Articles by Daniel Mège

Album Review

David Six: Dance With The Ghosts III

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by Daniel Mège
October 17, 2026

On the Greek island of Lesbos, Moria was the largest refugee camp for those crossing the Mediterranean toward Europe, and one of the most sinister, before its destruction by fire in 2020. Shortly before, at the beginning of the pandemic, David Six, a composer, pianist and also percussionist, composed and recorded Moria (feat. Saied Silbak) (Self Produced, 2020) with oud player Saied Silbak, in solidarity with these refugees. This was the starting point of the Dance with the Ghosts ...

Album Review

Science Fair: Sugar in the Morning

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by Daniel Mège
October 8, 2026

Listening to Anna Ueland amounts to turning a question mark into an exclamation mark. Heard at the Trondheim Jazzfestival in 2026, when elected Ambassador of the University of Trondheim, she presented her string-dominated group Populærmusikk for likesinnede (Popular music for like-minded people), joyful experimental jazz-pop with first-rate soloists. She had just released Music For A Noisy Environment (Sonic Transmissions Records, 2026) with her group Babies On Airplanes, a sort of ad hoc soundtrack for the listener's imagination. Here she is with her quintet ...

Album Review

Vamze Wybrańczyk: Akvæn

by Daniel Mège
October 7, 2026

For some time, the name of Patrycja Wybrańczyk (drums) has been travelling from Poland (she lives in Gdańsk) to Denmark and Norway. It was in 2022, at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, that she met the Latvian tenor saxophonist Inga Vamze (who lives in Copenhagen). Wybrańczyk has collaborated on around 20 albums across a variety of ensemble formats. She is thus one of the four drummers in Paal Nilssen-Love's Extra Large Unit (Steam Waterfall, NPL Records, ...

Album Review

Jazz Out of Norway: 12th Set 2026

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by Daniel Mège
September 28, 2026

Jazz Out Of Norway is a collection on Odin Records that compiles tracks drawn from some of the most emblematic albums released in Norway since 1989. The 12th Set is a valuable document that takes stock of the situation in 2026. This edition is remarkable for its musicality, its diversity of styles, but also for the sequencing of the 36 tracks (almost three hours), which highlights each one within the setting created by the tracks surrounding it. The ...

Album Review

Amalie Dahl's Dafnie: Live at Kafé Hærverk

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by Daniel Mège
September 25, 2026

There is a strange relationship between alto saxophone and marine biology. Akira Sakata, the breathtaking yet unsung altoist of torrential intensity and a marine biology researcher, specialized in daphnia (dafnie in Scandinavian languages), those tiny, endearing-looking crustaceans, as early as 1969; Amalie Dahl made them her orchestra. She knew nothing of this weighty legacy. Dafnie is made up of Jørgen Bjelkerud (trombone), Oscar Andreas Haug (trumpet), Nicolas Leirtrø (bass) and Patrycja Wybrańczyk (drums), standing in here for Veslemøy Narvesen. Dahl plays alto ...

Live Review

Den Andre Festivalen #9

by Daniel Mège
September 22, 2026

Den Andre Festivalen Oslo, Norway September 4-5, 2026 The Other Festival, The Other Collective, The Other Ensemble, Other Records: a unique binational initiative L'Autre Festival/Den Andre Festivalen (in French and Norwegian; The Other Festival) is a unique jazz festival that grew out of a master's project at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. In 2019, five students from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (CNSM) in Paris founded L'Autre Collectif/Det Andre Kollektivet (The Other Collective). ...

Album Review

Idiotek: IDIOTEK

by Daniel Mège
September 20, 2026

One of the basic principles of physics holds that materials can respond to force in three ways: elastic (reversible), plastic (irreversible), or viscous (progressive over time). Combining all three, the possibilities are limitless and hard to master. IDIOTEK's material is mastered, and it explores the domain of viscoelasticity. Time stretches and contracts at the whim of the polyphonies and polyrhythms. Nothing is irreversible, but time can do a great deal. IDIOTEK is the debut album by guitarist and ...

Live Review

Alex Ventling's Wavemakers at Becco in Oslo

by Daniel Mège
September 12, 2026

Alex Ventling's Wavemakers Becco Oslo September 3, 2026 In Oslo's Tullinkvartalet district, the pulsing of the Delta Light Installation leads to the courtyard of Becco, a wine bar and hotspot of the city's music scene, where on the second floor one finds a concert venue. On this night, light converged with the music of the Wavemakers, a Nordic chamber jazz quartet. Alex Ventling, the New Zealand-born pianist and composer with Swiss roots now ...

Album Review

Moon Inhabitants: Canned Luna

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by Daniel Mège
September 4, 2026

Is there anybody up there? The question is not as far-fetched as it sounds: NASA's lunar program is about to celebrate All About Jazz's 35th anniversary with the start of construction of a permanent lunar base (2030), laying the foundations for AAJ's 50th anniversary with its completion. Jazz will win: once the planet's taxpayers' money has been squandered, the economic interest found to be close to nil, and the scientific interest, still the fifth wheel, only AAJ (Thirty Years Later, ...

Live Review

Moldejazz Jam Sessions: What Makes Them Tick?

by Daniel Mège
August 26, 2026

Jam sessions are greatest fun for jazz musicians and the audience. Yet behind their apparent spontaneity lies one of the most demanding traditions in jazz. Learning the repertoire, the language and the unwritten codes can take years, and it is in this sometimes intimidating setting that musicians can make or break their reputation. The Moldejazz jam sessions have long been legendary. Drummer Rino Sivathas has been in charge of the festival's jam sessions since 2018, and was joined by Isak ...