Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Nordic Connect: Spirals

257

Nordic Connect: Spirals

By

Sign in to view read count
Nordic Connect: Spirals
Flurry (ArtistShare, 2007), the debut disc from Nordic Connect, rang out loquaciously. In assimilating several moods, the music created an emotionally resolute ambience. Since the release of the CD, the band as toured Canada, the USA and Scandinavia, recording its follow-up,Spirals, at the end of 2008.

Pianist Maggi Olin wrote most of the compositions, with contributions also coming from trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Christine Jensen and drummer Jon Wikan. The charts are impressive and open-ended, leaving room for the players to extrapolate and permeate the atmosphere with a wealth of ideas. They transcend the mundane as they seek the unknown, finding it in an intense context, or in the snap of happy, dancing rhythms.

The Jensen sisters have made an impact on their own projects in the past. Here, they drive a symbiotic relationship to reveal a consummate understanding that gives each composition a larger framework, which they fill with intuitive progressions. "Earth Sighs" garners interaction through free investigation, its mood introspective, as the saxophone curls around the trumpet's long notes. Shadows are mitigated by rays of light from the rainbow of colors permeated by Wikan's cymbals, that soon expand to enhance luminosity. Change evolves as movements get pungent, some hot phrases on the trumpet abetted by cries from the saxophone. The evolution is complex and mystical, yet distinctive in its devolution and logic.

A martial air wafts across "Ballad North," which is wrapped in the gorgeous semantics of saxophone and percussion. Olin shows how space can be an effective communicator, letting her ministrations open doors that beckon bassist Mattias Welin for an eloquent conversation, before the intensity is burnished by the Jensen sisters, whose torrid intonations dissipate the calm. The whole has been crafted seamlessly with awe-inspiring creativity.

"Brejk ä Leg" is a well of rhythmic complexity. Electronics filter the head before the brass sails in. Olin fractures time, only to have the ensemble coalesce into undulating waves that temper the heat. Time never stands still, as tempo and pulse shift gears and surprise lurks and jumps out, making this cornucopia of sound an absolutely delightful closer. This, indeed, is soul-stirring music.

Track Listing

Travel Fever; Song For Inga; Earth Sighs; Castle Mountain; M--oving; Yew; 66 Mike; Ballad North; Brejk ä Leg.

Personnel

Ingrid Jensen: trumpet, flugelhorn, electronics; Christine Jensen: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone; Maggi Olin: piano, Fender Rhodes; Mattias Welin: acoustic bass; Jon Wikan: drums, cajon, percussion.

Album information

Title: Spirals | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: ArtistShare

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Sensual
Rachel Z
Over and Over
Tony Monaco Trio
Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.