Haftor Medbøe and Jacob Karlzon: Haftor Medbøe and Jacob Karlzon (Copperfly)

 |   |  1 min read

Hope
Haftor Medbøe and Jacob Karlzon: Haftor Medbøe and Jacob Karlzon (Copperfly)

In keeping with our name – and love for the 10'' vinyl format – Elsewhere is pleased to point readers to this very pleasant limited-edition hand-numbered 10'' vinyl (with a digital download which includes an extra track) by this guitar and piano duo.

Norwegian/Scottish guitarist Haftor Medbøe and Swedish pianist Jacob Karlzon met 15 years ago at the Islay Jazz Festival in the Hebrides 15 years ago but the long-projected collaboration didn't come about until last year and these works were premiered at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival.

Given their backgrounds – Medbøe having recorded with various Norwegian artists and now a jazz musician in residence and associate professor at Edinburgh's Napier University; Kalzlon equally accomplished and having played with Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler and Billy Cobham among others – it will be no surprise to learn that these are four meditative, spacious and quiet duets.

But the emotional coolness of much austere Scandinavian and European jazz isn't evident in these more romantically inclined pieces with telling titles: Waiting, Hope, Tranquil and Return.

Tranquil at the midpoint is elegantly spare to the point of delicious evaporation, but behind Medbøe's almost pointillistic and fluid playing Karlzon's piano lays out a delightfully slow and stately backdrop. The melody is so effortless it begs for lyrics to evoke pastoral reflection.

Return begins slightly more flighty and upbeat to fulfill the promise of its title and then really gets joyful.

And the bonus download track Happiness – with a somewhat intrusive vocal part by a woman singer, unnamed – evokes a mood of contentment more than effusiveness. She does seem an unnecessary element in an album which was doing just fine without a vocal part. So maybe we retract that earlier observation?

This is a pleasant, considered cycle and you can sample Hope from mini-album at Elsewhere and pre-order a copy of the tasty 10'' vinyl (released April 5) here.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Jazz at Elsewhere articles index

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Dexter Gordon: Go (Blue Note)

RECOMMENDED RECORD: Dexter Gordon: Go (Blue Note)

In one iconic photo by Herman Leonard taken in New York in 1948, the cool of Dexter Gordon -- his cigarette smoke coiling up above him -- came to symbolise and codify the image of jazz for many.... > Read more

CHARLIE HUNTER, INTERVIEWED (1999): Has guitar. crosses over

CHARLIE HUNTER, INTERVIEWED (1999): Has guitar. crosses over

Five years ago, in a smart career move, hot young jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter crossed from the jazz margins into the mainstream with a cover of Nirvana's Come As You Are on his first album for... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

THE SOUND OF THE PAST COMING ALIVE: The Whittaker's Musical Museum on Waiheke

THE SOUND OF THE PAST COMING ALIVE: The Whittaker's Musical Museum on Waiheke

The journey takes less than an hour from downtown Auckland, but at its end you have stepped back in time. Here the sounds of the 19th century fill the air: the rich swell of notes from a... > Read more

UTE LEMPER INTERVIEWED (2003): The ice maiden cometh

UTE LEMPER INTERVIEWED (2003): The ice maiden cometh

Midnight on a warm Wednesday in New York City, the Gotham of the Great Republic. The German cabaret maven has come home early from a recording studio across town so, sure, she has plenty of time to... > Read more