Jonas Cambien Trio - Nature Hath Painted the Body (April 19, 2021 clean feed records)

Belgian-born, Oslo-based pianist Jonas Cambien couldn’t have chosen better partners than Andreas Wildhagen and André Roligheten to perform his cleverly constructed compositions. On its third studio album, his trio shows itself as a tightly interacting ensemble, with a free and playful approach.

Cambiens compositions often start with simple ideas, never saying too much or too little, paving the way for collective improvisations that can go from explosive and wild to intricate and dreamy. In that way, the music displays a wide range of moods and types of energy. From the joyful, Ornette-reminiscent ‘1 000 000 Happy Locusts’, to the introspective, repetitive ‘Bushfire’, to the contemporary sounds on ‘Freeze’ that lead up to the stubborn ostinato on ‘Yoyo Helmut’. Throughout the album, the trio is using a variety of sounds and techniques that make the music sound fresh all the way, and full of surprises.

Like the prepared piano in dialogue with Wildhagens imaginative percussion on ‘The Origins of Tool Use’, the animal-like sounds evoked by Rolighetens bass clarinet on ‘Herrieschoppers’, or the organ on the beautiful, deconstructed ballad Helium. On one track, there is no piano at all, but instead a short soprano sax duet played by Roligheten and Cambien, that serves as an intro to the irresistible, trance-like rhythms on ‘Mantis’.

In Jonas Cambien Trio’s world, nothing is out, nothing is prohibited: the music goes everywhere, including corners you weren’t aware of at the start. Unpolished, yet surprisingly accessible, this is free music many will enjoy.

1. Oersoep 00:33

2. 1 000 000 Happy Locusts 05:24

3. Herrieschoppers 03:31

4. Hypnos 01:50

5. Mantis 03:29

6. The Origins of Tool Use 04:58

7. Bushfire 04:34

8. Freeze 07:39

9. Yoyo Helmut 02:51

10. Tongues 01:22

11. Helium 04:05

André Roligheten soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet

Andreas Wildhagen drums

Jonas Cambien piano (soprano saxophone on track 4, organ on tracks 6, 11)

All compositions by Jonas Cambien | All arrangements by Jonas Cambien, Andreas Wildhagen, André Roligheten

Recorded by Morten Qvenild at Ugla Lyd, Nesodden | Mixed by Morten Qvenild at Ugla Lyd and Johnny Skalleberg at Amper Tone, Oslo | Mastered by Christian Obermayer at Strype Audio, Oslo

Produced by the Jonas Cambien Trio | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos

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Lana Trio with Sofia Jernberg (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

Trombone, piano and a drumkit with some extra percussive devices: this is the format chosen by Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø, Kjetil Jerve and Andreas Wildhagen for Lana trio, a Norwegian experimental band formed in 2007, playing uncompromising improvisations focusing on a continuous personal and social creation process.

For their third record, they have a fourth contributor in Sofia Jernberg, a Swedish singer with both classical and jazz backgrounds who has become one of the most intriguing innovators in vocal music today, rapidly gaining the same projection achieved by Phil Minton and Sidsel Endresen. The music played together by Lana trio and Jernberg is wild but focused, in a kind of orchestrated chaos capable to constantly surprise and seduce you, turning unexpectedly accessible what is difficult and sometimes even tough. This ability to move us without making concessions is a rare thing, a preciosity in what concerns the communication between a group of artists and their listeners.

1 Ears Anciens 13:59

2 Omivore's Aperetif 8:49

3 Ghost Training 6:24

4 Solitude Chant 12:50

Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø  trombone

Kjetil Jerve  piano

Andreas Wildhagen  drums and percussion

Sofia Jernberg  voice

Jonas Cambien Trio - We Must Mustn't We (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

The Jonas Cambien Trio reveals influences from the pioneers and greats of free music, but there’s much more going on in “We Must Mustn’t We”, beginning with Cambien’s classical-influenced piano style. A Belgian-born living in Oslo, Jonas Cambien divides his career between contemporary music, solo playing and free improvisation with groups like Simiskina and Platform – one aspect of his musical interests feeding the other. The use of extended techniques doesn’t get in the way of his preference for more conventional resources like ostinatos and counterpoint, all of which providing structural functions in both his compositions and for the improvisations of the band. 

On the 12 tracks-long album, the music is balancing seamlessly between contemporary ‘avant-garde’ material, slightly weird pop melodies, and occasional free-jazz outbursts. Much of its secret lies in the inventive orchestration, like the use of prepared piano or a home-made microtonal melodica. Reed-player André Roligheten playing tenor and soprano saxophones, as well as bass clarinet and flute, and the extensive use of percussion instruments by Andreas Wildhagen, all add richness to the frequency range and texture. On two tracks, the trio is joined by trumpeter Torstein Lavik Larsen. 

Nothing here is like you would expect: instead of using all the implications of a piece in an exploratory way, Cambien is more interested in finding the essence of all situations. We’re not facing some sort of minimalism or reductionism, far from it, but there’s a methodic application of subtractive procedures giving light to the most defined musical elements, whether they are subtle or explosive of nature. This approach paves the way for almost telepathic communication between Roligheten, Wildhagen and Cambien, and allows the music to emerge with affirmation and clarity in both it’s most sophisticated and raw ranges of expression. This is exactly that what makes this music so mysterious and captivating.

1. Creationism 01:31

2. Swear Like A Bear 05:19

3. Long Long 02:34

4. Survivalism 02:04

5. Crib 04:19

6. Renaissance 03:44

7. Animalism 01:49

8. Copper Man 05:47

9. I Must Mustn't I 04:10

10. Unlikely Friendship 03:19

11. Sister, You Proved Me Right 03:17

12. Long Long Long 03:03

André Roligheten soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute

Andreas Wildhagen drums and percussion (trumpet on track 4) 

Jonas Cambien piano (microtonal melodica on track 9) 

Guest: Torstein Lavik Larsen trumpet on track 6 & 8 

All compositions by Jonas Cambien | All arrangements by André Roligheten, Andreas Wildhagen, Jonas Cambien 

Recorded by Morten Qvenild at Det Grønne Rommet, Nesodden 

Mixed by Morten Qvenild at Det Grønne Rommet, and by Johnny Skalleberg at Amper Tone, Oslo 

Mastered by Christian Obermayer at Strype Audio, Oslo 

Produced by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul 

Design by Travassos

Jon Rune Strøm Quintet - Fragments (CLEAN FEED RECORDS 2018)

Yes, you can create a band concept from the double bass position, but instead of putting himself as the focus of the collective music of his quintet, bassist and composer Jon Rune Strøm enlisted a second bass player, Christian Meaas Svendsen, for the group, like him doubling the upright instrument with an electric one. Which means that the idea is on the sound, not the personality. And the choice of companion explains much of what we find in “Fragments”. If Strøm is known for his incredible energy and physicality, Svendsen is a force of nature, sometimes using two or three bows or performing with arms, legs, feet and mouth. The center of gravity of the music is low, but the two horns manage to take it to the highest levels possible, namely trumpeter Thomas Johansson and tenor saxophonist André Roligheten, with drummer Andreas Wildhagen gluing it all and covering the fortuitous gaps like an octopus. That’s what differenciates the Jon Rune Strøm Quintet from all the other bands including Strøm’s contribution, namely Friends & Neighbors, All Included, Universal Indians and Frode Gjerstad Trio. The project belongs to the same family tree, call it free music or free jazz as you wish, but there’s something else going on. Bass-driven pleasure in its purist form, that is.

Thomas Johansson: trumpet

André Roligheten: tenor saxophone

Christian Meaas Svendsen: double bass, fender bass [left channel]

Jon Rune Strøm: double bass, fender bass [right channel]

Andreas Wildhagen: drums

All music by Jon Rune Strøm (Tono)

Recorded by Christian Obermayer at Victoria, Nasjonal Jazzscene, March 2017 | Mixed by Obermayer at Strype Audio, Oslo, September 2017 | Mastered by Obermayer and Strøm at Strype Audio, Oslo, November 2017

Produced by Jon Rune Strøm | Co produced by Pedro Costa at Clean Feed | Design by Travassos | Picture by Petra Cvelbar | Painting by Jon Rune Strøm

Momentum. Just one word is enough to explain the philosophy of this trio coming from Norway. A musical manifestation of the phenomenon. In the beginning it is sparse, gradually building until it overflows with force, eventually descending into nothing. It’s spontaneous, intuitive, crude, raw and as potent and powerful as it is fleeting and ephemeral.

Each time Jørgen Mathisen, Christian Meaas Svendsen and Andreas Wildhagen play together is different from the previous one and the other following, changing with the circumstances, the states of mind at the time and the ambient of the performance. Only the urgency of the playing has a definitive character. Each gathering of the trio seems to be the last one. More: seems to be the only one ever. Mathisen, Svendsen and Wildhagen play as if they’ve never played before and as if they’re not going to play anymore. They dive in the music with a despoliation and an availability that astonish and snatch us all. These musicians are among the best in the North of Europe since the beginning of the years 2000, and some of the bands they founded or take part in belong now to history, like Shagma, The Core, Zanussi 5 and Mopti. Mathisen’s muscular saxophone style is already legendary, but better than that is his capacity to save detail and nuance from force.

Svendsen is an unavoidable bassist, reuniting old and new techniques (some of his own invention) from jazz and classical music. Wildhagen is capable of responding to any challenge, be it the maintenance of an abstract texture or the sudden design of a steady beat. The sum of all this sounds so good it seems impossible.

1. Gaining 3:59

2. Maintaining 5:34

3. Momentum 20:04

4. Snake Ballad 11:00

Jørgen Mathisen  soprano and tenor saxophone

Christian Meaas Svendsen  bass

Andreas Wildhagen  drums

Track B1 and B2 by CMS, track A1 and B3) by Momentum

Recorded by Hans Andreas Horntveth Jahnsen at Propeller Music Division, Oslo, October 1st 2015 | Mixed by Kyrre Laastad | Mastered by Christian Obermayer

Produced by Andreas Wildhagen | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos | Photo by Morten Espeland

ANDREAS WILDHAGEN – NO RIGHT NO LEFT (2016 NAKAMA RECORDS)

You might know him from bands such as Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, Momentum, Lana Trio or Nakama. But how well do you really know him? Take the chance to get to know drummer Andreas Wildhagen intimately well on Nakama Records' 6th release - No Right No Left:

"In order to eliminate right and left, one has to imagine a view which is not rooted in a subject or object. If we lack a reference point, right and left disappears. Right and left, good and bad permeate society, but music itself can step outside of this. This record is 40 minutes of drums and percussion moving through different sonic and rhythmic territories. Most of the time it is rhythmic/gestural, often superimposing two or more tempos at the time. With a few exceptions, the titles are a play on perspectives. What we perceive as fast may be ultra slow-motion from a different point of view."

Out on 31st of October

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