TONBRUKET- Live Salvation
ACT: ACT9876-2
Dan Berglund: double bass; Johan Lindstrom: guitar, pedal steel guitar; Martin Hederos: piano, synthesizer, violin; Andreas Werlin: drums
Recorded November 17th 2016 by Ake Linton at Bix Jazzclub, Stuttgart
If the name of this group is unfamiliar to you, the name of Dan Berglund won’t be; his lengthy tenure with the Esbjorn Svensson Trio should ring a bell. This set was recorded live and draws on the band’s studio albums (which I was inspired to track down and listen to; I would suggest that this is worth doing even though the live set reinterprets the tunes). The band work a mix of jazz / folk / rock. Live, the band are a little heavier than in the studio and the pieces develop over longer periods of time – sometimes this is great and you can feel how they are feeding from the audience’s enthusiasm, and sometimes (as on ‘Gripe’) it feels as if the structure of the piece is still being worked out, so it has no sense of how or when it might end. This is not to suggest that he is only seeking to match the driving rhythms or simple melodies of ‘rock / pop’ to minimize his opportunity for expression. Rather, there is the sense that he is the ‘puppet-master’ who makes sure that all instruments make use of the space available to them. This means that, while this is live recording of an improvised set that builds on recorded tunes, with all the opportunities that are open for the musicians to move into uncharted and unexpected regions, they are still working with carefully defined spaces in which they can cut loose.
Noting that Hederos plays violin (as well as piano and synthesizer), there is also scope for the band to mix their concept of jazz with a heavy dose of folk-rock. The result is highly compelling, if unclassifiable, music that rocks in a manner that has the intelligence of the best of the Prog outfits.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
ACT: ACT9876-2
Dan Berglund: double bass; Johan Lindstrom: guitar, pedal steel guitar; Martin Hederos: piano, synthesizer, violin; Andreas Werlin: drums
Recorded November 17th 2016 by Ake Linton at Bix Jazzclub, Stuttgart
If the name of this group is unfamiliar to you, the name of Dan Berglund won’t be; his lengthy tenure with the Esbjorn Svensson Trio should ring a bell. This set was recorded live and draws on the band’s studio albums (which I was inspired to track down and listen to; I would suggest that this is worth doing even though the live set reinterprets the tunes). The band work a mix of jazz / folk / rock. Live, the band are a little heavier than in the studio and the pieces develop over longer periods of time – sometimes this is great and you can feel how they are feeding from the audience’s enthusiasm, and sometimes (as on ‘Gripe’) it feels as if the structure of the piece is still being worked out, so it has no sense of how or when it might end. This is not to suggest that he is only seeking to match the driving rhythms or simple melodies of ‘rock / pop’ to minimize his opportunity for expression. Rather, there is the sense that he is the ‘puppet-master’ who makes sure that all instruments make use of the space available to them. This means that, while this is live recording of an improvised set that builds on recorded tunes, with all the opportunities that are open for the musicians to move into uncharted and unexpected regions, they are still working with carefully defined spaces in which they can cut loose.
Noting that Hederos plays violin (as well as piano and synthesizer), there is also scope for the band to mix their concept of jazz with a heavy dose of folk-rock. The result is highly compelling, if unclassifiable, music that rocks in a manner that has the intelligence of the best of the Prog outfits.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
