Record Reviews

ALOFT QUARTET ~ FIRST YEAR AMP 020 (Barcode: 662578831143) ~ DENMARK ~ Jazz Recorded: 2017 Released: 2018 This is the debut album by a young Scandinavian Jazz quartet called Aloft QuartetFind albums by this artist, which comprises of Danish saxophonist Simon BalvigFind albums by this artist, Danish pianist Rasmus SorensenFind albums by this artist, Swedish bassist Jon HenrikssonFind albums by this artist and Norwegian drummer Amund KleppanFind albums by this artist. The album presents eight original compositions, four by Balvig, two by Henriksson and one each by Sorenson and Kleppan. The music sits well within the modern mainstream melodic Jazz idiom, spiced with the Scandinavian flair full of melancholy and lyricism and distinct sound ambience a la ECMFind albums on this label. The tunes are all well structured and coherent harmonically, which turns listening to the album into a pleasant experience. The individual performances are all solid and technically perfect. Balvig is especially impressive on the baritone sax, Sorensen plays wonderful arpeggios and is exquisitely melodic, Henriksson is also very melodic and solid, keeping the quartet together and Kleppan is a versatile and precise rhythm keeper. Together the quartet sounds like a well oiled music machine, which considering the young age of these musicians is praiseworthy. Overall this is a promising debut album, which shows lots of potential for the future. The level of the young musicians today is constantly getting higher and debut albums are often hardly distinguishable from those recorded by veterans. Definitely worth investigating!

Updated: 16/02/2018Posted: 16/02/2018

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