HEGGE - Feeling
Particular Recordings Collective: P!26
Jonas Kullhammar: tenor saxophone; Martin Myhre Olsen: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone; Vigleik Storass: piano; Haken Mjaset Johnasen: drums, cymbals; Bjorn Marius Hegge: double bass; Hans Hulbaekmo, Kyre Lasstad; percussion
Recorded by dag Erik Johansen at Athletic Sound, Halden
Recipients of Norway’s Spellemannsprisen, this is Hegge’s sophomore outing. Rather sweetly, the liner notes only contain thanks to the people who recorded this album (and family and friends), together with this admonition to Everybody “Remember that you’re free to dance to my music. And you don’t have to applaud after solos unless you really, really like them and then spontaneously feel like applauding.” The bit about dancing is, of course, very apt because the band produce a style of jazz that marries together the funkiness of late ‘60s jazz with the bounce of South African marabi, particularly on the title track, and its return ‘Vi fikk feeling’ (track 9) and ‘Comfortably Dumb’ (track 7). This title of the latter also shows the humour that permeates the band’s music making. The press release describes the band as a ‘quintet playing jazz music with a glint in the eye and lots of humour – seriously.’
I’m sure that, live, not only would you be dancing along but also grinning from ear to ear with the different musical jokes and references that crop up in the tunes. They are also adept at mixing from frenetic to contemplative, as on ‘Buss414’, with it melancholy piano over bubbling horns, the elegiac ‘9-6’ or the initial and closing parts of ‘Changes no time’ (with sudden bursts of energy in between).
This is definitely feel-good jazz of the highest order.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Particular Recordings Collective: P!26
Jonas Kullhammar: tenor saxophone; Martin Myhre Olsen: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone; Vigleik Storass: piano; Haken Mjaset Johnasen: drums, cymbals; Bjorn Marius Hegge: double bass; Hans Hulbaekmo, Kyre Lasstad; percussion
Recorded by dag Erik Johansen at Athletic Sound, Halden
Recipients of Norway’s Spellemannsprisen, this is Hegge’s sophomore outing. Rather sweetly, the liner notes only contain thanks to the people who recorded this album (and family and friends), together with this admonition to Everybody “Remember that you’re free to dance to my music. And you don’t have to applaud after solos unless you really, really like them and then spontaneously feel like applauding.” The bit about dancing is, of course, very apt because the band produce a style of jazz that marries together the funkiness of late ‘60s jazz with the bounce of South African marabi, particularly on the title track, and its return ‘Vi fikk feeling’ (track 9) and ‘Comfortably Dumb’ (track 7). This title of the latter also shows the humour that permeates the band’s music making. The press release describes the band as a ‘quintet playing jazz music with a glint in the eye and lots of humour – seriously.’
I’m sure that, live, not only would you be dancing along but also grinning from ear to ear with the different musical jokes and references that crop up in the tunes. They are also adept at mixing from frenetic to contemplative, as on ‘Buss414’, with it melancholy piano over bubbling horns, the elegiac ‘9-6’ or the initial and closing parts of ‘Changes no time’ (with sudden bursts of energy in between).
This is definitely feel-good jazz of the highest order.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
