Liarbird

Everybody and their grandmothers seem to like the album "Liarbird" (Jazzland 2011), so I better join the choir. I missed the concert, but Ola Kvernberg really made waves at the Molde International Jazz Festival in 2010 with this music, played by Norwegian musicians and sax man Joshua Redman (video below). Kvernberg and band did a couple of concerts more (without Redman), and recorded the material at Redroom Studio in Trondheim in June 2010.
Even if I expected some more power and energy in this music, I have to say it is full of great melodies. Some of it almost ambient, some of it swinging really good, we hear some eastern influences and we even get a bolero ("Olero").
I wonder if he uses the same tactic to attract listeners, as this "liar bird" when he tries to attract girls!?

Musicians: Ola Kvernberg (violin mm), Bergmund Waal Skaslien (viola, voc), Eirik Hegdal (sax, voc), Mathias Eick (tp), Håkon Kornstad (sax, fluteonette, voc), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass, voc), Ole Morten Vågan (b, voc), Erik Nylander (dr, perc) og Torstein Lofthus (dr, perc). Cover art: Harald Øren.

A must have album!