Ljungkvist, Broo and Nilssen-Love by Car

You are hereby invited to a car trip in São Paulo with Fredrik Ljungkvist, Magnus Broo and Paal-Nilssen-Love!

Filmed in May 2014, when Atomic played in São Paulo.

After this Nilssen-Love has quit Atomic, and the new drummer is Hans Hulbœkmo.

Angles 10 - Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden

Angles 10 - Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 25 August 2013!

Musicians (from YouTube):
Martin Küchen - alto saxophone
Magnus Broo, Goran Kajfes -trumpet
Eirik Hegdal - bariton + sopranino sax
Mats Äleklint-trombone
Alexander Zethson - piano
Johan Berthling-bass
Mattias Stahl - vibes
Andreas Werliin - drums
Kjell Nordeson - drums

Please check out the Angles and Angles 8 albums on Clean Feed too!

Angles 9

Here you have Angles 9, live in Belgium in 2012!

These fine musicians are playing for you:

Martin Kuchen - Alto sax
Eirik Hegdal - Baritone sax
Goran Kajfes - Trumpet
Magnus Broo - Trumpet
Mats Äleklint - Trombone
Alexander Zethson - Piano
Mattias Ståhl - Vibraphone
Johan Berthling - Bass
Andreas Werliin - Drums

I don´t know if this crew has released anything, but check out Angles and Angles 8´s releases on Clean Feed.

Fire! Orchestra

Fire! is Mats Gustafsson (saxophones and Fender Rhodes), Johan Berthling (bass, electric guitar and Hammond organ) and Andreas Werliin (drums).

Previously they have released three great albums on Rune Grammofon:
"Fire!: You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago" (2009)
"Fire! with Jim O´Rourke: Unreleased?" (2011)
"Fire! with Oren Ambarchi: In The Mouth A Hand" (2012)

You see they are not afraid to invite guests, but now they have totally lost control!
Check out their guest list for the "Fire! Orchestra: Exit!" (2012), their new Rune Grammofon album:

Mariam Wallentin: voice, Nadine Byrne: voice, organ, Emil Svanängen: voice, Nicolai Dunger: voice, Sofia Jernberg: voice

Niklas Barnö: trumpet, Magnus Broo: trumpet, Thomas Hallonsten: trumpet, organ, Mats Äleklint: trombone, Per Åke Holmlander: tuba

Anna Högberg: alto sax, Mats Gustafsson: tenor sax, Jonas Kullhammar: bass saxophone, Elin Larsson: tenor sax, Fredrik Ljungkvist: baritone sax, clarinet, Christer Bothén: bass clarinet, guimbri

Andreas Söderström: guitar, Reine Fiske: guitar, Sören Runolf: guitar, David Stackenäs: guitar

Sten Sandell: synth, harmonium, piano, Joachim Nordwall: electronics

Johan Berthling: electric bass, Joel Grip: bass, Joe Williamson: bass, Dan Berglund: bass
Andreas Werliin: drums, Thomas Mera Gartz: drums, Johan Holmegard: drums, Raymond Strid: drums.

And they really made a great party, playing big band-free jazz-krautrock, or something you may find in that direction.

Music: Fire!
Lyrics: Arnold De Boer

Go get it!

If you buy one of the 500 copies on white vinyl, you also get the CD.

The album was recorded 13 January 2012. 3 months later Thomas Mera Gartz passed away.

Atomic at Kongsberg

Never expect anything less than a great show from Atomic! Here they are at The Kongsberg Jazz Festival the other day.

PNL Records

Paal Nilssen-Love, who must be Norway´s hardest working drummer, has got his own record company too, called PNL Records.
The latest from the company, to arrive in this house, is a duo with Nilssen-Love and and Terrie Ex (guitar), recorded in 2009. Four tracks, ten - fourteen minutes long, containing improv, noise jazz and rock in a fine mix.
Coverdesign as usual by Lasse Marhaug, and painting by Gebrekristos Solomon (Ethiopia).

Most releases on PNL are CDs, but they throw in some vinyl for change (pressed in limited quantities). A couple of the records have been released in cooperation with Pica Disk.
The closer you get to Paal Nilssen-Love, either on earth or in cyberspace, the easier to get the albums.

So far, I believe this is the complete PNL discography (please correct me, if I´m wrong):

Lasse Marhaug & Paal Nilssen-Love: Stalk (PNL 001, 2007)
Nils Henrik Aasheim & Paal Nilssen-Love: Late Play (PNL 002, 2007)
Magnus Broo & Paal Nilssen-Love: Game (PNL 003, 2008)
Sten Sandell Trio: Face of Tokyo (PNL 004, 2009)
Paal Nilssen-Love: 27 Years Later (PNL 005, 2010)
Paal Nilssen-Love & Anders Hana: AM/FM (PNL 006, 2010)
Paal Nilssen-Love: Miró (PNL 007, 2011)
Slugfield (Nilssen-Love, Marhaug, Ratkje): Slime Zone (PNL 008, 2012)
Lasse Marhaug & Paal Nilssen-Love: No Combo LP (PICA 028/PNL 009, 2011)
Anders Hana & Paal Nilssen-Love: Hosanna and Parallel Sevens 10" (PNL 010, 2011)
Fire Room (Nilssen-Love, Marhaug, Vandermark): Wels 2008/11/08 LP (Pica 030/PNL 011, 2011)
Terrie EX & Paal Nilssen-Love: Hurgu! (PNL 012, 2011)
Double Tandem (Nilssen-Love, Vandermark, Baars): Cement (PNL 013, 2012)

(The list was corrected 23 June 2012, and I hope it´s OK now!)

Added 25 July 2012:
Bradford, Gjerstad, Nilssen-Love: Dragon (PNL 014, 2012)
Frode Gjerstad Trio: Hide Out (PNL 015, 2012)

Here Comes Everybody

Just a short message to tell the few of you that do not already know, that Atomic is here once more with a great album. "Here Comes Everybody" (Jazzland 2011) contains 7 tunes of hard bop, free jazz and something close to contemporary classical, and hey, I´m just stealing the descriptions from others, it´s jazz OK? I bet this one will manage to end up on some of the best of 2011 albums lists, even if it´s a bit late, so just start shopping.

Musicians (as usual): Fredrik Ljungkvist (sax, clar), Paal Nilssen-Love (dr), Håvard Wiik (p), Magnus Broo (tp) and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b), all of them in great shape. Ljungkvist composed three of the tracks, Wiik four of them.

Coverdesign: Lasse Marhaug. Well, some of the music might just fit as a spooky movie soundtrack?

Images from Moldejazz 2011

Moldejazz 2011 is over.

- Festival artist Gjertrud Hals in the gallery Kunstnersentret Møre og Romsdal.
- Michael Duch and Kjetil Møster did some fantastic solo concerts at the venue Reknes.
- Supersilent is Supersilent, even with John Paul Jones in the band.
- Michael Duch spoke about his thesis on free improvisation at the Festival Academy.
- Magnus Broo, Paal Nilssen-Love and Tyshawn Sorey played some hot improvised music at Forum. One trumpet and two drummers, one of them Sorey, who did some cleaning and drinking as part of his playing too.
- Tyshawn Sorey was at it again with John Escreet Trio for an afternoon concert Friday, with Escreet (p) and Eivind Opsvik (b). What a powerful trio! And Sorey was at it again, I was almost impaled by a drum stick. The first row might not be the best place with him on stage.
- Dave Holland talked at the Festival Academy, and did five concerts as Artist in Residence. I attended a fine solo concert and the final concert of the festival in the Molde Church with Thimar. Dave Holland (b), John Surman (soprano, bass clarinet) and Anouar Brahem (oud) dedicated their music to the victims of the terrible killings in Oslo and on the Utøya island the previous day.

The Resonance Ensemble

The Resonance Ensemble just released the album "Kafka in flight" on Not Two.
They offer you three long Ken Vandermark compositions, each of them (the Vandermark way) dedicated to another artist (Yutaka Takanashi, Don Ellis and Chris Marker).
The music? A strange and nice mix of hot big band style and free jazz. The tracks seem to follow the same scheme, they open with a groove, takes off in free form and the troops are gathered again in the end. The groovy (old hippie talk this?) parts are so hot, that I just want them to keep going, but OK, let´s have the free stuff too, even if I consider them separate compositions here.
Ah come on, you get the point, you just have to check this one out yourselves!

I like the way Vandermark dedicates his compositions to other artists. Not that the connections between persons and music are obvious, but at least it makes me read about new artists. A good thing!

The ones playing on "Kafka in flight" (copied from Not Two):
Magnus Broo - trumpet (Stockholm)
Michael Zerang - drums (Chicago)
Ken Vandermark - tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet (Chicago)
Mikolaj Trzaska - alto saxophone, bass clarinet (Gdansk)
Mark Tokar - bass (Kiev)
Steve Swell - trombone (New York)
Dave Rempis - alto & tenor saxophones (Chicago)
Per-Âke Holmlander - tuba (Stockholm)
Tim Daisy - drums (Chicago)
Waclaw Zimpel - Bb & bass clarinet, taragato (Warsaw)

Oh no! Another list!

I´m sorry, I made a list! The best records from 2010? Perhaps. It may be jazz, improv, noise, folk or soul, but at least they deserve some listening. Another day, and the list may have looked slightly different, but that´s life. No links to Spotify, but search my blog, and you will probably find some info on most of these releases.

Albatrosh "Mystery orchestra with Grenager & Tafjord" (Inner Ear)
Angles "Epileptical West, Live in Cumbria" (Clean Feed) (with Magnus Broo)
Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet + 1 "3 nights in Oslo" (Smalltown)
Jan Bang "And poppies from Kandahar" (Samadhisound)
Nels Cline "Dirty baby" (Cryptogramophone)
Lisa Dillan "Arousal" (AIM)
Dreams of tall buildings "Drowning the heart sounds” (MuseuM) (with Arve Henriksen)
Joanna Newsom "Have one on me" (Drag City)
Lean Left "Vol. 1" (Smalltown) (Vandermark, Nilssen-Love, Moor, Ex)
Mop Meuchiine plays Robert Wyatt (Le chant de Monde)

Phonophani: "Kreken" (Rune Grammofon)
Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings "I learned the hard way" (Daptone)
Supersilent "10" (Rune)
Stian Westerhus "Pitch black star spangled" (Rune)
Susanne Sundfør "The Brothel" (EMI)
Richard Thompson "Dream attic" (Proper)
Ultralyd. "Inertiadrone" (Rune) (Møster, Hana, Olsen, Brandsdal)
Ingar Zach "M.O.S." (Sofa)
Various artists: "Compendium Records - Norway´s First Progressive Record Store & Label 1974-1977" (Plastic Strip)
Robert Wyatt/Gilad Atzmon/Ros Stephen "For the ghosts within"(Domino)

Atomic

Please note:
Atomic: "Theater Tilters Vol 2" (Jazzland 2010).
Atomic: "Boom Boom" (No Business Records, Reissue 2003/2010 - Vinyl 500 copies).
Atomic: "The Bikini Tapes" (No Business Records, Reissue, 20005/2010 - Vinyl 300 copies).

Since I steal a lot from the blog "Free Jazz" anyway, why don´t you just pop over and read there? "Theater Tilters Vol 2" has been in my possession all summer, and I believe the official release is just around the corner, but 23 August you may also buy both volumes as a double CD. Just do it!

Angles

I´m sorry (NOT!) if this blog costs you a lot of money, but here is another jazz album you just have to get: Angles " Epileptical West/Live In Coimbra" (Clean Feed, 2010). Angles is Johan Berthling (b), Kjell Nordeson (d), Magnus Broo (t), Martin Küchen (ts), Mats Äleklint (tb) and Mattias Ståhl (vib). This is recorded in front of an enthusiastic audience in Coimbra (Portugal) during the 2009 Jazz ao Centro festival.
The music is composed by Martin Küchen, it swings, it is hymn like, they freak out like a free jazz brass band, and they even add some world music (or afrobeat as some reviewers say). This is just so good, and the live feeling is great!
Angles´previous album was "Every Woman Is A Tree" (Clean Feed, 2008), and I just have to get that one too I guess?

In fact I heard parts of their Nattjazz concert in Bergen (2008), but I can´t remember that it was this great! It might have been the sleepy Bergen audience´s fault?

Since I shopped music files at eMusic, I don´t have the cover text I hear is good, and I just have to guess that the cover designer is Travassos, who (l have been told) design lots of Clean Feed releases.

Atomic and The Thing

Just a couple of new videos from Norway and Sweden's finest for you. Atomic was recorded in Osaka and The Thing at SKIF 2010 in St Petersburg. There are more videos from The Thing's concert out there, but the sound quality is not too good. You'll find them yourselves, OK?.

Theater Tilters Vol. 1

You may have missed the new Atomic album "Theater Tilters Vol. 1" (Jazzland 2009). Norwegians and Swedes are known to disagree on most things (you havent drunk Swedish beer I hope?) but Atomic (and The Thing too) show the way. Gather the best people from both nations, and you get a killer combination!
Fredrik Ljungkvist (sax) and Håvard Wiik (p) wrote the music and they play (as always in Atomic) with Magnus Broo (tp), Ingebrikt Håker Flaten (b) and Paal Nilssen-Love (dr).
Only "Bop About" has been recorded earlier, as it was on "Bikini Tapes" (2005). This album is recorded live in Sweden (autumn 2009), but you hardly hear any audience here. The other titles are "Green Mill Tilter", "Andersonville", "Fissure" and "Murmansk" (with drum solo!). Fantastic again from this bunch.
"Vol. 2" will be released in the autumn this year, along with an international double-disk edition comprising Volumes One and Two.

Atomic in Chicago

Fredrik Ljungkvist, Haavard Wiik, Magnus Broo, Ingebrigt Haaker-Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love at the Chicago Cultural Center (March 8, 2010).

The Godforgottens

In January I suggested that you should try to get Sten Sandell Trio´s great "Face of Tokyo". I don´t regret that, but what happens when they invite trumpet player Magnus Broo, and Sandell finds a Hammond B-3 organ in the studio? The result might be even better, and they call themselves The Godforgottens. "Never Forgotten, Always Remembered" was released on Clean Feed in 2009. I call it jazz, but may be completely wrong. It doesn´t matter anyway, as long as the music is as exciting as this, and it´s made by Magnus Broo (tp), Sten Sandell (p, org), Johan Berthling (b) and Paal Nilssen-Love (dr).
2009 was quite an average year for Paal Nilssen-Love I guess, participating on 15 albums.
(And who made the dramatic cover? Anyone with a CD version out there, might be kind enough to comment?).

Sten Sandell Trio

Sten Sandell Trio´s new album is out on Paal Nilssen-Love´s record company PNL. "Face of Tokyo" (PNL 004, 2009) is 70 minutes of hot improvisation (2 tracks), recorded in Tokyo in February 2008. The trio is Sandell himself (piano, voice), Johan Berthling (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love drums. Sometimes I think I hear a koto in here, but I guess it´s just Sandell inside the piano. Some guttural singing and samurais on the cover, adds an eastern feel to the album. Play loud, and enjoy. If you find it, that is. I bought my copy at the All Ears festival, but sometimes it is pretty hard to find where they sell some of the great records made. The PNL albums are not on iTunes or eMusic either. Suggestions?

In addition to this album, there are three others on PNL, all of them with covers designed by Lasse Marhaug:
Magnus Broo/Paal Nilssen-Love: "Game" (PNL 003, 2008)
Nils Henrik Asheim/Paal Nilssen-Love: "Late Play" (PNL 002, 2007)
Lasse Marhaug/Paal Nilssen-Love: "Stalk" (PNL 001, 2007).

Resonance

dzgast uploaded several videos with KEN VANDERMARK «RESONANCE PROJECT» (October 31, Gdansk/Poland). Musicians:
Ken Vandermark: reeds (USA)
Dave Rempis: saxophones (USA)
Mikolaj Trzaska: reeds (Poland)
Magnus Broo: trumpet (Sweden)
Per-Ake Holmlander: tuba (Sweden)
Steve Swell: trombone (USA)
Tim Daisy: drums (USA)
Michael Zerang: percussion (USA)
Mark Tokar: bass (Ukraine)
Waclaw Zimpel - reeds (Poland)

Vandermark is touring Norway with Paal Nilssen-Love these days: Trondheim (11/11), Bergen (12/11), Stavanger (13/11), Drammen (14/11) and Oslo (15/11). Then they are off to Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy, and Denmark (see places and dates here).

Resonance

One of Ken Vandermark´s projects is Resonance. There are several quite new recordings to be found on YouTube, among them a concert held in Ukraina:
Magnus Broo: trumpet
Steve Swell: trombone
Dave Rempis: alto and tenor saxophones
Mikołaj Trzaska: alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Wacław Zimpel: clarinet, bass clarinet
Ken Vandermark: tenor and baritone saxophones, clarinet
Per-Åke Holmlander: tuba
Mark Tokar: bass
Tim Daisy: drums
Michael Zerang: percussion

Atomic in Molde

Atomic played in Molde on the first day of Moldejazz 2009. They were introduced as the best band on earth, and possibly the best in the universe! Some words to live up to, but that descripton feels spot on after the concert. Fredrik Ljungkvist (saxophones, clarinet), Magnus Broo (trumpet), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass) and Håvard Wiik (piano) are explosive, and the audience is happy all the way through the concert.
I must have said this before, but it's soo good to be at a jazz concert where the musicians smile and seem to be happy to play for us. Ljungkvist was the friendly toastmaster as always. Great evening!