By James (JJ Rocks)Johnston
There’s a side of jazz that brings to mind a dimly lit café somewhere in Norway on other side of a hazy blue neon sign. A musical place called “Cool”. A musicians place called “Hot”. This band brings me back to Brubeck, Parker and Miles. Normally they play as a trio, but these guys sometimes have a few guest players on their recordings. The ones on this recording didn’t leave their names, but they are great players. The sax man takes a very melodic solo that shows an incredible ability in the art of anticipating his next musical phrase. With a tone of silk he seems to merrily roll though solos without a hint of improvisational stress. The keyboards float above at first like fluffy clouds adding just the right amount of shade to an already heated up musical incorporation of technique and mood. But when it’s his turn to shine the ivory light, he takes you on his own little musical adventure, while he seems to create his own song within a song.
I’ve always been a big fan of the upright (double) bass. The players of this distinguished instrument are not only judged by their improvisation skills, but for the accuracy of their intonation. To put it plainly, it’s not an easy axe to grind. The vocalist on this recording seems to lie somewhere between Michael Franks and Harry Connick Jr. But he still manages to have his own vibe that displays a great mix between modern and traditional jazz vocal styles. He also does a great job interacting with the sax to form an enjoyable intro and outro to this song.
The guitarist keeps a bed of velvet tone, fills and chords though out the song showing total respect to the melody.
The members of this magnificent trio (minus the added players) are Ole Jorn Myklebust on lead vocals and trumpet, Jan Olav Renvag on double bass, and Asborn Lerheim on guitar. They met in 1997, and have been playing together ever since. After touring clubs and festivals, they now play regular at a club in Oslo, Norway every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. In March 2001 the OJ Trio released their first CD, and it received quite a lot of good reviews.
So sit back and enjoy this wonderful mood setter of a song called “She is mine”.
Free: Download: “She is mine”
If I find out the names of the other guys sitting in on this recording, I’ll publish them in a later issue. If you want to hear more from the band you can visit them at there website below and don’t forget to tell them where you heard them.
- JJ Rocks www.stcroixmusic.com
http://www.garageband.com/artist/oj_trio
October, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment