Jazz Articles about Paal Nilssen-Love

Atomic: Retrograde

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
January 9, 2010

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 ...

Paal Nilssen-Love: Transforming the Boundaries of Creative Music

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
February 2, 2009

He learned to play the drums before he could walk, battled cancer before the age of thirty, and is a driving force behind several of today's most innovative and progressive bands (Atomic, The Thing, Ken Vandermark, Frode Gjerstad and the Peter Brotzmann Tentet) just to name a few. He has taken the drums to new creative levels, has been a part of thirty-three recording projects, and that's just in the last two years. If there is a common ...

Atomic: Retrograde

by John Kelman
October 28, 2008

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 ...

Paal Nilssen-Love: Townhouseorchestra

by Andrey Henkin
November 19, 2005

Given the instrumentation on this album (tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums), the involvement of Evan Parker, and the format of long group improvisations, it's natural to think first about Parker's long-standing quartet with Alex Von Schlippenbach, Peter Kowald, and Paul Lovens. But that would be a mistake; a better comparison, though unnecessary, is an earlier group with Iréne Schweizer, Kowald, and Pierre Favre. European improvisation is a national thing. The three Norwegians here--drummer and leader Paal ...

Paal Nilssen-Love/H: Schlinger

by Mark Corroto
January 3, 2005

Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love is certainly a star on the rise. On the US and European scenes, he is much in demand. You can find him in bands fronted by Ken Vandermark (FME, School Days, and in a duo), Mats Gustafsson (The Thing and also a duo), Raoul Björkenheim's Scorch Trio, Frode Gjerstad's trio, Håvard Wiik's Trio, and with the band Atomic. He made Schlinger, his fourth duo recording, with fellow Norwegian and band mate Håkon Kornstad. This intense 34-minute ...

Paal Nilssen-Love/ Mats Gustafsson: I Love It When You Snore

by Jeff LeVine
May 15, 2003

If the duo is the most conversational form of jazz, the script for I Love It When You Snore could have been written by Samuel Beckett. Paal Nilssen-Love and especially Mats Gustafsson are a couple of the best known players to emerge out of the '90s Scandinavian free/avant jazz scene, having recorded plenty with the likes of Ken Vandermark and Peter Brötzmann. This brief thirty-two minute duo recording is more unusual than most of the other of the already exceptional ...

Paal Nilssen-Love/Ken Vandermark: Dual Pleasure

by Mark Corroto
May 1, 2003

The association between Norwegian Drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark has seemingly been one of continuously paring down boundaries and borders.

As members of the band School Days, the two musicians have met up with equal parts Chicago and Norway in quartet/quintet settings to make the records Crossing Division (2000) and In Our Times (2002). Later Vandermark and Nilssen-Love formed the trio FME (2002) with bassist Nate McBride. Each cropping away of players took away ...