Jonas Kullhammar/Goran Kajfes/Johan Berthling/Kjell Nordeson: Nacka Forum

Nacka Forum is a moderately raw recording that features a quartet composed of sax, trumpet, bass, and drums. The most distinctive aspect of their group sound is it's "New Thing in Jazz" feel. This disk could have easily been issued on the Impulse! label in 1967. If you dig the raw, untrammelled sonorities introduced to the jazz world by the likes of John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Han Bennink, Don Cherry, or Frank Wright, you'll find plenty here to feed your soul. Saxophonist Jonas Kullhammar and trumpeter Goran Kajfes must have a serious free jazz record collection at home, because both of them have assimilated the lexicon of that period in the history of jazz quite thoroughly into their playing.

The rollicking drum style of Kjell Nordeson ignites the opening track, "Sauerkraut Rock." The mood of the entire album is established with this initial salvo. The main theme of this tune is based on an ostinato expertly laid down by bassist Johan Berthling, which becomes the primary compositional device used throughout the bulk of the pieces. The use of the ostinato brings a dancing quality and provides a sense of propulsion to the overall feel of the quartet, but eventually this device wears thin.

The ostinato was used to great effect by Steve Lacy in the late '60s, in large part due to the subtle rhythmic shifts his ensembles built into their music. This quality eludes Nacka Forum — on every piece the rhythm section is thrusting the beat forward relentlessly—fair enough, but ultimately the music becomes monochromatic and formulaic in nature; not only because of the repetition, but also due to the relationship of the horns to the bass and drums. Every piece seems to be a simple vehicle for the horns to blow on—gratifying for the players, but tedious for the listener. Musicians as gifted and intelligent as these fellows are capable of more, and it would be exciting to hear them stretch out into other compositional forms, and to channel their raw power into less comfortable sonic spaces.

All in all, this disk is a mixed bag. It should be of great interest to fans of Coltrane, Ayler, Cherry, or Shepp, but unfortunately limited to that audience due to their reliance to conventional song forms.

Visit Nacka Forum at: www.moserobie.com and to find out more about Swedish Grammy nominees.

Comments