on three subsequent albums. For a recording in 2008 ...
Continue ReadingJakob Bro: December Song
by Henning Bolte
December Song is the final part of a trilogy which started with Balladeering (2009) and continued with Time (2011). It started with the fivesome of Jakob Bro himself, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Ben Street and the late Paul Motian. When Time was recorded in September 2011 at Avatar, Thomas Morgan subbed for Ben Street. Paul Motian could not make it anymore. He passed away soon after. Notwithstanding he can be sensed on both Time and December Song very clearly. To ...
Continue ReadingJakob Bro/Thomas Knak: Bro/Knak
by AAJ Italy Staff
Jakob Bro è un chitarrista danese dalle frequentazioni eccellenti, vedi Bill Frisell e Lee Konitz nello splendido Time, e ancora Frisell, Kenny Wheeler e Paul Bley in questa ultima doppia fatica. Proprio la presenza di Bley costituisce il motivo di maggior interesse del cd, anche in relazione al fatto che l'ottantenne musicista canadese si ritaglia un intervento di piano solo di quasi diciassette minuti! E in effetti “ Roots Piano Variation “ illumina l'intera prima parte. L'interpretazione di Bley ha ...
Continue ReadingBro/Knak: Bro/Knak
by John Kelman
Following three consistently fine recordings as a leader--2009's The Stars Are All New Songs Vol. 1, 2010's Balladeering and 2011's Time (all on the Danish guitarist's own Loveland imprint)--in addition to international visibility gained through work with Paul Motian on the drummer's Garden of Eden (ECM, 2006) and trumpeter Tomasz Stańko's Dark Eyes (ECM, 2010), Jakob Bro takes a considerable detour with Bro/Knak, a collaboration with Danish electronic musician Thomas Knak. Bro's laconic and, perhaps, more to the point melancholic ...
Continue ReadingJakob Bro / Thomas Morgan / Jon Christensen: Copenhagen, Denmark, July 8, 2012
by Henning Bolte
Jakob Bro / Thomas Morgan / Jon ChristensenHofteatretCopenhagen, DenmarkJuly 8, 2012The Copenhagen Jazz Festival, with its more than 1,000 concerts in 10 days spread over more than 100 venues and stages in all parts of the Danish capital is like a musical monsoon cloudburst. The concerts range from big international stars to up-and-coming Danish artists and the avant-garde, reaching beyond common perceptions of jazz music. The festival also offers a wide range of admission-free concerts ...
Continue ReadingJakob Bro: Searching for Beauty Through Sound
by Jakob Baekgaard
Beauty is perhaps one of the most common words used in association with music, but it is also one of the vaguest terms in musical criticism, and it rarely says something substantial about the work that is described. And yet, despite its intangible character, it would be almost impossible to characterize Danish guitarist Jakob Bro's music as anything else than beautiful. In the aesthetic universe of Bro, beauty becomes synonymous with the process of artistic creation. It is the attempt ...
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