Search - Markus Stockhausen, Andersen, Heral :: Karta

European improvisational by some old hands

THX1138b | NY USA | 05/31/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Trumpet, bass, percussion, guitar. All on equal footing and played by some old hands at the game.



The CD opens with an atmospheric number and the tunes become progressively more open, take on a bit of fire, then it closes on two more structured, melodic pieces. There is much group improv. The interplay amoung the musicians is relaxed and dynamic at once.



Arlid Andersen's bass is strong throughout, he seems to be driving much of the session. Stockhausen is clean and precise, conservitave in his use of effects. Heral's percussion is much in the lines opened up by Paul Motian and Jon Christensen. He doesn't spend a lot of time keeping time. And Rypdal is Rypdal, a force to condend with in any case and a vital element here. When he steps out of the background the whole scene changes.



It's the sort of music new-agers call jazz and jazzers don't. It's Improvisational music with jazz roots, more European than US. It is more free than bop, more strucured than "free" and more relaxed than fusion. If you've ever heard the early ECM group "Masqualero" you will find similarities here.



And it gets better with age. I've gone back to this after a few years and it has not gone stale or lost its edge."

And even better...

Gordon Axmann | Cologne, Germany | 07/24/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Hey, KARTA is good, but what is even better is the new CD "Close to You" - and "Solo I". Both only available from the German Amazon Web site. But I've been told that this will change in future..."Close to You" is incredibly good. Spiritual music of a power and presence like I've never heard before:http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005NWFT/"