SCHEEN JAZZORKESTER & AUDUN KLIEVE – Politur Passiarer
Losen Records LOS169-2
Audun Klieve: drums; Guttorm Guttormsen: flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone Andre Kassen: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone; Jon Oystein Rosland: tenor saxophone; Line Bjornor Rosland: clarinet, bass clarient; Finn Arne Dahl Hanssen: trumpet: Thomas Johansson: trumpet; Magne Rutle: trombone; Benedikte Follegg Hol: trombone; Asgeir Grong: bass trombone; Rune Klakegg: piano: Sondre Stordalen: guitar; Jan Olav Renvag: bass.
Recorded at Audiopool Skien, Norway, March 2014 and January 2015
The Scheen Orkester follows up last year’s recording (featuring Rune Klakegg, who plays piano here) with a set composed by a drummer. Audun Klieve challenged himself to produce a set of compositions for the 13 piece Scheen jazz orchestra to reflect what happens ‘inside the drum kit’ when he plays. The result is a collection of etudes – some lasting 20 or 30 seconds, others running to several minutes – in which the role of the orchestra is to, in effect, become an ensemble percussionist. By shifting responsibility for time-keeping and management of rhythm, Klieve creates space for him to explore the intricacies of the pieces, or just to pause while they continue. In his sleeve notes, Klieve notes that the recording by the orchestra first had him playing with basic drum patterns, and he then deleted this and over-dubbed his broader take on the music.
The sleeve notes suggest that the music owes more of a debt to classical music than to jazz. While I can hear the inspiration of composers like Stravinsky or Milhaud here, it is to their jazz inspired works that the compositions most lean. So, this is, in a sense, closing a circle from jazz to classical and back to jazz. The time signatures and the rhythms are jazz through and through. Each piece has a well defined pulse that is carried by the orchestra, with Klieve weaving drum patterns around this in a spell-binding reversal of the normal process. The orchestra play with an elegant swing and draw out the complexities in each piece.
The title (as far as I can tell) reflects Klieve’s implication that the pieces are just about drumming and rhythm: with the main sections called ‘drumpassiar’ (which I think means drum chat, perhaps suggesting that the orchestra is informally discussing the rhythmic possibilities laid down). But this is overly modest. Each piece is elegantly scored and textured, with a richness in the composition, both thematically and harmonically. In addition to the scored sections, there is space for soloing, and this is variously filled by saxophone, trombone or clarinet.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Losen Records LOS169-2
Audun Klieve: drums; Guttorm Guttormsen: flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone Andre Kassen: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone; Jon Oystein Rosland: tenor saxophone; Line Bjornor Rosland: clarinet, bass clarient; Finn Arne Dahl Hanssen: trumpet: Thomas Johansson: trumpet; Magne Rutle: trombone; Benedikte Follegg Hol: trombone; Asgeir Grong: bass trombone; Rune Klakegg: piano: Sondre Stordalen: guitar; Jan Olav Renvag: bass.
Recorded at Audiopool Skien, Norway, March 2014 and January 2015
The Scheen Orkester follows up last year’s recording (featuring Rune Klakegg, who plays piano here) with a set composed by a drummer. Audun Klieve challenged himself to produce a set of compositions for the 13 piece Scheen jazz orchestra to reflect what happens ‘inside the drum kit’ when he plays. The result is a collection of etudes – some lasting 20 or 30 seconds, others running to several minutes – in which the role of the orchestra is to, in effect, become an ensemble percussionist. By shifting responsibility for time-keeping and management of rhythm, Klieve creates space for him to explore the intricacies of the pieces, or just to pause while they continue. In his sleeve notes, Klieve notes that the recording by the orchestra first had him playing with basic drum patterns, and he then deleted this and over-dubbed his broader take on the music.
The sleeve notes suggest that the music owes more of a debt to classical music than to jazz. While I can hear the inspiration of composers like Stravinsky or Milhaud here, it is to their jazz inspired works that the compositions most lean. So, this is, in a sense, closing a circle from jazz to classical and back to jazz. The time signatures and the rhythms are jazz through and through. Each piece has a well defined pulse that is carried by the orchestra, with Klieve weaving drum patterns around this in a spell-binding reversal of the normal process. The orchestra play with an elegant swing and draw out the complexities in each piece.
The title (as far as I can tell) reflects Klieve’s implication that the pieces are just about drumming and rhythm: with the main sections called ‘drumpassiar’ (which I think means drum chat, perhaps suggesting that the orchestra is informally discussing the rhythmic possibilities laid down). But this is overly modest. Each piece is elegantly scored and textured, with a richness in the composition, both thematically and harmonically. In addition to the scored sections, there is space for soloing, and this is variously filled by saxophone, trombone or clarinet.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
