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Anderskov
Accident
Newspeak
ILK 144
★★★★
As one of the
driving forces
behind the excellent
Danish label
ILK, keyboardist
Jacob Anderskov
has almost nonchalantly
displayed
a dizzying
range and curiosity on more than a dozen
records cut under his leadership. From trio outings
to duets as disparate as one made with
Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira and
Danish electronics merchant Jakob Riis,
it’s become difficult to know what to expect
from him, but the results are almost always
worthwhile.
Newspeak is the third album credited to his
group Anderskov Accident, a wild and woolly
octet that attacks his knotty and moody compositions
with an appealing loose feel. Within his
tunes one can detect a grocery list of ingredients—music
from Africa and the Balkans, postbop,
dirge—but under his assured leadership the
end result never sounds like a hodge-podge.
While his solid tunes are
beguiling, equally important
to the music’s effectiveness is
the way the arrangements
privilege ensemble sound.
The superb group, including
tenor saxophonist Ned Ferm,
trombonist Peter Dahlgren
and alto saxophonist Jesper
Zeuthen, contribute ripping
solos, but like a growing
number of bandleaders
Anderskov makes sure they
don’t arrive as isolated packets
of information. Each
improvisation is deeply connected to every tune,
bursting out of the arrangement like a seeking
tendril, so that the band doesn’t just sit back
while one person blows. They’re plugged in all
of the time. While the sound is dense, the leader
makes good use of dynamics, with a naturalistic
ebb and flow that makes those arrangements
practically invisible. Watch out for this guy.
—Peter Margasak
Newspeak: The Fourth K; Lisbutin E Mirkola; Se Nu Stigler
Solen; Russku; Boxy; Salene; Crumpy. (57:55)
Personnel: Kasper Tranberg, trumpet; Jesper Zeuthen, alto saxophone;
Ned Ferm, tenor saxophone; Anders Banke, bass clarinet;
Peter Dahlgren, trombone; Jacob Anderskov, piano; Jeppe
Skovbakke, bass; Rune Kielsgaard, drums.
»
Ordering info: ilkmusic.com
Bill Frisell
History, Mystery
NONESUCH 435964
★★★★ 1 /2
Bill Frisell’s new album contains two
CDs of almost all new originals appropriately
packaged alongside Americanaevoking
images from the 1930s Farm
Security Administration photographers
like Walker Evans. Most of this music
was originally composed for theater
pieces, with additional tracks written for
an NPR series called “Stories From The
Heart Of The Land.” Not surprisingly, the
album has the feel of a soundtrack.
Listening to it, it’s easy to imagine a poetic-butquirky
indie film shot beneath the big skies of
the American West.
You might grumble a bit that there isn’t a lot
of improvising; it seems like long, uncluttered
stretches of that faux-mythic American landscape
that Frisell has created. You’d have a
point. There certainly isn’t here the snap and sizzle
of the guitarist’s recent Grammy winner,
Unspeakable, or the heft and spring of his collaborations
with Paul Motian and Ron Carter.
But Frisell’s melodies and moods have an easy
appeal, from the Gypsy lull of “Probability
Cloud” to the Copland-esque moments of “Boo
And Scout.” Thelonious Monk’s “Jackie-ing”
and Lee Konitz’s “Sub-Conscious Lee” are
standouts. Dial this one up as you pull onto the
highway headed west with a full tank of gas and
no real destination in mind. —David French
History, Mystery: Disc 1—Imagination; Probability Cloud;
Probability Cloud Part 2; Out Of Body; Struggle; A Momentary
Suspension Of Doubt; Onward; Baba Drame; What We Need;
A Change Is Gonna Come; Jackie-ing; Show Me; Boo And
Scout; Struggle Part 2; Heal; Another Momentary Suspension
Of Doubt; Probability Cloud (Reprise). (53:33) Disc 2—Monroe;
Lazy Robinson; Question #1; Answer #1; Faces; Sub-Conscious
Lee; Monroe Part 2; Question #2; Lazy Robinson Part 2; What
We Need Part 2; Waltz For Baltimore; Answer #2; Monroe Part
2. (37:04)
Personnel: Bill Frisell, acoustic and electric guitars, loops; Ron
Miles, cornet; Greg Tardy, tenor saxophone, clarinet; Jenny
Scheinman, violin; Eyvind Kang, viola; Hank Roberts, cello; Tony
Scherr, bass; Kenny Wollesen, drums.
»
Ordering info: nonesuch.com
September 2008 DOWNBEAT 85