Mélange Bleu (Danielsson) [3:59]
Makro (Danielsson) [5:29]
Les Coulisses (Danielsson, Wesseltoft, [4:47]
Ironside (Danielsson) [7:39]
Judas Bolero (Danielsson) [19:49]
Minor People (Danielsson) [3:52]
Sketches of Twelve (Danielsson, Wesseltoft)
[10:33]
Naïve (Danielsson) [5:28]
Bacchanalia (Danielsson) [4:07]
After Zero (Danielsson) [4:17]
Lars Danielsson (cello, acoustic bass, Fender
bass, piano, Fender Rhodes); Bugge Wesseltoft
(piano); Nils Petter Molvaer (trumpet); Elvind
Arset (guitar); Jon Christensen (drums, percussion);
Jan Bang (samples, live sampling); Pål
"Strangefruit" Nyhus (vinyl channelling);
Vytas and Mario Basanov (beats and samples);
Caecile Norby (vocals); Gustaf Ljunggren (steel
guitar, synthesizer); Xavier Desandre Navarre
(percussion); Copenhagen Concert Orchestra,
directed by Henrik Vagn Christensen
rec. Rainbow studio, Oslo; additional recording
at Nilento Studios, Göteborg; Danish
Radio, Copenhagen; Pantin Plage Studio; 7Etage,
Oslo. No dates given
The personnel / instrumentation
listed above will tell you that this is not
a CD short on resources of colour and texture.
And that, sometimes, is the problem. On some
tracks there is such a fascination with the
exploitation both of the acoustic instruments
and the electronics, that the sounds produced
run the risk of becoming an end in themselves.
One listens, waiting for some kind of development
– only to find the track coming to an end
before anything very memorable has happened.
Certainly, there is plenty
of talent involved here. Danielsson is an
accomplished writer at his best and an interesting
soloist. Bugge Wesseltoft is an excellent
pianist, though sometimes he is employed in
a kind of sub-ECM fashion that soon palls.
Nils Petter Molvaer is a very fine trumpeter
indeed. But too often the ears are in danger
of being distracted from their work by the
over-busy context of techno and ambient clichés
or rather dull orchestral strings.
Fortunately a few tracks
– and one in particular – stand out rewardingly.
‘Minor People’ sustains a hushed and mysterious
air, and Wesseltoft’s piano is heard to very
good effect. There is interesting, inventive
work on ‘Sketches of Twelve’, though the track
is too long for its own good. But the outstanding
track – and the one which more than justifies
the CD – is ‘Judas Bolero’. Even at almost
twenty minutes, length is no problem here.
The trumpet of Nils Petter Molvaer and the
cello of Lars Danielsson hold the foreground,
Molvaer at times sounding like an updated
version of the Miles Davis of Concierto
de Aranjuez and at other times very much
himself, Danielsson spinning long melancholy
lines which are sometimes picked up attractively
by Wesseltoft at the piano; all this against
a lush electronic and orchestral background,
punctuated and accented by Christensen’s masterly
drumming. Beautifully measured patterns of
tension and relaxation grip the listener’s
attention throughout the slow unwinding of
the music, before a conclusion in which Molvaer’s
trumpet resonates into the distance. A minor
masterpiece.
So, a mixed bag, but well
worth hearing, especially for ‘Judas Bolero’.
Glyn Pursglove
CD Reviews
ACT NU JAZZ 9604-2 [70:26] 
