Jazz Articles about Torben Waldorff

Torben Waldorff: Afterburn

by Troy Collins
May 17, 2008

Danish guitarist Torben Waldorff follows up his Artist Share debut, Brilliance: Live at the 55 Bar (2006) with Afterburn, a studio session featuring the same core group of New Yorkers featured on his previous release. Based in Denmark and Sweden, but educated in the States, Waldorff is a shining example of today's vibrant international jazz scene.

A reunion of sorts, Donny McCaslin (tenor) Matt Clohesy (bass) and Jon Wikan (drums) are joined by keyboardist Sam Yahel on a ...

Torben Waldorff: Afterburn

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 2, 2008

Danish guitarist/composer Torben Waldorff's fourth release, Afterburn, manages to unite European sensibilities with American post-bop vibes. Throughout this impressive recording Waldorff--now based in Malmo, Sweden--delivers sophisticated harmonies and an elaborate compositional architecture with a distinctive guitar sound owing more to Metheny, circa his ECM days of more than twenty years ago, than to Scofield. But Waldorff also saves enough room for his musicians to open up these compositions, to explore and even to err while doing so. Waldorff defines this ...

Torben Waldorff: Afterburn

by Dan McClenaghan
April 27, 2008

Guitarist Torben Waldorff really knows how to put a band together. The first impression on hearing his previous effort, Brilliance (ArtistShare, 2007), was that his group had a great collective sound. There was a lot of fine soloing, to be sure--from saxophonist Donny McCaslin and Waldorff--but it was the group atmosphere, simmering and always a bit understated, that was the game plan.On Afterburn Waldorff assembles the same quartet, with an inspired addition: keyboardist Sam Yahel, who plays piano, ...

Torben Waldorff: Afterburn

by Mark F. Turner
April 23, 2008

Jazz guitarists are oft-times forgotten in this post-Metheny/post-Scofield era. But there are many rising stars such as Lage Lund , Miles Okazaki and Mike Moreno who are poised to carry the flame even farther. Torben Waldorff is another torch-bearer whose Afterburn pinpoints his growing abilities. This is his second ArtistShare release, following 2006's Brilliance: Live at the 55 Bar, further showing a player with a distinct presence whose music conveys modernism and his Scandinavian roots. Thoughtful compositions ...

Torben Waldorff Quartet: Brilliance

by Jim Santella
June 22, 2007

With heart and soul, guitarist Torben Waldorff leads his stellar quartet through a program of originals on Brilliance, recorded live in concert at the 55 Bar in New York.

As front line lead voices, guitarist Waldorff and tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin provide adventure and spontaneity in their enthusiastic session. They light creative fires that move jazz's modern mainstream along its properly defined path. The whole world lies at their feet as they pour effective threads into this affair. ...

Torben Waldorff Quartet: Brilliance

by Michael P. Gladstone
March 7, 2007

Brilliance, Torben Waldorff's first American-released album, presents a fresh take on the Scandinavian guitarist/composer's tunes. (His two previous albums on the Swedish LJ label were available in Canada and Europe.) This live quartet performance was recorded at the popular downtown Manhattan 55 Bar jazz club with tenorist Donny McCaslin, bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Jon Wikan. Clohesy and Wikan are regulars at this venue.

These five lengthy selections (three of which are more than ten minutes in length) ...

Torben Waldorff Quartet: Brilliance

by Dan McClenaghan
January 6, 2007

Don't expect Brillance to blow the roof off the house or light up any fireworks in the sky. This quartet outing--recorded live at the 55 Bar, NYC--stays for the most part in a subdued and reflective mode.Guitarist Torben Waldorff was born in Denmark and is now based in the Oresund Region of Malmö, Sweden. His US connection comes from his studies at Berklee from 1984-'88, where he met the now prolific sideman--and lead artist in his own right--saxophonist ...