Plunge Jon3 11.vii.11

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Jez Nelson presents a performance by Swedish trio Plunge in collaboration with pianist Bobo Stenson. Plunge combine free improvisation with a Nordic sensibility characterised by slowly developing forms and delicate textures. Stenson's understated intensity has been a prominent part the ECM label's catalogue for 40 years, as a sideman to artists such as Charles Lloyd and Tomasz Stanko, and with his own trio. His work with Plunge stretches back to 2002, with this concert recorded at Hamburg Jazz Days festival last October, featuring Andreas Andersson on saxophone, Matthias Hjorth on bass and drummer Peter Nilsson.

Also on the programme, saxophonist Soweto Kinch visits Jazz on 3's Kevin Le Gendre to find out how jazz reviews get written.

.... more wispy ecm nordic noodling? ... only jazz i heard in USA was on satellite radio, non stop hard bop [wonderful] and two cd's i scored with the help of boredee Chas in Amoeba in LA [go there!] - a Ran Blake, on which more later and the new Mehldau ...

[Byas'd Opinion]

Going by their Glasgow gig (without Stenson) a couple of months back,Plunge have got a distinctive take on wispy ECM nordic noodling. Predominantly long, predominantly slow pieces based on the repetition and elaboration of a few simple phrases. I enjoyed them, but I can see they won't be to everyone's taste. Ornette's Golden Circle Trio play The Necks songbook?

The Herald's jazz critic liked them less than I did:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/music-reviews/plunge-trio-glasgow-art-club-1.1088827

http://byased.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/review-plunge/

[Serial_Apologist]

.... more wispy ecm nordic noodling? ... only jazz i heard in USA was on satellite radio, non stop hard bop [wonderful] and two cd's i scored with the help of boredee Chas in Amoeba in LA [go there!] - a Ran Blake, on which more later and the new Mehldau ...

Glad to have you back, Calum, and ready to take the Plunge, . Hope you've managed to get all that dust out of your lungs!

S-A

[handsomefortune]

> Amoeba <

i think there's one of those in sf too, calum da jazbo ..... (you could 'lose' oodles of time/$s in there).

i'm afraid i'm a bit behind when it comes to jez, as have been stuck in an ethiopian music frenzy, ever since guest shebaka hutchins shared his personal shuffle selections with jez, (and r3 listeners). googlemania's temporarily set in.......

still, 'wispy noodlings' doesn't sound that promising ..... so, perhaps i'll stick with the jerky ethiopian rhythms/sax a bit longer.......... (any excuse) monday might be better for 'plunge' wispyness?

where's grippie btw? great to see so many familiar names on here though -

[Tom Audustus]

Really looking forward to this. I find Nordic jazz fascinating music and Bobo Stenson's albums in particular. Cantando is one of my most played CDs.

[charles t]

Tom Adj: I wanted to post something Scandi (rhymes: Scanty) ... it just ain't happenin'

Wanted to do an A to Z appreciation beginning with

ATOMIC (Fredrik Ljungkvist - reeds
Magnus Broo - trumpet
Håvard Wiik - piano
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - bass
Paal Nilssen-Love - drums)

but find myself skipping over Supersilent w/Arve Henriksen and those cats and can only arrive no further than ( Bugge)

Wesseltoft (early releases particularly).

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yep handsomefortune, i did lose hours and $$$ in the SF Amoeba some years back and only bodily frailty saved me this time .... but not Chas who persevered ...

i have a couple of Stenson albums but not listened in a while ..

thanks S_A and er no i'm still coffin it up .... after all the thin air in the mountains the dust in Phoenix was truly dreadful ... Phoenix is a huge sprawl entirely dependent on air conditioning; alas not enough time to find any gigs ... and not so much on the radio there this time ... but jazz on the air in LA was cool ...

btw the programme for the next Sedona Jazz Festival would not get any one here out of bed, unless you like Los Lobos ... the same commercialism is there too

[Serial_Apologist]

> Amoeba <

i think there's one of those in sf too, calum da jazbo ..... (you could 'lose' oodles of time/$s in there).

i'm afraid i'm a bit behind when it comes to jez, as have been stuck in an ethiopian music frenzy, ever since guest shebaka hutchins shared his personal shuffle selections with jez, (and r3 listeners). googlemania's temporarily set in.......

still, 'wispy noodlings' doesn't sound that promising ..... so, perhaps i'll stick with the jerky ethiopian rhythms/sax a bit longer.......... (any excuse) monday might be better for 'plunge' wispyness?

where's grippie btw? great to see so many familiar names on here though -

At last! - and a big welcome, handsomefortune.

, or even

S-A

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

sorry the first half hour did my head in and i shut it down ...aimless melodic snatches and ratatas going wispily into the void ....self indulgence?

[handsomefortune]

thanks serial apologist,

meanwhile, i have been listening, and lurking a bit, and there's been some interesting threads on this forum imo.

'los lobos' v 'plunge' ...... mmmm, probably los lobos if i was choosing!

'plunge' wasn't 'wispy' exactly, just monotonous to my ears.....more of a leak, or a puddle, than a plunge. may be you'd have to be in a different mood to enjoy it, have different expectations initially perhaps?

[charles t]

I, too, was predisposed...anticipating... this 'plunge' into Nordic climes. Excellent live sound which I suppose one should expect from that part of the world.

However, latent (sonic) memories of John Surman kept interfering/interrupting what I was hearing.

[hackneyvi]

I seem to enjoy music where I can catch every note and the slower passages of the first piece with the bass and percussion are appealling. Also, the opening of the second, particularly the bowed bass. But the saxophonist seems intent on sticking to little runs in the middle register, even riffing long around one note. The pianist meanwhile indulges in somewhat remorseless plinking, up and down the keyboard with the odd blues-y dischord that really stand thirstily out as some of the very few memorable notes. To me, one is the sound of someone stuck, the other of someone lost. (And, the one never finds the other)

Overall, though it does have speed and volume, at times, it seems rather flaccid. Much too soft. An absorbing bass solo in the third piece has the welcome sticks resume with subtle clicks at its end but then the powerless rambles of the piano reoccupy the sound.

I do very much like the drummer's ice-crack taps at the cymbals, a very evocative sound.

[Serial_Apologist]

To me, one is the sound of someone stuck, the other of someone lost. (And, the one never finds the other)

Hey - maybe the one could do with a bit of the other?