Mats Eilertsen

With its overt lyricism, strong themes and a sense of perpetual melodic invention, Norwegian saxophonist Trygve Seim’s new album quickly identifies itself as a classic-in-the-making. Themes of dedication run through Seim’s Helsinki Songs album, a set of tunes composed – for the most part – in the Finnish capital, and radiating tributes in many directions. Here are songs referencing Igor Stravinsky and Jimmy Webb, pieces dedicated to each of Seim’s gifted bandmates, and tunes that tip the hat, obliquely, to Ornette Coleman and Bill Evans. The quartet plays superbly throughout, with outstanding solos from leader Seim and pianist Kristjan Randalu. Helsinki Songs was recorded in Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in January 2018 and produced by Manfred Eicher.

SkyDive Trio’s second album ‘Sun Sparkle’ – which arrives three years after its acclaimed predecessor, ‘Sun Moee’ – presents the listener with an intriguing set of paradoxes. A power trio who use full throttle only very sparingly, the band can appear to play loud music quietly, and quiet music, loud, countering jazz subtlety with rock attack. They also partner the relatively clean and melodic sound of Thomas T. Dahl’s guitar with the mountainous riffs and deep, seismic explosions of Mats Eilertsen’s bass, rather as if Pat Metheny was being accompanied by Peter Hook, of Joy Division and New Order. The great Finnish drummer Olavi Louhivuori somehow bridges the aesthetic gap, alternating crunching four-square rhythms with delicately shimmering percussive strokes.

Described by Jazz Times as ‘…one of the next big deals on jazz piano…’, Alexi Tuomarila is amoungst the finest pianists on the European Jazz scene right now. Known for his work with Polish ECM trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, Tuomarila has quietly grown into a musical force to reckon with. A true sculptor of sound, the pianist and composer has the ability to mould awe-inspiring melodic lines with precision and rhythmic finesse, decorated with a vibrant imagination, energy undercut with melancholy.

Sphere is the 3rd album from Finnish pianist, Alexi Tuomarila and his trio comprising bassist Mats Eilertsen and drummer Olavi Louhivuori. The trio are joined by guest trumpeter Verneri Pohjola. Alexi Tuomarila has built a reputation as a fine jazz pianist and was described by Jazz Times as ‘…one of the next big deals on jazz piano’.

After a trilogy of highly successful trio albums, Tord Gustavsen branches off in new directions. His new band adds two players familiar to ECM listeners – bassist Mats Eilertsen and saxophonist Tore Brunborg – and introduces the blues-inflected voice of Kristin Asbjørnsen on Tord’s settings of the poetry of W.H. Auden. Inside the ensemble, duo and trio interaction unfolds, taking off from the clear melodic language of Gustavsen’s songwriting.

Once upon a time, guys like Chet Baker and Charlie Parker would tour as singles, playing wherever they could get a gig, backed by the local jazz hotshots. These days, as often or not, similar ad hoc gatherings result in CDs like this: alto sax legend Sonny Simmons playing a mix of his own tunes and standards, accompanied by three talented Scandinavian musicians who support the saxophonist ably but complacently.

The idiosyncratic Norwegian musician Nils Økland (fiddle / violin / viola d'amore) has had a diverse career. On this sixth album "Kjølvatn" he has put together a brand new band consisting of some of the leading musicians in Norway: Rolf-Erik Nystrom (saxophone), Sigbjørn Apeland (harmonium), Håkon Mørch Stene (percussion), Mats Eilertsen (double bass).

For Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen, the title of his sixth album for ECM has a programmatic significance. "Extended Circle" refers, he says, to the completion of a “double circle” of trilogies: the first with the trio heard on Changing Places, The Ground and Being There, and the second with the quartet (formed inside the expanded ensemble of Restored, Returned in 2009 and then documented on The Well in 2012). Extended Circle opens and closes with a trio piece, while exploring textural and dynamic variations in between. “You come back to the point of departure but with new insight – and things are the same but not the same,” Gustavsen sums up an album that in his view points forward to musical openness, but also back to his 2003 ECM debut.

«Solo for Trio» is Atle Nymo’s first album under his own name, and at the ripe age of 42, the leader at first glance may appear as a late bloomer, a young veteran or possibly something in between. The truth, however, is slightly different. Blowing his way onto Norway’s young and very vital jazz scene with the award-winning band Motif around the turn of the century, Atle Nymo over the following years established himself as one of the strongest tenor sax voices in Scandinavia. While still a music student, he toured Scandinavia with Pat Metheny and Chick Corea as a member of the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and became one of Norway’s most sought-after instrumentalists. His brilliant work can be heard on around 50 albums by a number of artists, including the bands that he still plays in: Ensemble Denada, Motif, I.P.A and Chrome Hill.