Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity: Elastic Wave
Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity: Elastic Wave
ByExtraordinarily prolific, Nilssen has since 2007 recorded over seventy albums, a fair few of them as leader or co-leader. A handful have been made with big bands: three with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, one with Zanussi Thirteen, one with Supersonic. But mostly, Nilssen has recorded with small groups, such as his trios Bushman's Revenge, Amgala Temple and Acoustic Unity.
Nilssen formed Acoustic Unity with fellow Norwegian, reed player Andre Roligheten and Swedish bassist Petter Eldh in 2014, and the group debuted the following year with Firehouse (Clean Feed). Its third album, To Whom Who Buys A Record (Odin), was released to international acclaim in 2019.
The pandemic seems scarcely to have caused Nilssen to skip a beat and in summer 2022 he returns with Acoustic Unity's fourth album, Elastic Wave, recorded in 2021. The founding lineup, all of whom were part of the aforementioned If You Listen Carefully The Music Is Yours, which Nilssen composed and arranged in partnership with Roligheten, still stands. And what a joy it continues to be. All three members compose, and the all-originals Elastic Wave moves seamlessly between pastoral, vaguely folkloric material, jumpy free-improv, ruminative balladeering, and tenor saxophone-led romping which evokes memories of Sonny Rollins' late-1950s' trios.
Roligheten, with whom the force most certainly also resides, is mainly heard on tenor, but also plays soprano and bass saxophones and clarinet, and, on one track, tenor and soprano simultaneously in the manner of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. It all stacks up to a great album.
Track Listing
Altaret; Spending Time With Ludvig; Dreignau; Influx Delight; Lokket til Jon, og skjerfet til Paul; The Other Village; Boogie; Cercle 85; Acoustic Dance Music; Til Liv; The Room Next To Her.
Personnel
Additional Instrumentation
André Roligheten: tenor, soprano and bass saxophones, clarinet.
Album information
Title: Elastic Wave | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: ECM Records