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Enjoy Jazz Festival: Heidelberg / Mannheim / Ludwigshafen, Germany, October 30-November 7, 2012
by John Kelman
2012 Enjoy Jazz FestivalHeidelberg/Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, GermanyOctober 30-November 7, 2012After a week in northern Sweden covering the 2012 Umeå Jazz Festival--where the were days shortening and the temperature dropping--moving south to Heidelberg, Germany was a welcome respite from the oncoming onslaught of winter that's also approaching back home in Canada. For this year's coverage of ...
Carta de Amor
by John Kelman
It's sure been a banner year for fans of the ECM label, with a slew of fine new releases from artists including guitarist John Abercrombie (Within a Song), bassist Arild Andersen (Celebration), pianist Tord Gustavsen (The Well), and saxophonist Tim Berne (Snakeoil). Previously out-of-print or never-before-in-print studio recordings from saxophonist Jan Garbarek (Dansere) and pianist Jon ...
Scott McLemore: Remote Location
by Jakob Baekgaard
A change of scenery is a change of sound. At least, this seems to be case with the Virginia-born drummer Scott McLemore, who has been a vital presence on the music scene in New York, but now is part of the significantly smaller, but nevertheless bourgeoning Icelandic jazz community.When McLemore released Found Music on ...
Kjetil Husebø: Contradictions
by Eyal Hareuveni
Known previously as the mastermind behind the Optical Substance jazz-electronica outfits, Contradictions is Norwegian pianist Kjetil Husebø's third album and first solo recording. Here, Husebø distills his piano playing and use of electronics into a personal music universe. In his most lyrical moments, references to fellow countrymen, pianists Bugge Wesseltoft and Jon Balke, and Polish pianist ...
Jon Balke: Magnetic Works 1993-2001
by John Kelman
Jon Balke Magnetic Works 1993-2001 ECM Records 2012 As his flagship Magnetic North Orchestra nears its two-decade anniversary in 2013, Norwegian pianist/composer/bandleader Jon Balke has been performing occasional shows with Magnetic Book, taking a fresh look at the group's repertoire through an expanded edition where its core septet is augmented with ...
All About Jazz Presents at Kongsberg Jazzfestival: Kongsberg, Norway, July 5-6, 2012
by Henning Bolte
Kongsberg Jazz FestivalAll About Jazz Presents: Doing It NorwayKongsberg, NorwayJuly 5-6, 2012 Kongsberg is a small town in Buskerud with about 24,000 inhabitant, situated s 55 miles west of Oslo, the nation's capital. Founded in 1624, after silver was discovered in the hills, the Danish-Norwegian king recruited German miners from the ...
Arve Henriksen: Cartography
by John Kelman
Increasingly well-known to ECM fans for his work with Christian Wallumrod, Trygve Seim and Jon Balke, Cartography is Arve Henriksen's debut as a leader for the label. A logical successor to his impressive Rune Grammofon discs--Sakuteiki (2001), Chiaroscuro (2004) and Strjon (2007)--it's also the Norwegian trumpeter's most ambitious release to date.Post-production has always figured ...
Thomas Stronen: The Tin Drum
by Adriana Carcu
One of Norway's most prolific drummers, sampling percussionists and composers, Thomas Strønen is the co-founder of Food, along with British saxophonist Iain Ballamy. The group--which, since 2005, has whittled down from an original quartet that also featured Norwegians Arve Henriksen on trumpet and Mats Eilertsen on bass--released its most recent record, Quiet Inlet, in 2010 (its ...
Jon Balke: Diverted Travels
by John Kelman
As Jon Balke moves further and further away from his '80s work with the Miles-informed group Masqualero, he moves deeper into abstraction, experimenting with instrumental combinations that allow for a broad range of textures within an ever-expanding concept. Since the mid-'90s, with his constantly shifting Magnetic North Orchestra, he has explored the juncture between composition and ...
Markku Ounaskari / Samuli Mikkonen / Per Jørgensen: Kuara: Psalms and Folk Songs
by John Kelman
While early reference points for jazz and improvised music may have come from the Afro-American tradition, global musicians of the 21st century have increasingly looked to their own cultural touchstones for music that speaks to them at a mitochondrial level. If music is a reflection of who we are and what we experience, then it only ...


