The Breakdown
When an artist settles into their groove, over time the spark in their music can dim. Listening to ‘Beech’ the new album by Danish saxophonist Cecilie Strange it’s more than clear that she’s not going to follow that flat line. It’s her fifth album for Copenhagen’s modern jazz curators April Records and the fourth to feature her trusty quartet, pianist Peter Rosendal, Thommy Andersson on bass and Jakob Høyer drumming, but each recording has seen her soulful, melodic jazz flourishing thematically and sonically. After the gradual emergence of a distinctive new voice in Nordic jazz on 2019’s ‘Blue’ and ‘Bilkan’ in 2021, Strange delivered ‘Beyond’, a deeply resonant, sometimes heart wrenching album powered by personal love and loss, motherhood and family. Now two years on we have ‘Beech’ with Strange still reflective, looking back at her travels, contemplating home and delivering her most flowing, mesmeric set so far.
The album begins with A Fairy Tale of a Violin, a poignantly introspective memory of Strange’s birthplace, Odense on the Isle of Funen, a region with connections to Danish composer Carl Nielsen and Hans Christian Andersen, as the title hints. The tone is impressionistic, a dreamy haze of childhood memories brought to life with a piece of atmospheric jazz. Solitude and solace shimmer in Strange’s first breath-filled sighs which edge gradually into notes, at first low and distant then later taking a melancholic arc. The framing is sparse, occasional piano chinks, shivering cymbals and the drone of a bowed bass but as the tune unfolds Rosendal’s piano sings with a glimmer which coaxes Strange to call back.
It’s an intriguing opening which lures you into the album and gets you thinking that ‘Beech’ has an unexpected spell to cast. The epic Written In Runes follows, an intense fusion where folkloric vibrations, Nordic and spiritual jazz meet. The whispered conversation between Jakob Høyer’s delicate cymbaling and Strange’s exhaled sounds which whistle in her mouthpiece make for an extraordinary introduction. Vocalist Josefine Cronholm, who featured on Strange’s last release, enters at this point with a startling, otherworldly incantation making an immediate Angel Batt Dawid-like impact. From here the ensemble ingeniously melds together, warmed by the pulse from Andersson’s understated bass and a calm rhythmic rumble, thrilled by Strange’s rich sax voice and Cronholm’s elegantly gliding scat.
Such intricate opening tunes confirm that Cecilie Strange is an artist who’s unlikely to settle for convention in the soundscapes she’s creating. Copenhagen – A Love Story, her paean to the city she now calls home may not be quite as abstract as the opening tunes but its presence brings balance and calm. There’s a crystalline sparkle to the piece that’s so fresh, so spacious, so airy, each instrument distinct yet intimately aligned. The vibes tingle, the drums pad softly, Cronholm’s vocal eases down a folksy path while the sax and piano flutter around. It’s a song of clean, contemporary Nordic lines which still manages to transmit a genuine warmth and love for the place.
As the album unfolds into its second phase there’s a thematic shift to reflect on the composer’s journeys beyond Denmark. Walking on Grand Street resonates with her time spent in New York, encouraged by guitar titan Jakob Bro to lose herself in the Big Apple jazz scene and study with top saxophonist Chris Cheek. As percussion, bass and keys sketch out a dawning city-scape Strange’s sax uncurls sub- exotic patterns which build anticipation.
It’s such focus and expression which continually distinguishes Strange’s playing. Minimal, never hurried, undemonstrative but keenly illustrative and committed to the integrity of her compositions, “why play a flurry of notes when one note says everything” could well be her mantra. The simple beauty of On the Tip of Sólheimajökull encapsulates this approach. A sax/vocal duet between Strange and Josefine Cronholm, where playful chimes and a gently skating homespun melody completely capture the magic of a glacial hike in Iceland. Rounding off with Skrova Fyr, inspired by the remote Norwegian island and some time Strange’s writing retreat, the whole quartet stretch out united by their natural feel for this almost ambient, meditative sound art. It’s a track which maybe comes closest to the ethereal pace and slow-motion pan of Nordic jazz, hovering through a Tord Gustavsen-like soundscape with Strange’s tenor swooning softly and wondering.
Strange explains the album title ‘Beech’ was chosen because in Denmark it symbolises renewal and springtime hope. On a personal level the tree also represents the pull she has felt for her homeland while on the journeys she captures in this collection of engrossing tunes. Through expressing so sensitively those ties which we affect us all, Strange has made an album of rare subtle strength and quiet fortitude.
Get your copy of ‘Beech‘ by Cecilie Strange from your local record store or direct from April Records HERE
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