Robert Nordmark

Biography
Articles

Nils Berg & Norrbotten Big Band: Paid To Cry

Read "Paid To Cry" reviewed by Maciej Stasiowski

by Maciej Stasiowski
June 9, 2026

When faced with the trauma of loss, we stifle. Tears flow when the defense shields are eventually down or the dam is allowed to overflow with emotion. Crying out loud--pardon the pun--turns into a performance that comes with its own measures of mastery in feigning the lament for the screen or--as in the case of Nils Berg and his 2025 collaboration with Norrbotten Big Band --the speakers. Rest assured, lachrymose arrangements are genuine, melodies verge on the cathartic. With the ...

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Album Review

Robert Nordmark: In Motion

Read "In Motion" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
July 4, 2004

At the heart of the jazz listening experience lies a paradox. Jazz is a music built on the live interplay of musicians, material and self, but we experience the music mostly through the record, or as Andre Millard calls it, in his book America on Record, ”the primary experience.” Millard also extends this notion to the musicians: ”Recorded sound was the great educator, attracting generations of performers into musical careers and schooling them in styles of music which were not ...