Trondheim Jazz Orchestra & Espen Berg: Maetrix

Lana and Lilly Wachowski's The Matrix (1999)—an inspiration for Norwegian pianist and composer Espen Berg's Maetrix—divides opinion. The movie is regarded by some, including one assumes Berg, as a prescient masterpiece addressing the existential threat posed to humanity by digital technology. Others say it is pretentious twaddle.

No worries. Discord is unlikely to greet Maetrix. Berg's gift for writing good tunes is front and center, the toplines and soloists riding rhythmic platforms which are borderline reminiscent of Nik Bärtsch's "zen funk" of the early 2000s. More than Bartsch's work, however, Berg's multilayered suite navigates its complexity without fuss, made approachable by warm melodies and sumptuous harmonies. It is tangibly the product of human artistry. Digital technology is incapable of creating such fresh beauty, not yet, anyway. Check the YouTube below.

Maetrix is Berg's first orchestral album. He was commissioned by the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra to write the piece in 2016 and it has since been performed at festivals in Norway and Sweden. In the press materials, he says that he composed the music with fourteen particular players in mind, intending that each should bring their singularities to its performance. Tenor saxophonist Hanna Paulsberg, trumpeter Hayden Powell, vibraphonist Rob Waring and drummers Tomas Jarmyr and Hans Hulbækmo are among those shining brightly on the album. But this is an all-star band (see Personnel below) and there are no passengers. It was recorded in an Oslo studio in 2021 and the original 2016-17 lineup survives on it pretty much intact, though there are two significant changes: psychdance violinist Ola Kvernberg is replaced by Adrian Loseth Waade and vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl by Waring.

Maetrix is recommended to those who like their jazz well versed in the tradition but unafraid to stretch out of it. Recommended, too, is Berg's 2023 album Water Fabric (Odin), another suite, recorded with a sextet that includes Hayden Powell and a string trio. A review can be read here.