Alex Riel / Bo Stief / Carsten Dahl – Our Songs (Storyville Records)

Always curious and always looking for new challenges, Alex Riel has been an important innovator of modern drumming in Europe. He was among the very first to record a “free” solo on his debut album in 1965 and he was a founding member of the beat-group Savage Rose, while also playing with Bill Evans, Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon and being a member of Monica Zetterlund’s quartet. From the last 20 years we know him for his work with Enrico Pieranunzi, Kenny Werner, Mads Vinding and many others.

On “Our Songs”, Alex Riel brings together two musical “playmates”: The legendary bassist Bo Stief, who like Riel, belongs to the generation of Danish musicians who started their professional careers at Montmartre in the 60s, and Carsten Dahl, one of Europe’s most innovative piano players.

The trio plays in balance with themselves and each other, and simply lets the music flow unhindered. So where, then, does the music flow? Basically, this is classic piano-trio jazz, and while Carsten Dahl is “in charge”, he never overshadows the trio’s creative affinity. Quite appropriately, the mood is established with, “My Song” a classic Keith Jarrett number. In many ways Riel’s playing is discreet, often poetic, so it’s fitting that Dahl has dedicated his composition for the album, “The Poet” to Alex. We are also treated to a couple of melancholic Swedish folk songs reminiscent of legendary pianist Jan Johansson, plus the trio’s own folklore-inspired “Høstdansen” (“Harvest Dance”). Along the way there are also four freshly interpreted American jazz standards, including John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” as a lyrical ballad - in direct contrast to the high-powered original version.

The personal and musical friendship of the three musicians is obvious. It's playful, creative and beautiful when Alex Riel, Bo Stief and Carsten Dahl play their songs. 

1. My Song 03:44

2. Høstdansen 02:58

3. Moon River 05:22

4. Den milde dag er lys og lang 02:26

5. The Poet 05:15

6. Vem kan segla forutan vind 04:00

7. My Funny Valentine 04:44

8. Stella by Starlight 05:14

9. Giant Steps 03:28

10. Jag vet en dejlig rosa 02:30

11. Drømte mig en drøm 03:08

Alex Riel – Drums

Bo Stief – Double Bass

Carsten Dahl – Piano

PRE ORDER

Carsten Dahl - Sagn (June 2021 Storyville Records)

’Sagn’ in English means ‘saga’, and is a narrative or legend founded in the oral tradition. Many sagas were written down much later than they first originated, then finally published in collections of folklore.

Here you will hear a kind of music that Carsten Dahl ‘downloads’ in the moment, with no agenda or deliberation involved in the creative process. In a timeless state where he lets his own, inner soundboard resonate to the sound of the universal language that flows as energy, continuously offering information about the eternal.

Using only his right hand, the music was recorded in one, long take (or flow), with no post-editing.

Carsten Dahl is today considered one of the most innovative and genius improvising musicians. His substantial talent seems to be unlimited. With free expressions within the jazz tradition and an almost scary level of originality and narrative ability, he composes orchestral works and plays as a multiinstrumentalist in his own productions. Through his career, he has appeared on more than 300 CD's and received a countless number of prizes and praises by critics all over the world.

1. D mol 04:35

2. D dur 01:15

3. G mol 02:28

4. G dur 01:19

5. C mol 01:50

6. C dur 01:22

7. Fis mol 01:25

8. Fis dur 01:30

9. Cis mol 02:08

10. Db dur 00:57

11. A mol 01:49

12. A dur 00:59

13. E mol 02:23

14. E dur 00:54

15. F mol 01:30

16. F dur 00:56

17. Bb mol 02:59

18. Bb dur 00:58

19. Eb mol 01:27

20. Eb dur 01:23

21. H mol 02:03

22. H dur 01:42

23. Ab mol 01:26

24. Ab dur 01:43

Carsten Dahl - piano

A limited vinyl edition will be released later this year, but it's unfortunately delayed due to COVID-19 and high demand on vinyl pressings. It'll be available for purchase here as soon we have it in stock.

Pre-order

Carsten Dahl Experience (feat. Jesper Zeuthen, Nils Davidsen & Stefan Pasborg) - Caleidoscopia (STORYVILLE RECORDS 2016)

The Carsten Dahl Experience is back with a new album, their fourth since their formation in 2007. It all began when renowned Danish jazz pianist Carsten Dahl decided to gather some of his favorite musicians from the Danish jazz stage for a line-up in what he called a “spiritual and musical vision pointing in a lyrical direction and towards abstract music” - a group whose aim was to grow wings with the creation of music. On Caleidoscopia, they manage to levitate once again.

The Carsten Dahl Experience consists of Carsten Dahl on piano, Jesper Zeuthen on altosax, Nils Davidsen on bass and Stefan Pasborg on drums. Even though they’ll be celebrating their decennial playing together next year, their friendship and understanding of one another doesn’t make their music trivial in any way; rather, it forces them to reach higher and more complicated grounds in order to bring forward musical surprises. It’s improvisational jazz at it’s best: The music multiplies and splits up in colourful patterns and rearranges itself into ever-varying themes and motifs; like the myriad of colours and form-shifting patterns you see when looking through a kaleidoscope.

"The quartet is the closest Denmark comes to having a Jazz super group. Here, Dahl's music gets the response it requires. [...]. It's in the contrasts between quiet moments and explosive instants that the album finds its greatest strengths. According with the album title, beauty appears kaleidoscopically in a wealth of musical colours."

Politiken, 22. november 2016

Carsten Dahl (piano)

Jesper Zeuthen (alto sax)

Nils Davidsen (bass)

Stefan Pasborg (drums)

01. Nora

02. Furious

03. Caleidoscopia

04. The Canvas

05. STOP please STOP

06. Outside from the Inside

07. I'm Calling

08. Experience This!

09. Beautiful

LAURA TOXVAERD COMPOSITIONS PART 1 Feat. Carsten Dahl (special guest), Raymond Strid & Jonas Westergaard (2016) ILK MUSIC

Since the release of her debut album No. 1 in 2007 – forming an album trilogy with Do Drugs (2010) and Phone Book (2012) – Toxvaerd’s adventurous, gifted and conceptual compositional works have generated international critical respect. Her composi- tions are released on 12 albums and have been performed in USA, Canada, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. She has been awarded the three-year working scholarship by the Danish Arts Council.

On this album the musicians perform Toxvaerd’s compositions notated as graphic scores.

The graphic scores are shown in Toxvaerd’s book Compositions – 18 Graphic scores by Danish publisher Forlaget Spring. The art book with her reflective texts about her artistic process is the final graphic result of Toxvaerd’s artistic research project as an adjunct lecturer at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen. The project’s title is “Composition of graphic and sonic works through the improvisers’ co-creation” and was granted by Danish Ministry of Culture’s Committee for Artistic Research.

Together with the album LAURA TOXVAERD COMPOSITIONS PART 1 Feat. Carsten Dahl, Raymond Strid & Jonas Westergaard this album presents the final sonic result of Toxvaerd’s artistic research project.

The album is the 7th album on ILK’s White Label Series released digital & on 45 numbered, handwritten vinyls, for sale at ILK Music’s website.

1. Rawhide

2. Tickled

3. Quarrel

4. Shyster

5. Urnable

6. Vowelly

Carsten Dahl Trio - Simplicity (2016) STORYVILLE RECORDS

present

Carsten Dahl (piano), Lennart Ginman (bass) and Frands Rifbjerg (drums) have played together for more than 20 years now and yet every time they play together, it still sounds completely fresh and new. The combination of the three of them is somehow a magic golden cut in terms of swing, balance, dexterity and imagination. In this particular session, the musicians just met in the studio and recorded the music. First takes, as usual - picking up some rough sketches that Carsten Dahl had composed on the spot that same day. There is a clear link to the trio’s first record Will you make my soup hot & silver from 1996 (Storyville Records, STCD4203). The inspiration from Carsten Dahl’s heroes Bud Powell, Jan Johansson, Johan Sebastian Bach and many more is also easily detected.

Carsten Dahl says: “My dear mentor jazz pianist Ed Thigpen used to say that "you've got to be able to snap your finger to it" and I always try to keep that in mind. I try to discover the magic in space and the simplicity in the music: In rhythmical progressions and in lyrical melodies. All this is what this trio’s essence is all about and we sure did exactly that.”

We hope that you’ll enjoy the 16 new compositions on the Simplicity album!

Recorded at The Village Recording, Denmark, on February 10, 2016.

Carsten Dahl (piano)

Lennart Ginman (bass)

Frands Rifbjerg (drums)

A Minor Mood for You

Simplicity

Sing, Sing a Song

Monk's Skunk

The Dancefloor

Avidity

Dark Moments

Prelude and Blues

Quietness

The Surrenders Blues

Bluespsalm

Flying Birds

A Simple Waltz

Fragility

Sacrifice and Myth

Beautiful

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Carsten Dahl Website