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The Core: Roots
by Mark Corroto
It has been over a decade since a release from the Norwegian jazz band The Core. Founded in 2001, the quartet released half a dozen albums before mostly going their separate ways. Saxophonist Kjetil Møster worked with Gard Nilssen, Mats Gustafsson, and Per Zanussi, pianist Erlend Slettevoll with Hedvig Mollestad and Petter Wettre, bassist Steinar Raknes with Tord Gustavsen, and drummer Espen Aalberg in the Basement Sessions with Jonas Kullhammar and Torbjörn Zetterberg. Roots, the ensemble's ninth recording, ...
Continue ReadingThe Core: Office Essentials
by John Kelman
Those believing the Norwegian scene is all about Nordic Cool and electro-centric improv might change their minds after hearing The Core's Office Essentials. Owing as much to John Coltrane's classic mid-1960s quartet as it does the closer-to-home Jan Garbarek/Bobo Stenson Quartet of the 1970s, The Core is as far from cool as you can get; delivering some of the hottest music to come out of Norway since early Garbarek albums like Afric Pepperbird (ECM, 1970) and Sart (ECM, 1971). But ...
Continue ReadingThe Core: Office Essentials / Meditations On Coltrane / The Indian Core
by Eyal Hareuveni
The Core is one the most exciting jazz bands in Norway today. The group takes the legacy of saxophonist John Coltrane's classic quartet plus the 1960s' “new thing" innovations of fellow saxophonists Pharaoh Sanders and Archie Shepp, along with closer to home influences such as pianist Keith Jarrett's Scandinavian quartet of the 1970s--which featured Norwegians saxophonist Jan Garbarek and drummer Jon Christensen--and charges it with the visceral energy of rock and metal music to present fresh and bold statements.
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The Core: Blue Sky
by Tom Greenland
The Core is an exciting, highly energetic young band from Norway, consisting of Espen Aalberg (drums), Kjetil Møster (tenor, soprano saxophones), Erlend Slettevoll (piano) and Steinar Raknes (bass), with Nils Olav Johansen (guitar) sitting in. Drawing their inspiration from such '60s energy players as Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and John Coltrane, these former schoolmates of the jazz academy in Trondheim have developed impressive technique and close collective cohesion. Blue Sky, their second release (following 2004's Vision), features a ...
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