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Jazz Articles about Jon Christensen
Bugge Wesseltoft: Am Are
by John Eyles
Jens Christian Bugge Wesseltoft was born in Porsgrunn, Norway, in February 1964 , the son of Erik, a guitarist. Thankfully, he was soon just known as Bugge and people learned that his first name is pronounced “Boogie" not “Bug" or “Bugga... “ Having flirted with a punk band that he did not enjoy much, Wesseltoft moved towards jazz, in particular to the style identified as “future jazz" or nu jazz.In 1995, Wesseltoft formed his own five-member band, called ...
Continue ReadingFarnell Newton, Nuphar Fey and a tribute to Jon Christensen
by Bob Osborne
Two featured new albums from Farnell Newton and Nuphar Fey and a comprehensive tribute to Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen who passed away on 18th February Farnell Newton gets up on the good foot and heads off full speed ahead on his second leader album for Posi-Tone. This action packed session features the high powered front line of Newton's trumpet, and Brandon Wright's hard-swinging tenor saxophone, alongside the all-star rhythm section of organist Brian Charette and drummer Rudy Royston. ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals
by Tyran Grillo
There is something quietly revelatory about music that chooses the night not as a backdrop but as a mode of thought. With Nocturnal Animals, pianist and composer Yelena Eckemoff enters this liminal terrain with rare attentiveness, offering an album that does not describe animals so much as think alongside them. This is music that crouches, listens, waits, and then moves with purpose. For this journey, Eckemoff has assembled a dream team within a discography already rich with inspired ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals
by Mark Sullivan
Pianist-composer Yelena Eckemoff is predictably unpredictable. After an early series of piano trio albums she worked with larger ensembles, culminating in the sextet (plus vocalists) of Better Than Gold And Silver (L&H, 2018). After cutting back to a duet with drummer Manu Katché on Colors (L&H, 2019) she returns with a larger band, but with a difference; this is a quartet with double bassist Arild Andersen (her longest collaborator), and drummer/percussionists Jon Christensen and Thomas Strønen. It may ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals
by Dan McClenaghan
"You're busy appearing or you're busy disappearing." Drummer-bandleader Art Blakey may have said that; if he didn't, he should have. Somebody had to express the importance of presenting your work, for getting it out there to an audience. This goes for virtually any artist in any medium. Double down on that for people who create jazz. Pianist Yelena Eckemoff rolls with the “busy appearing" concept. She is prolific; since her debut recording , Cold Sun (L & H, ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff Quartet: Everblue
by Neri Pollastri
A due anni di distanza dall'ottimo Glass Song, realizzato in trio, la pianista Yelena Eckemoff, moscovita da oltre vent'anni stabilitasi negli Stati Uniti, allarga la formazione mantenendone l'impianto culturale: ai due monumenti della musica scandinava Arild Andersen e jon Christensen aggiunge infatti il sassofonista Tore Brunborg, per formare un quartetto dalla cifra meditativa e dal lirismo evocatico tipicamente nordici. Le composizioni di questo Everblue sono quasi tutte della pianista (fanno eccezione solo “Prism" e “Man," di Andersen), la ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff Quartet: Everblue
by Dan McClenaghan
In a quick follow-up to her masterful two CD set Lions, Russian-born and now North Carolina-based pianist Yelena Eckemoff offers up Everblue, the most “ECM Records-sounding" set not on that deservedly esteemed label. It is, rather, released on her own L&H Productions. The names of the sidemen on the date explain in part the ECM-like sound: saxophonist Tore Brunborg, bassist Arild Andersen, and drummer Jon Christensen, the Norwegian contingent, are all long time ECM Records artists, as leaders ...
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