AAJ Review: Marius Neset / Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Lion
My review of Marius Neset / Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Lion, today at All About Jazz.
Despite having yet to make a breakthrough in North America, in the space of less than five years Marius Neset has gone from virtual unknown to one of Europe's hottest properties, gigging with his quartet all around the continent, including an incendiary showcase at the 2012 Jazzahead! trade show in Germany and an even more searing set at the 2014 Jazzkaar festival in Estonia. That this young Norwegian-born/Denmark- based saxophonist (still on the shy side of 30) has managed to achieve so much in so little time is not only evidenced by Lion, but by his carrying enough weight to take the eleven members of Norway's prestigious Trondheim Jazz Orchestra on the road for two 2014 performances, including one at London's legendary Ronnie Scott's jazz club—no mean feat, given the usually prohibitive expense involved in traveling with such a large ensemble.
But after two releases under his own name (2011's bold Golden Xplosion and 2013's Birds), along with a 2012 co-led recording with tubaist (and fellow Norwegian) Daniel Herskedal, Neck of the Woods—all for Britain's small but substantial Edition Records and all receiving almost unanimous critical acclaim—it would seem that, at least in Europe, Neset has reached the point where he can pretty much write his own cheques. If Birds was a more ambitious recording than Golden Xplosion— still revolving around a core quartet that, these days, includes Phronesis pianist Ivo Neame and drummer Anton Eger, along with relative newcomer, bassist Petter Eldh, but expanded to include, at various points, vibraphone, tuba, flute, trumpets, trombone and French horn— Lion ratchets things up another few notches with an even larger cast of characters.
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