Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Long before BBC viewers started lapping up Scandinavian crime drama, the UK's more discerning music fans have been falling for Scandinavian jazz. Norway, Sweden and Denmark have produced some of the world's most compelling improvised music in recent decades, jazz that jettisons any American blues component and creates its own expressionistic, cliche-free vocabulary.
Danish bassist Jasper Høiby – tall, blond, ponytailed – has spent 13 years in London, serving as an intermediary between the Nordic and UK jazz scenes. Phronesis is a pan-European outfit that unites Høiby with Swedish drummer Anton Eger and British pianist Ivo Neame, and together they invert the usual functions of the piano/bass/drums trio. Høiby's double bass is (literally) centre-stage, carrying the melodies and the solos. The piano becomes a rhythm instrument, jabbering out Morse-code rhythms, playing rippling chord clusters, but staying oddly static. The drums are almost textural: even when Anton Eger gets funky, he does so with brushes and beaters, never overwhelming the bass. It's an insular, self-contained sound, but a devastatingly effective one.
The second half of tonight's show expands the core trio with several London friends. Vocalist Olivia Chaney sings her own material in an appealingly folksy English accent, leads a spacious re-reading of Sidsel Endersen's Blessed Instant, and plays the Norma Winstone role in a piece that recalls the pastoral jazz of Neil Ardley or Michael Garrick. Vibist Jim Hart adds some much needed counterpoint, while composer Dave Maric triggers bell-like arpeggios on a synth module, providing the basis for some fiendishly complex compositions.
It's a voyage into the unknown for the six of them, and there's a reassuring familiarity when Phronesis return as a trio for the encore to do their insular, hypnotic thing. Despite making no effort to reach out beyond the cultish milieu of jazz fans, they're proving a surprisingly popular live draw.
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Rating: 4/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.
Long before BBC viewers started lapping up Scandinavian crime drama, the UK's more discerning music fans have been falling for Scandinavian jazz. Norway, Sweden and Denmark have produced some of the world's most compelling improvised music in recent decades, jazz that jettisons any American blues component and creates its own expressionistic, cliche-free vocabulary.
Danish bassist Jasper Høiby – tall, blond, ponytailed – has spent 13 years in London, serving as an intermediary between the Nordic and UK jazz scenes. Phronesis is a pan-European outfit that unites Høiby with Swedish drummer Anton Eger and British pianist Ivo Neame, and together they invert the usual functions of the piano/bass/drums trio. Høiby's double bass is (literally) centre-stage, carrying the melodies and the solos. The piano becomes a rhythm instrument, jabbering out Morse-code rhythms, playing rippling chord clusters, but staying oddly static. The drums are almost textural: even when Anton Eger gets funky, he does so with brushes and beaters, never overwhelming the bass. It's an insular, self-contained sound, but a devastatingly effective one.
The second half of tonight's show expands the core trio with several London friends. Vocalist Olivia Chaney sings her own material in an appealingly folksy English accent, leads a spacious re-reading of Sidsel Endersen's Blessed Instant, and plays the Norma Winstone role in a piece that recalls the pastoral jazz of Neil Ardley or Michael Garrick. Vibist Jim Hart adds some much needed counterpoint, while composer Dave Maric triggers bell-like arpeggios on a synth module, providing the basis for some fiendishly complex compositions.
It's a voyage into the unknown for the six of them, and there's a reassuring familiarity when Phronesis return as a trio for the encore to do their insular, hypnotic thing. Despite making no effort to reach out beyond the cultish milieu of jazz fans, they're proving a surprisingly popular live draw.
• What have you been to see lately? Tell us about it on Twitter using #GdnGig
Rating: 4/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 4 hours ago.