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Simon Toldam: Alt er Luft
by Jakob Baekgaard
There was a time when it was avant-garde to play loud and fast, but in a world that is already moving at full speed without looking back, the new avant-garde is to take it slow and reinstate the value of contemplation. It is hard to stretch time, and many movies have succumbed to fast cutting, but music is an art form that still offers the opportunity to experience time in slow motion. Pianist Simon Toldam is a ...
Continue ReadingToldam / Riedel / Berg / Wiklund / Christensen: Tak for dit brev
by Troy Dostert
Danish pianist Simon Toldam has made his mark as an abundantly creative improviser, most recently manifest on his work with Ways--a duo comprised of saxophonist Brodie West and drummer Evan Cartwright. Their Fortunes (Lorna Records, 2020) was an album defined by unusual gestures and subtle refractions, keeping the listener guessing throughout. Toldam's latest release, Tak for dit brev (the title translates as “Thank You For Your Letter") isn't as overtly adventurous, but it still possesses plenty of quiet charm, and ...
Continue ReadingToldam, Riedel, Berg, Wiklund, Christensen: Tak for dit brev
by Alberto Bazzurro
Quarantadue anni, danese, il pianista (qui anche occasionalmente clarinettista) Simon Toldam dirige in questo ragguardevole album un quintetto dalla struttura eminentemente cameristica che non può non rimandare a più o meno remoti lavori di Jimmy Giuffre e di un certo cenacolo (Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Ralph Peña, Buddy Collette, Bud Shank, ecc.) che a partire dalla metà degli anni Cinquanta ci hanno offerto una visione del jazz, già post-bop e di fatto anche post-cool, “ammalata" di Europa, di toni più ...
Continue ReadingWays + Simon Toldam: Fortunes
by Troy Dostert
Two iconoclasts currently generating interest in their native Canada and beyond, alto saxophonist Brodie West and drummer Evan Cartwright can be found playing in widely varying contexts, frequently in a duo format under the moniker Ways. Often joined by pianists of similar, boundary-stretching temperament, West and Cartwright refuse to trade in jazz cliches or stay comfortably within the polite confines of chamber music. With Danish pianist Simon Toldam on board for their current release, Fortunes, the trio successfully crafts a ...
Continue ReadingSimon Toldam Trio: Omhu
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un'eleganza persino un po' estenuata, ma con un suo pathos e una sua cifra stilistica, caratterizza questo nuovo lavoro (dovrebbe essere il quarto) del trio capitanato dal giovane pianista danese Simon Toldam. Nove i brani, tutti del leader tranne il secondo e il quarto, firmati “democraticamente" dal trio al completo, e tutti più o meno indistintamente contrassegnati da un tono lieve, pacato, sospeso e volatile, a tratti scuro, eccezion fatta per il crescendo che attraversa “Illumination" (uno dei due episodi ...
Continue ReadingSimon Toldam Trio: Omhu
by Jakob Baekgaard
The bebop and hard bop revolution of the forties and fifties made speed a virtue as razor-sharp unison lines cut through the rhythms. A saxophonist like Johnny Griffin was praised for his fast way of playing that also underlined his technical virtuosity, and the muscular style signaled a music completely in touch with modernity. Nowadays, there is little new land to conquer in terms of speed, but a new millennium has opened a frontier where silence and ...
Continue ReadingSimon Toldam: A New Perspective in Jazz
by Jakob Baekgaard
Danish pianist and composer Simon Toldam is a man who is used to getting involved in many different musical situations. Toldam thrives on diversity and he has played all kinds of music, from folk music to modern jazz and avant-garde. No matter what he is playing, he invests himself in the different musical contexts and brings his own sounds to each musical universe. It might be the lyrical sounds of Danish trumpeter Jakob Buchanan or the playful avant-garde music of ...
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