Jazz Articles about Michael Aadal

About Michael Aadal

Album Review

AADAL: Aggressive Hymns, Energetic Ballads

Read "Aggressive Hymns, Energetic Ballads" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 16, 2026

The oxymoronic title of guitarist Michael Aadal's quartet AADAL may be the best clue to what lies within. Aggressive Hymns, Energetic Ballads is the band's fourth release and the follow-up to Silver (Apollon Records, 2020). The group features Aadal alongside saxophonist André Kassen, bassist Audun Ramo and drummer Gunnar Sæter. While the title suggests contradiction, the music itself is anything but paradoxical. Aadal's compositions guide this Norwegian ensemble through a terrain where jazz and post-rock intersect with natural ...

Album Review

Aadal: Voyager

Read "Voyager" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
April 26, 2024

Aadal è un quartetto norvegese formato dal chitarrista Michael Aadal sfoltendo la sua precedente formazione, con la quale aveva già pubblico alcuni album per Losen Records. Con questo Voyager il quartetto arriva al terzo CD e presenta una musica che unisce atmosfere e sensibilità nordiche a ispirazioni nordamericane, che si richiamano in particolare a Bill Frisell. I nove brani sono perlopiù su tempi medio-lenti, a momenti lirici, a momenti cadenzati; tutti hanno un andamento narrativo coerente con il ...

Album Review

Michael Aadal Group: Pomona

by Mark Sullivan
October 16, 2016

Proof that great Americana music can come from unexpected places--Norway, in this case. Pomona Avenue in Fullerton, California was the original location of the famed Fender factory. Guitarist Michael Aadal used only solid body guitars on this album--a Stratocaster and a Telecaster, the most iconic Fender models. That says something about the sound of Pomona, but it says just as much about the attitude. Aadal's compositions go to the roots of blues, country, and jazz, but they remain stylistically fluid. ...