Jazz - What's your bag, man?

[markof]

[cybot]

You wouldn't know Art in that photo! He looks really mean and cool 😎

[markof]

[Fran]

[tony]

Got a nice one recently
Brad Mehldau Blues and Ballads. Will dig out a photo shortly

[mcq]

Great album, Tony. Try to hear Seymour Reads The Constitution, Ode and Where Do You Start from this trio as well.

[tony]

Great album, Tony. Try to hear Seymour Reads The Constitution, Ode and Where Do You Start from this trio as well.

Will check them out thanks Paul

[markof]

[Claus]

I’ve been listening spellbound to the new Hedvig Mollestad album, Ekhidna, over the past few nights. Over and over and over again. This is undoubtedly her best work yet. It’s her most jazz-influenced work yet and I believe this freedom has liberated her and unleashed something genuinely astonishing, something wildly creative within her. Shades of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, Terrie Rypdal, Tomasz Stanko, Art Ensemble of Chicago and Pangea-era Miles swirl together in this wildly life-affirming and deeply intoxicating music. It’s easy to say that this is the release of the year.

For the first time, Hedvig leaves behind the trio format in favour of a more open-ended exploratory sextet. The surprising (and perhaps most radical) omission is the lack of a bassist. Ellen Brekken has been the cornerstone of The Trio since its inception and it is surprising that she is absent. But Hedvig is exploring new sonic palettes and new dynamics here. Two keyboardists and two drummers and a sole trumpeter are her companions here. The keyboardists play what appear to be vintage sounding organs and electric pianos. Their presence reminds me strongly of Joe Zawinul’s and Chick Corea’s contributions to Miles’s bands and I also think of Miles’s own organ interjections on Agharta and Pangea. The addition of a second drummer widens the rhythmic dynamic considerably and they are a constant presence, continually challenging and nudging and provoking their fellow musicians. I hear in these two drummers the spirits of Ronald Shannon Jackson (who truly ignited Peter Brotzmann, Sonny Sharrock and Bill Laswell in Last Exit) and Don Moye (a crucial part of the Art Ensemble of Chicago). I hear in the trumpeter the influences of Tomasz Stanko and Lester Bowie. All of these musicians provoke Hedvig to produce her best, her most inspired, her most daring work to date. I hear her great influences, John McLaughlin and Terje Rypdal, but I also hear the shadow of Sonny Sharrock and Pete Cosey. And, I believe, those latter two influences would not have surfaced without this radical change in her sonic landscape. She sounds utterly liberated and unfettered in this music and, believe me, that is a joyous thing to behold. It is no accident that the cover art departs from the usual monochrome photographs of previous Hedvig albums and boldly smears a Technicolour wash across Hedvig’s face. Blinded by the light, indeed.

This album might well be the trigger for ECM to sign Hedvig which will introduce her to new audiences but also, crucially, see her working alongside the musicians on the ECM roster. But the one musician above all others I would dearly love to see her working with one day is Mary Halvorson. Honestly, I don’t see two better guitarists working today and, when you consider their relative youth, that makes me very excited for the future.

Glad I came across this post! I was just looking up news about her at the start of lockdown and didn't see anything. Should have kept checking! Thanks!

[mcq]

Have you heard the album yet, Claus? It’s an astonishing piece of work. Don’t miss it.