Search - Ketil Bjornstad :: Sea 2

Jazz anyone?

R. J. Brennan | St. Peters, New South Wales Australia | 07/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have owned this CD for a few years now & am always compelled to put it on & 'discover it again'. Listening to it recently, I came to the assumption that this is not jazz or classical or any other genre for that matter... just four musicians distinctly in tune with one another & with an enormous depth in their musical heritage. It also reminded me of how music, like all art, is purely subjective & how this particular style of music (almost like an abstract painting) moves me but not necessarily others. This CD is where European Baroque & Romanatic music meets the neo classicism of the 1960's free jazz movement.
The music is a journey, unstructured but never boring. The bulk of the CD sounds as it is titled.... unpredictable & beautiful. Rypdal's guitar at times conjures up images of a swirling tornado, ripping water from the guts of the ocean only to be assuaged by the sweeping melancholia of David Darling's cello. "Laila" is a case in point where the quartet open up with something I can only describe as frenzied lonlieness. It would be remiss of me & downright disrespectful not to mention Jon Christensen, the drummer. I read a review of a Thomasz Stanko Cd (From the Green Hill) where the reviewer said quite simply about Christensen that he has "become so adept at his craft that he only plays the music now" That, I feel was a profound statement, & it is never more apparent than his emotional percussive intro to "The Mother"
This is a special CD full of emotional crescendos & wonderful sounds. I would recommend other ECM releases such as Thomasz Stanko's "Litania" or Paul Bley's "In the Evenings Out There" as music with equal depth. If you are after something a little more predictable but no less beautiful, purchase Ketil Bjornstad's & David Darling' "The River" or "Epigraphs". Completely faultless!!"