Thomas Strønen

John Surman: Words Unspoken

by Mario Calvitti
April 8, 2024

Giunto alla soglia degli 80 anni, che compirà in Agosto, e con alle spalle oltre mezzo secolo di attività professionale che ha prodotto una discografia imponente e importante sia in termini di quantità che di qualità, il sassofonista britannico John Surman aggiunge un'altra gemma luminosa al ricco catalogo delle sue opere, in gran parte documentato sulla etichetta tedesca ECM Records. Non si tratta dell'atteso disco in duo con il pianista norvegese Vigleik Storaas, annunciato durante il loro tour europeo della ...

John Surman: Words Unspoken

by Joshua Weiner
February 16, 2024

Englishman John Surman has been one of jazz's most important reedmen since his debut album on the progressive Deram label in 1969. From the start, on classic albums such as John McLaughlin's Extrapolation, Surman displayed a unique voice on the baritone sax, soprano sax, and bass clarinet, sometimes adding electronics to the mix. Since his first appearance on Manfred Eicher's groundbreaking ECM label in 1976, Surman has forged an idiosyncratic path, releasing solo, duo, and quartet albums, transcultural collaborations (such ...

John Surman: Words Unspoken

by Mike Jurkovic
February 15, 2024

Hypnotic and many of its antonyms--stimulating, arousing, reviving--are old school hyperbole which very often separates the hack from the veteran of critical science. But sometimes those everyday words are exactly what need to be said to tell of music unlike everyday and most others. Words Unspoken is just that. Blowing free and unhindered since 1966, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Terje Rypdal, Archie Shepp, Bill Frisell and John McLaughlin, British multi-reedist John Surman needs no lengthy introduction. He just ...

Sinikka Langeland: Wind And Sun

by Scott Gudell
December 16, 2023

Pause. Trust your inner self to guide you. Prepare to avoid the constant bombardment of a multitude of society's mind and body piercing assults. If you're not sure where to start, Sinikka Langeland is willing to help guide you. A master of the kantele (a Nordic instrument with similarities to plucked string instruments such as a zither or dulcimer,) Langeland has released a dozen albums since the mid-1990s with Wind and Sun being the 2023 addition to her canon.

Mats Eilertsen Trio & Trio Mediaeval: Memorabilia

by Friedrich Kunzmann
August 25, 2020

Talk of an album sounding highly reminiscent of something that could be released on Manfred Eicher's ECM label is quite common. But it does not come as a surprise anymore that much of today's music shares similar melancholic and minimalist contemporary leanings with the aesthetic found on the pioneering Munich-based label. However, this debut date, led between bassist Mats Eilertsen, his trio and Trio Mediaeval, screams ECM. Not only have both Eilertsen and the vocal trio recorded extensively with ECM, ...

Yelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals

by Mark Sullivan
February 2, 2020

Pianist-composer Yelena Eckemoff is predictably unpredictable. After an early series of piano trio albums she worked with larger ensembles, culminating in the sextet (plus vocalists) of Better Than Gold And Silver (L&H, 2018). After cutting back to a duet with drummer Manu Katché on Colors (L&H, 2019) she returns with a larger band, but with a difference; this is a quartet with double bassist Arild Andersen (her longest collaborator), and drummer/percussionists Jon Christensen and Thomas Strønen. It may ...

Yelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals

by Dan McClenaghan
January 1, 2020

"You're busy appearing or you're busy disappearing." Drummer-bandleader Art Blakey may have said that; if he didn't, he should have. Somebody had to express the importance of presenting your work, for getting it out there to an audience. This goes for virtually any artist in any medium. Double down on that for people who create jazz. Pianist Yelena Eckemoff rolls with the “busy appearing" concept. She is prolific; since her debut recording , Cold Sun (L & H, ...

Percussionist Thomas Stronen Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
October 25, 2011

One of Norway's most prolific drummers, sampling percussionists and composers, Thomas Strønen is the co-founder of Food, along with British saxophonist Iain Ballamy. The group—which, since 2005, has whittled down from an original quartet that also featured Norwegians Arve Henriksen on trumpet and Mats Eilertsen on bass—released its most recent record, Quiet Inlet, in 2010 (its first for the German ECM label), and regularly includes guests that vary from one show to the next. up's sampled improvisational music.

Strønen is ...
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