Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Moller/Balke/Lund: Trialogue

274

Moller/Balke/Lund: Trialogue

By

Sign in to view read count
Moller/Balke/Lund: Trialogue
Jon Balke has risen to attention with his large ensemble albums for ECM. His Magnetic North Orchestra and Oslo 13 bristle with a provocative mix of percussion, punchy brass sections, electronic textures and placid piano interludes. This trio date, with Danish tenor saxophonist Lars Moller and drummer Morten Lund, distills those large ensembles into a stripped down form, while losing none of the intrigue. Recorded in 1999 but not released until 2003, Trialogue documents the trio’s improvised studio meeting. The two long tracks, clocking in at over twenty minutes apiece, and one shorter one, at eight minutes, flow from winding, all-acoustic exploration and whispered ambience to electro-acoustic duels.

On most of his records, Balke amply uses synthesizers. That symbol of the electronic age has been both boon and bane for musicians. It offers an endless new sound palette, but can be a crutch for real invention, or worse, completely dominate an ensemble. Its smooth, almost plastic tones can sound like an alien presence in more traditional jazz contexts. (Witness the bizarre, but successful David S. Ware quartet album, Corridors & Parallels, where Matthew Shipp creates unsettling sonic environments with which the acoustic musicians interact.) Balke, here and on all his recordings, mines the synth’s electronic colors and possibilities with taste and imagination, and often becomes the catalyst that develops the improvisations.

Balke’s broad, hollow tones, wisps, pulsating beds, and organ effects challenge Moller and Lund to interact in new ways, most apparent on “Chapter Two” and “Three.” The addictive “Two” slithers along as a minimalist rhythm jam. Balke sets the mood with a scratching, dripping beat, a spare bass pulse and tinkling piano fragments. Moller adapts and transforms his sax into a popping, sucking, moaning percussion device, while Lund restrains the drum’s role as rhythmic front man, content with accenting and underlining the groove.

”Three” starts as a sax and synth duet, Moller blowing cascading smears of notes against Balke’s stream of squelches and solar wind swoops. Out of a low-volume thicket of distorted piano and sax squiggles, Lund builds a sludgey groove. Balke soon inserts dub-wise warbling bass, and Moller simmers behind them. Eventually Balke laces in aggressively dissonant blasts, dissolving the fabric of the beat, and paving the way for a dramatic climax.

In places Trialogue feels like a scattered collection of ideas, for the trio roams so freely from episode to episode; such inconsistency is a hallmark of freely improvised music. The focus of “Two” makes it the most successful track, but “One” and “Three” do supply more daring and more surprises.

Moller, Balke and Lund show themselves to be ultra-sensitive improvisers, and they react meaningfully to the electronic presence, generating for their instruments new roles. Improvisation is a two-way street; it can reinforce old habits, but also open new paths. Trialogue marvelously documents how spontaneous interaction pushes players in new directions.

Visit Imogena and Lars Moller on the web.

Track Listing

1.Trialogue Chapter 1 2.Trialogue Chapter 2 3.Trialogue Chapter 3

Personnel

Lars Moller: tenor saxophone; Jon Balke: piano and keyboards; Morten Lund: drums

Album information

Title: Trialogue | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: Imogena

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Fiesta at Caroga
Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective
Fellowship
David Gibson
Immense Blue
Olie Brice / Rachel Musson / Mark Sanders

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.