Bernt Moen Trio - The Storm (November 26, 2021 Losen Records)

In the score to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 (from 1801) there is written “Sonata quasi una fantasia.” I started thinking about that phrase upon listening to Bernt Moen Trio’s The Storm. My association was not to the fact that the popular name of Beethoven’s sonata is the Moonlight Sonata, although references to nature or natural phenomena seem to be in common. But it was the “quasi una fantasia” that struck me – like a fantasy. As almost a musical genre, the fantasia is a musical composition rooted in improvisation, a free play with musical material, and listening to Bernt Moen’s piano on this album may seem like an echo or a continuation of the fantasia in the European tradition of compositional music. Composition and improvisation as two sides of the same coin, as continuations of each other.

The piano-trio is a classic format where the interaction between the musicians is important, so as not to solely become a piano with accompaniment. Already on the “A Sense of Urgency” this interaction is heard and felt. It is a group sound, and throughout the album we hear the interaction between the musicians with different dimensions moving gradually in and out of focus, so as to highlight different perspectives on the music. Interactions are found on all musical parameters, so that on “Relentless” it is not least the rhythmic interplay that is noticeable, underlining the percussive dimension of the piano. There are also soloes in a more traditional sense, where “Relentless” features the soloistic drums with nice underlying piano, whereas “Leisurely” features both bass and piano.

“In Retrospect” sounds almost like an echo of a Romantic piano piece, and something similar could be said about “Ode,” “Floating,” and “Sakral” as well. The last three compositions mentioned are solo piano pieces, thus setting the trio pieces in a different light. This light comes to the fore on “The Storm” divided into an Introduction for piano alone, improvising in a sense like a fantasia, moving into the trio as a smooth continuation of the introduction. Here the three musicians are working together to establish musical intensities, as a long crescendo later gradually decreases. One could interpret it as a musical picture of a storm, music illustrating nature, but also as using the word storm as a foundation for musical associations and fantasies. The titles, however, seem to be if not key to how we should hear the pieces, then at least an inspiration for reflections. Thus “Passing By, Not Too Fast, Not Too Slow” in a sense does what it says, with a melodic material almost folk-music like, where the musicians move in and out of focus respectively, but with the trio sound as a nuanced focus. The different characters of the pieces, the combination of trio and solo piano, makes The Storm an album to be heard as a whole. Three musicians fantasizing in sound.

Erik Steinskog, October 2021

1 A Sence of Urgency

2 Majestic

3 The Search for Absolution

4 Relentless

5 In Retrospect

6 Leisurely

7 The Storm Intro

8 The Storm

9 Ode

10 Floating

11 Passing By, Not Too Fast, Not Too Slow

12 Sakral

Bernt Moen piano

Fredrik Sahlander bass

Jan Inge Nilsen drums

PREORDER

Runar Nørsett Trio - My Funny Quarantine (April 23, 2021 Losen Records)

I started playing the piano at the age of six, and in my teens, my dream was to study classical music and be a professional pianist. Somehow this didn´t happen, and I ended up studying medicine instead. I now work as a medical doctor in Kristiansand, Norway, but I never stopped playing and writing music. My interests gradually changed from classical music to improvised music and jazz, and I played the piano in many different settings and with many different musicians for many years, but something was missing. I had been dreaming since the ’90s about putting together my own trio and play my own compositions, but for many years nothing happened.

Finally, in 2017, my very good friend and excellent bass player, Fredrik Sahlander (a Swede living in Norway) grew tired of listening to my rambling about a trio and me complaining that it would never come to life. Sahlander, known from i.a the bands «Sah!», «Dualistic» and «Johnsen, Sahlander and Moen», and an extraordinarily talented and accomplished musician, said that he had found a young, vastly talented drummer from Harstad in the northern parts of Norway, now a student at the University in Kristiansand, and that he, Tobias Øymo Solbakk, wanted to join Fredrik and me in a trio. Solbakk has later earned a reputation as a magnificent drummer in a wide variety of styles, and he has played the drums in the metal bands «Inhsahn» and «In Vain» as well as in «Kubby», «Dualistic» and «Vian». The three of us started to work together in Spring 2017, and Runar Nørsett Trio was born.

The trio rehearsed regularly the following months, and in January 2018 we held our first concert in Kristiansand. Our first album «From the ashes» was released in 2019, and in October 2019 we performed for a sold-out venue at Kilden Theatre and Concert Hall I Kristiansand.

We started working on our second album early in 2020, and then suddenly everything changed. The coronavirus shut down almost everything, and even though Norway has managed well compared to many other countries, we had to put our activities as a trio on hold. I was still working as a medical doctor, but nonetheless, I continued to write music. Early in October 2020, the situation in our part of Norway allowed us to record the songs on this album. Most of the songs on this album have been written during 2020. The songs have nothing specific to do with the pandemic, except the title track «My funny Quarantine», which I wrote in a strange mood, part afraid and disillusioned, and part optimistic and full of hope.

I try to write music that appeals to both heart and brain, music that can make you both smile and cry, and music that spurs your imagination. I have something to tell you, but I don´t know exactly what it is. By listening to my music, maybe you understand it anyway? Runar Nørsett

1 Super Mario

2 Stumbling and Fumbling

3 Song For a Summer Night

4 Fooling Around

5 No Exit!

6 Where the Songs Have No Name

7 Dønning

8 West Goes East

9 My Funny Quarantine

Runar Nørsett piano

Fredrik Sahlander bass

Tobias Solbakk drums

Sha! - Past Present Future (2021 Losen Records)

The year was 2012 and I had just started my PhD. My research area was jazz improvisation and improvisation methodology. The background for the problem that I wanted to research was myself as a jazz improvisor. Despite many years of studying music focusing on improvisation and an endless amount of practicing, I still had not achieved the level of performance I wanted to be at. Why? Had I been practicing the wrong material? Wasn’t I talented enough or was there something else that had inhibited my progress? The hypothesis was that the improvisation methodology my earlier teachers used had not been optimal for me. To find out about this, I contacted my great idol Gary Willis (Tribal Tech). My intention was to study with Willis for two years and try out his methods of teaching improvisation. In that way documenting a leading jazz improvisors way of teaching improvisation.

Willis was positive to the project and I traveled to Barcelona to start my lessons. The first time I met Willis, I was starstruck! Willis wanted us to play a song and I chose “Solar”. It is a composition that I know well, but that did not help at all. I was playing with the person who had all the skills I always wanted. In the middle of my solo, Wills stopped me and said, “you are not communicating with me”! Which unfortunately were absolutely true..

After the session, Willis started to introduce me to his approach to improvisation. I had expected it to be based on scales and transcriptions, but Willis had a whole different approach. Willis teachings were based around geometry. What did that mean? An electric bass is tuned I fourths. This results in for example the octaves looking the same everywhere of the fretboard. The same goes for melodic motifs.  The result is that all that is played on an electric bass can be looked upon as a geometric shape. Willis uses this geometry to organize chords and their available tonal centers. This results in the bass player never have to move his or hers hand more than a half-step to reach the available notes in another key.

This release represents me as a jazz improviser after finishing my studies with Gary Willis in 2015. Track number six is recorded before this period began. This track is called “Newfus” and represents my improvisational talents before my studies with Willis. “Newfus” is a part of a production containing eight original compositions and Willis regarded these as part of my research and thought that my improvisation on the track was the best of the project. Anders Langset plays drums on this and I wanted him to play on the next recording as well. After a discussion with my PhD supervisor Per Elias Drabløs, I chose to contact my dream drummer Kirk Covington (Tribal Tech)! How did this come about? When I presented my thoughts on the recording and told him I was going to use the same musicians as the previous recording, Drabløs said to me “you have got to think bigger. Who do you want to play with the most?” Kirk Covington, I replied timidly.

Thanks to Willis I got in contact with Covington and he proved to be a very nice guy and he would love to travel to Norway and be a part of the recording. To make my dream complete, I had Scott Kinsey (Tribal Tech) mix and master the production. It was Covington who gave me the idea and put me in contact with Kinsey.

Bernt Moen plays keyboards on both productions. Moen is for me a unique musician that can never be replaced, and he really impressed Covington (who have played with such legends as Josef Zawinul).

The compositions on this album are a part of my doctoral dissertation Från grundton till b2 (Sahlander 2017) which is now being released on Losen Records. I hope you enjoy the result! Fredrik Sahlander

1 Inner Urge

2 Angry Happy Drummer

3 Ängermanslandmorgon

4 Horisont

5 Hold Your Breath

6 Newfus

7 Slow Kind

8 Present Future

Fredrik Sahlander, bass

Bernt Moen, piano, keys, synth

Kirk Covington, drums

Anders Langset, drums track 6 only