Angles + Elle-Kari With Strings: The Death Of Kalypso

As a genre, jazz-opera is thinly populated. The recorded archive is marked more by quality than quantity, with albums by Mike Westbrook and Kate Westbrook, Carla Bley and Charlie Haden to the fore. But the best ever jazz-opera, in this parish anyway, predates anything by these musicians. Composer Todd Matshikiza and lyricist Pat Williams' King Kong premiered in the Great Hall of the University of Johannesburg in February 1959 to rapturous reviews, and went on to romp through sold-out proscenium-arch theatres in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Among the musicians whose South African careers were boosted by appearing in the show, or who began successful international careers by jumping ship during a British tour in 1961, were Miriam Makeba, Gwigwi Mrwebi, Hugh Masekela, Kippie Moeketsi, Letta Mbulu and Mosa Jonas Gwangwa.

The Death Of Kalypso joins this distinguished company. It is performed by Sweden's eight-piece band Angles augmented by singer Elle-Kari Sander and a string quartet. Music and libretto were written by Angles' tenor saxophonist Martin Kuchen. Instrumental soloists include Küchen, trumpeter Magnus Broo, trombonist Mats Aleklint, baritone saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist and vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl. Heavyweights all. Double bassist Johan Berthling is a sure anchor, as always. Angles defines itself as a groove-based free-jazz ensemble. On this album, there is relatively little free jazz, though what there is is fierce, but there are plenty of engaging motor rhythms.

The 65-minute album is a fundamentally positive one, despite the subject matter: the ancient Greek myth of the nymph Kalypso, which involves human hubris, war and family feuds. Despite, too, the gloomy cover art—something the Thanatosis label (logo: a dead fly) seems to specialise in (see also Vilhelm Bromander's 2023 album, In This Forever Unfolding Moment, reviewed here). Some of the music is dark and creepy, certainly, but some is lively and lush—"A Campaign Of Tragedy," for instance, is, unexpectedly, swing based and buoyant. Even the darker tracks, such as "Kalypso In Karlsbad, Haunted By Dreams" (check the YouTube below), have extended passages that are pretty and carefree.

Perhaps the best single word to describe the album is: complex—complicated enough for one to have to meet the music halfway. The effort is worth it. There are riches aplenty to be found.