Lage Lund Foolhardy

The back story for Lage Lund's sixth Criss Cross recording dates to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Lund - a native of Skien, Norway who'd lived in the U.S. since 1995 - had just returned to his homeland with his wife and two daughters. With school on hiatus, the family had to improvise an at-home curriculum.

The tenor sound of Seamus Blake is always a treat – and he really stretches out here on a set of long, live tracks with a great group! Most titles go way past the ten minute mark, and the always-inventive Blake manages to make plenty happen with all that time – working deftly in a group that features piano from David Kikoski, and some great guitar interplay with Lage Lund – whose tones ring out strongly on the lead of most tracks! Titles include "Fear Of Rooming", "Amuse Bouche", "Consequence", and "Subterfuge".

The tenor sound of Seamus Blake is always a treat – and he really stretches out here on a set of long, live tracks with a great group! Most titles go way past the ten minute mark, and the always-inventive Blake manages to make plenty happen with all that time – working deftly in a group that features piano from David Kikoski, and some great guitar interplay with Lage Lund – whose tones ring out strongly on the lead of most tracks! Titles include "Fear Of Rooming", "Amuse Bouche", "Consequence", and "Subterfuge".

The tenor sound of Seamus Blake is always a treat – and he really stretches out here on a set of long, live tracks with a great group! Most titles go way past the ten minute mark, and the always-inventive Blake manages to make plenty happen with all that time – working deftly in a group that features piano from David Kikoski, and some great guitar interplay with Lage Lund – whose tones ring out strongly on the lead of most tracks! Titles include "Fear Of Rooming", "Amuse Bouche", "Consequence", and "Subterfuge".

From Ike Quebec recommending Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell to Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff to Kenny Drew convincing every jazz star passing through Copenhagen to let Nils Winther record their shows, jazz labels have a rich history of receiving A&R help from musicians already on their label. So it was when Sasha Berliner raved about Norwegian guitarist Lage Lund. One quick listen to Lage’s fluid, distinctive lines and exquisite taste on guitar and we were hooked. In classic JMI fashion, we matched him in a trio with other favorites we wanted on the label.

Terrible Animals is perhaps the most compositionally ambitious and daringly performed of Lage Lund's five albums on Criss Cross.

'Terrible Animals' is perhaps the most compositionally ambitious and daringly performed of Lage Lund's five albums on Criss Cross. He's joined by a never-before-convened, top-of-the-pyramid rhythm section (Sullivan Fortner, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Tyshawn Sorey, drums). The 39-year-old presents ten far-flung originals that elicit the full measure of their creativity over the 68-minute program, spurring Lund, who makes ingenious use of effects within his flow, to some of his most dynamic and varied playing on record.