reviews
Torben Snekkestad – Conic Folded
Inspired by Jimmy Giuffre’s trio with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, Norwegian Torben Snekkestad – here featured on saxophones and clarinet – releases his first solo CD after having honed his skills in various positions, either relative to jazz or chamber music: he can play with the London Improvisers Orchestra and The Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen with the same confidence. In Conic Folded he’s escorted by compatriot pianist Jon Balke (of ECM reputation) and Danish bassist Jonas Westergaard, who has worked with Oliver Lake and John Tchicai, among others. While partially fulfilling promises of refined seclusions and typical suggestions of present-day Scandinavia’s instrumental idioms, the album features several events that might disconcert those expecting a mere collection of smart tunes diluted in reverberant silences. This thickly backboned line-up is characterized, to a degree, by a measure of watchful sullenness.
The opening “September” is informed by a sense of imminence - although perceived in aware tranquillity - as rarefied touches of bass and even scarcer chords underline Snekkestad’s sharp delivery in a crepuscular setting. The two episodes titled “Francis Faced” explore the interrelation between piano (prepared or less) and bowed bass, whereas the leader chirps around the extremes of registers, a highly strung messenger of semi-drunk wisdom. “Seated Man” is a soliloquy that allows us to scan the subtle nuances of pitch as a complement to the melodic aspect of reed-based jargon, a fragile tune which calls to mind native American ceremonials and wooden flutes. “Noodles Or Icecream, Sir?” tends to a sort of pale-yellowing of the sonic landscape at first, then reunites the musicians in an elegant encounter where unsentimental fragments and elegiac progressions succeed without an actual appreciation of their consecutiveness, a thematic orientation always lurking behind a corner nonetheless. “Zobob” throws the listener back in the arms of reality via opinionated phrases and decentralized harmonies with a modicum of slanted swing; instead, the title track is a lesson in stifled loquaciousness, Snekkestad whirling around in mesmeric spirals then placing well-timed callout lines just before Balke joins him in an undernourished counterpoint where both seem to accept responsibilities as masters of a still-to-be-labelled derivation of contemporary jazz.
“E.P. Flowers”, in its turbulent succession of coils and twists, is a homage to Evan Parker, while the nostalgic aura of “Icon” stands perhaps as the record’s most considerable moment, the marvellous summit of three sensitive souls explicated through a purposeful approach to the composition, whose emotional qualities remain evident despite the obvious lack of “easy harmonic paths” to follow. This kind of stringent grace is perhaps the overall best attribute of this group. “Undercurrents” is an ominously consequential study on the combination of string resonance and sax overtones – think Organum remixed by Manfred Eicher – which mutates into a concoction of zither-like emissions and Stephen Scott-ish radiance, but with a higher level of insecurity. A gorgeous piece, the perfect preamble to the conclusive “Løvetann” where the principal is again left alone to ponder about the nakedness of significance in private reflections comparable to the diffident lamentations of an introverted seeker of visions.
The Spartan daintiness of Conic Folded definitely contributes to a great beginning of 2009 as far as trios are concerned. Torben Snekkestad’s art is for real, and this is a superb debut.
~ Massimo Ricci
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Not much into new jazz these days, but this sounds really interesting. Any idea who distributes, Max?
Al, for some strange reason my post didn’t accept the link to the label at first (now it did!).
No idea if ILK has some distribution, though.