Home » Search Center » Results: ACT Music
Results for "ACT Music"
Nils Landgren: Christmas With My Friends IV
by Bruce Lindsay
Christmas is a time for tradition--turkey, mistletoe, reindeer, plum pudding. Since 2006 another fine tradition has been insinuating itself into the Christmases of jazz lovers--the Nils Landgren Christmas With My Friends album. The Swedish trombonist, singer and bandleader is now on volume IV. Packaged in bright, shiny, green and silver, it's a mix of old and ...
Nguyen Le With Michael Gibbs & NDR Bigband: Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon
by Ian Patterson
It's a bold concept; take Pink Floyd's iconic Dark Side of the Moon (Harvest, 1973) and reinterpret it in a big band jazz setting. With upwards of forty million copies sold, every note, every nuance of Floyd's eighth album is so firmly entrenched in the minds of the band's legion devotees that to tamper with the ...
Marius Neset/Trondheim Jazz Orchestra: Lion
by Ian Patterson
Lion is a good name for Marius Neset's first recording with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, for like a great cat, the Norwegian orchestra purrs and prowls, roars and pounces. Regardless of tempo--whether cruising or charging--there's majesty in the collective voice. Commissioned for the Molde Jazz Festival in 2012, the momentum from that performance took Neset and ...
Rigmor Gustafsson: When You Make Me Smile
by Bruce Lindsay
Rigmor Gustaffson's extensive discography, stretching back to 1997, has seen the Swedish vocalist working with major jazz musicians such as Jacky Terrasson and Eric Harland. When You Make Me Smile is her sixth album on the ACT Music label--all of which have included “You" in the title. Gustafsson is a subtle vocalist--no over-the-top melodrama or blues ...
Solveig Slettahjell: Various Artists: Norwegian Woods - Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic II
by John Kelman
One night, six Norwegian artists--three of them together in a group for a decade. Such ideas can look great on paper, but turn out less than inspiring in reality. Fortunately, beyond the individual talents involved, there's been enough interconnectivity between singer Solveig Slettahjell, keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft, guitarist Knut Reiersrud and the members of In the Country--keyboardist ...
Lion
by John Kelman
Despite having yet to make a breakthrough in North America, in the space of less than five years Marius Neset has gone from virtual unknown to one of Europe's hottest properties, gigging with his quartet all around the continent, including an incendiary showcase at the 2012 Jazzahead! trade show in Germany and an even more searing ...
Ulf Wakenius: Momento Magico
by Ian Patterson
If guitarist Ulf Wakenius' Vagabond (ACT Music, 2012) was a highlight in a discography that stretches back thirty years to Urban Experience (Dragon, 1984) then Momento Magico--which possibly raises the bar still further-- serves as an anthology of his influences both old and new. Wakenius has toured the world extensively for decades, so it's perhaps unsurprising ...
Ulf Wakenius: Momento Magico
by Bruce Lindsay
Momento Magico is a solo outing from Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius, an exploration of three acoustic instruments--steel and nylon strung guitars and acoustic bass guitar. Wakenius undertakes this exploration across a mix of self-penned tunes and works by writers as varied as Erik Satie, Charles Trenet and Sixto Rodrigues. Wakenius is an impressively adaptable ...
Emil Viklicky & George Mraz: Mraz & Viklicky: Together Again
by Ian Patterson
In European jazz the assimilation of folkloric influences has become commonplace as the American vernacular--or more specifically the Great American Songbook--exerts less of a hold. Czech musicians pianist Emil Viklický and bassist George Mraz's collaborations on Morava (Fantasy/Milestone 2001)--with drummer Billy Hart and singer Zuzana Lapcikova--and Moravian Gems (Cube-Métier 2007) with singer/violinist Iva Bittova and drummer ...
