Valleys & Mountains

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Scandinavia breeds a special openness in jazz. At its best, it mixes obvious influences from genres like funk, rock and jazz as well as a myriad more eclectic inspirations to make serious, very diverse music. Liable to be angular and atonal one minute and stark and ambient the next, it is nothing if not utterly original. A classic example of the willingness to listen and absorb can be found in this latest collection by Scandinavian trio Rymden—Swedish for "space."

Bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström were once the rhythm section for an earlier great European jazz piano trio, e.s.t., which dissolved in the wake of the shocking 2008 accidental scuba diving death of its star pianist Esbjörn Svensson). Rymden's piano player Bugge Wesseltoft is the founder of Jazzland Recordings, and has played with various other groups, recorded solo piano albums and has collaborated with many of Norway's leading jazz musicians including saxophonist Jan Garbarek and bassist Arild Andersen.

Valleys & Mountains is focused on future sounds rather than idealizing the past. Opener "The Hike" starts with seesawing electronics, which then moves into genial passages that have the feel of a rock guitar riff translated to piano. That winds down for the first of several near pauses. A piano chord repeats, while drums pelt all around before guest guitarist John Scofield enters playing squiggles, a groove line and finally a near rock solo as the tune, having taken on a funky edge slowly returns.

Recorded in Riksmixingsverket in Stockholm and mixed at Studio Tonkontrol in Gothenburg by Ake Linton, the captured dynamics are outstanding—another admirable quality of Scandinavian jazz recordings. Steady string grunts that Berglund elicits from bowing his bass are the rhythm behind "Milam Bardo"—the album's only track under five minutes—around which Wesseltoft sparsely improvises an appealing, cadenced melody. In "Ro" the trio drift into a spacious, reflective melodic landscape familiar to anyone acquainted with jazz from Scandinavia, with Wesseltoft leading the way. Berglund solos while Öström using brushes keeps up a steady rustle. More thought-provoking than downbeat, Valleys & Mountains shows the deep musical connection this threesome have perfected. Bold and energetic improvisation from an accomplished trio. © Robert Baird/Qobuz