My review of two shows in Oslo, from a couple weeks back - Elephant9 and drummer Thomas Strønen's new project, Time is a Blind Guide, today at All About Jazz.
Elephant9, with guitarist Reine Fiske seeming to be a de facto member of the original power trio - keyboardist Ståle Storløkken, bassist Nikolai Hængsle Eilertsen and drummer Torstein Lofthus - was in exactly the right venue: Oslo's MONO. A small, standing room club that's gritty, grimy and greasy, it was both intimate and an opportunity to hear this progressive-fusion outfit loud and unshackled. A monstrous performance from a group that just keeps on getting better.
Part of BBC Radio 3 host Fiona Talkington's Conexions series, which brings UK and Norwegian musicians together (like last year's massively successful collaboration with Jaga Jazzist and the Britten Sinfonia, soon to be released as an album), drummer Thomas Strønen is best-known for free improvising groups Food and Humcrush. Here, however, with his new octet, Time is a Blind Guide, while improv was an element, it was in the context of some very richly written and deeply melodic charts, demonstrating that as strong an improviser as he is, Strønen is also a superb composer.
With British pianist Kit Downes and cellist Lucy Railton (who plays in Downes' Quiet Tiger group), Strønen also recruited bassist Ole Morten Vågan, violinist Nils Økland and three percussionists - Johan Nordh, Nils Økland, Steiner Mossige - Strønen had the latitude to also break the group down into subsets including a percussion ensemble, a piano trio, a string trio, and the result was an evening of music that continued to surprise across its 90-minutes.
Review here.
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