Nordic Jazz
Album Review: Cecilie Strange – ‘Beech’: Compelling Nordic Jazz with a subtle strength and singular sound.
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 …
Album Review: Red Gazelle Trio – ‘On A Human Level’: naturally soulful and melodically warm, a new Nordic jazz gem.
Perceptions and pronouncements about Nordic Jazz can often return to parts of the classic ECM catalogue with its sophisticated coolness, ambient leanings and breathtaking spaciousness. But naturally, the Scandinavian scene is so vibrant that the music’s boundaries are forever shifting, on the reach for new horizons. Over the last couple of decades, ever since the …
Album Review: Svaneborg Kardyb – ‘Over Tage’: Nordic magicians of the minimal and melodic.
As a fresh, crossover-jazz partnership Svaneborg Kardyb, Nikolaj Svaneborg (Wurlitzer, synth, piano) and Jonas Kardyb (drums, percussion) have taken time to bring their delicately crafted sophistication together. The two Danish musicians from Aalborg may have known each other for more than a decade but their music making together only began in 2019 with a debut …
Album Review: Tapani Rinne & Juha Maki-Patola – Open: exquisite jazz electronica that restores and inspires.
Some records arrive that make you wonder if there is much value to writing about music. ‘Open’ by the Finnish ambient jazz partnership of reedist Tapani Rinne and composer/producer Juha Maki-Patola is one of those albums. Elusive, shivering with atmosphere, the immersive soundscape that the pair have crafted elevates listening beyond the incidental and reduces …
Album Review: Ilmiliekki Quartet – Ilmiliekki Quartet : Essential atmospheric jazz
Trying to unravel the interconnections and collaborations in jazz is often like code-breaking. Players are likely to be in several groups at a time, they form their own units, perform solo, take a guest spot, record a one-off with new people to keep up that spirit of adventure. The four members of Helsinki’s Ilmiliekki Quartet, …