EVIDENCE: Evidence

Evidence lives up to its title very well. A lot of music in this fairly short album that makes itself heard with surprising simplicity.

EVIDENCE is a quartet: reeds, trombone, cello and drums. An unusual formation, but one that recalls Henry Threadgill's Zooid from 2015 onwards (without the guitar): In For A Penny, In For A Pound (Pi Recordings, 2015) and Poof. Sol Léna-Schroll (alto saxophone and clarinet) is Threadgill, Jørgen Bjelkerud (trombone) is Jose Davila, Joel Ring that of Christopher Hoffman, and Trym Saugstad Karlsen (drums) is Elliot Humberto Kavee.

The comparison goes no further. For here the music takes flight. The absence of piano and bass is turned to advantage in airy compositions and improvisations, whereas with Threadgill, drums and tuba (which Davila also plays) often take it upon themselves to bring everyone back down to earth. It is a feat of Karlsen's to breathe pulses that propel the music into the air.

Léna-Schroll and Bjelkerud are fellow members of Orchestra for Jazz Composers in Oslo / Orkesteret for Jazzkomponister Oslo (OJKOS) and L'Autre Collectif/Det Andre Kollektivet, a compelling initiative funded by France and Norway since 2019, where the innovative aspects of jazz and sometimes contemporary music are explored, and from which the label Autres Records was born. Bjelkerud and Karlsen appear in Amalie Dahl's Dafnie EXTENDED Live at Moldejazz, Ring in Eon, from Karoline Wallace's quintet, and Karlsen in The Aftermath (Fjordgata Records, 2026), of the major Ingeborg Gravem Sollid quartet, all almost simultaneously released. We are, in other words, at the very top of the tree.

The compositions and arrangements are precise and tightly structured. From them emerge improvisations in which the saxophone and trombone interlock in virtuosic spirals ("Mad Blue"). Freed from any earthly support, improvisation breaks free harmonically from the theme, while maintaining its formal rigour.

The brisk compositions would readily be described as bop in other circumstances, with perhaps a welcome Braxtonian touch. In particular, Léna-Schroll delivers a highly inspired solo in "Infinite Loop." The quieter pieces showcase the timbral contrasts, exemplified by an exquisite dialogue between Ring and Bjelkerud in "Infinite Fase."

This is an album of very high calibre with a great deal of substance. The lively and more measured pieces follow one another in a way that gives the album a fine balance. This beautiful, intelligent album is a breath of fresh air, an invitation to freedom, the opening of morning windows, and a day filled with positive energy.