Wako - Urolige sinn (ØRA FONOGRAM August 31, 2018)

Wako will release their third album 31st of August 2018. A live  album recorded in the legendary Norwegian studio, Athletic  Sound. The band explores the possibilities for the quartet, and as  a listener you will always get a surprise for each listening.  Wako  has through the last years gone a new direction inspired by  improvisation and textures, mixed with simple but well done  compositions and ideas, and they play this mix in a way Øra is  very proud to represent.

Walco © Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard

About their release​: "Urolige sinn" – the new album from Wako – is  equal parts atmosphere and energy. Smoky moods envelop  runaway train rhythms, while the contemplative can seem like a  mask for a chaos ready to erupt at any second. This is a series of  dramaturgical tone poems, triple-distilled concepts, their purity  and brevity carrying only the ​essential sounds – but you shouldn't  take this as meaning "minimalism": here it means intense  concentration, perfect focus. There is a build and release of  tension, occasional hints of a threatened dissonance in the midst of melody, or glimpses of golden harmony  emerging from chattering agitation. There are technicolour highways through chiaroscuro dreamscapes.  There is what could easily be the incidental music for an urban hallucination of a heated conversation  between Pharoah Sanders and Man Ray, or Erik Satie antagonized by Friedrich Nietzsche. Traces of joy mix  with stains of sorrow, the everyday life intertwines with sinuous and wandering reveries.

This is realism walking  in expressionist shoes along a well-paved path. That path was created by Wako, both as a collective and as  individuals. Where similar groups would regard a "jazz composition" as merely a framework for an extended  solo (or three), Wako operate as a unified musical consciousness, thinking, dreaming, reacting and planning  together. While pianist Kjetil André Mulelid and saxophonist Martin Myhre Olsen each take individual composer  credits on several tracks, the group coherence and synergy means that bassist Bárður Reinert Poulsen and  drummer Simon Olderskog Albertsen are integral to the final delivery of the music. The Wako philosophy is  one of "music first"; "Urolige sinn" is that philosophy made flesh. 

Walco © Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard

About Wako​:
Coming from the vanguard of the New Wave of Nordic Jazz, Wako are one of the most dynamic  and innovative groups on the scene. Touring extensively since 2015, they have honed their stagecraft and  performances, garnering a solid fanbase and critical acclaim along the way.

Described as having "​buoyancy and originality" by Terje Mosnes (​Jazz i Norge - Norway), as possessing "​a very personal and distinctive sound" (Mike Collin, ​London Jazz News - UK), and as creating music that "​would melt even the blackest heart" (​Bird is  the Worm – USA), Wako have brought their ever-evolving musicianship and creativity to impressive live  renditions of their work across Europe, including collaborative performances with Oslo Strings and with  Norwegian trumpeter ​ne plus ultra, Arve Henriksen. The scope of their musical reach is always finely attuned  in equal measures to audience, environment and source material, meaning not only is each concert  superlative, but also a unique experience. In short, Wako are one of the most impressive young live acts today,  signalling a healthy future for jazz in Norway and beyond.    Individually, the members are part of different bands and projects, such as Hegge (Norwegian grammy award winner 2017), Megalodon Collective (Norwegian grammy nominee 2016,Espen Berg trio (NTNU  ambassadors 2016), Kjetil Mulelid Trio, Kjemilie and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra with Chick Corea.

Wako is​:

Kjetil André Mulelid - piano

Bárður Reinert Poulsen - double bass

Martin Myhre Olsen - alto & soprano sax

Simon Olderskog Albertsen - drums & percussion

Production​:

Produced and arranged by Wako

Recorded by Dag Erik Johansen on the 2​nd​ and 3​rd​ of October 2017, at Athletic Sound, Norway

Mixed and mastered by Karl Klaseie at Greener Mastering

Cover photo by Anders Beer Wilse: “Skavlet føre” 1909

Cover design by Christian Meaas Svendsen

Tracklist​:

1. Jernvilje

2. Skavlet føre

3. Skumring og det som hører til

4. Den endeløse planen

5. Du gråter aldri

6. Elisabeths vise

7. Revelje

8. Snart blir jeg far

9. En liten halvtime senere

10. Skogens uklare omriss

11. Svovelpredikant

12. De som viste oss rundt

13. Langt, langt der nede

All compositions by Wako, except:

2, 9, 13 by Kjetil André Mulelid

6, 7, 8 by Martin Myhre Olsen

Espen Berg Trio - Bølge (ODIN RECORDS 2018)

Now the trio is back, with a striking and elegant new album that very possibly will be an even bigger breakthrough for the trio. This is a group that is positively overflowing with talent and musical enthusiasm.

The jazz trio format is tried and tested and has become one of the basic ensemble formats of modern jazz. Here is a trio that has its feet planted firmly within the tradition, but still offers something unique to the listener. The Espen Berg Trio made its mark with the group’s first album, “Mønster”, in 2015. The trio was referred to as “the biggest and most important musical discovery in the first half of 2016” by Jazz Japan, and they have toured extensively in Japan, where they have also signed a recording contract. Now the trio is back, with a striking and elegant new album that very possibly will be an even bigger breakthrough for the trio. This is a group that is positively overflowing with talent and musical enthusiasm.

Espen Berg

Pianist and composer Espen Berg (b. 1983), from Hamar in central Norway, is currently living in Trondheim, where he earned a master’s degree in 2008 from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) renowned jazz programme. Since then he has been engaged as a professor at the university. He has toured worldwide with his trio Listen, the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Marius Neset, as well as with his own projects. He has released two critically acclaimed solo piano albums, and in 2007 he was voted the best soloist at the Hoeilaart International Jazz Contest in Belgium. In 2016 he won one of Norway’s most important music awards, JazZtipendiatet, which resulted in the commissioned work “Maetrix”. This piece had its world premiere at the Molde Jazz Festival in 2017, played by the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Among the musicians Espen has worked with are Silje Nergaard, Anders Jormin, Per Jørgensen, Hildegunn Øiseth, Arve Henriksen and Mathias Eick. The music Berg composes demands a level of precision that could make a Swiss watch tremble in fear, but it seems simple and organically free-flowing when he and the trio are playing it.

The trio

Bassist Bárður Reinert Poulsen is originally from Tórshavn on the Faroe Islands. He moved to Trondheim, where he received a degree from the NTNU’s jazz programme in 2014. He is an extremely active musician, and plays with both jazz and pop projects – the Fjords, Wako, Fieldfare, Swenefon – in addition to being a member of the Faroese Symphony Orchestra.

Drummer Simon Olderskog Albertsen is from Stjørdal, and like the other members of th trio, also has a background from the jazz programme at the NTNU. He plays in a number of jazz bands, but also works with folk and pop music, and as a theatre musician. He released the album “War Wounds” together with the English singer-songwriter Mark Gregory, and has appeared on records with Wako and Operasjon Hegge. “Bølge” was recorded at the legendary Rainbow Studio by engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug, and is available as a digital recording, on CD and as a stylish 2LP.