Jakob Bro - Taking Turns

December 10, 2024

Label: ECM Records, 2024

Personnel - Jakob Bro: guitar; Lee Konitz: alto and soprano saxophone; Bill Frisell: guitar; Jason Moran: piano; Thomas Morgan: bass; Andrew Cyrille: drums.

With Taking Turns, Danish guitarist and composer Jakob Bro presents a fine compendium of engagingly layered compositions recorded 10 years ago in New York. This exceptional record features the late, legendary saxophonist Lee Konitz, with Bro weaving smooth harmonic tapestries alongside fellow guitarist Bill Frisell and pianist Jason Moran. Working on a consistently lucid rhythmic foundation are bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Andrew Cyrille.

“Black is All Colors at Once” opens with the rippling pianism from Moran— who had never worked with Bro before—soon joined by contemplative, arpeggiated guitar layers. Konitz's saxophone melodies float delicately atop, while Cyrille’s understated brushwork provides a subtle rhythmic underpinning. Konitz exhibits his distinctively explorative phraseology throughout but takes center stage on “Milford Sound”, a poignant ballad narrative dedicated both to the late free jazz pioneer Milford Graves and the New Zealand fjord of the same name.

Surprisingly, on the open-ended “Haiti”, Konitz makes a rare appearance on soprano saxophone, adding a playful yet gentle touch to a piece that dances gracefully with amiable charm. The rhythm here suggests a flowing sextuple feel, contrasting with the {3+5} cadence of “Aarhus”. The latter track showcases the ensemble’s dynamic control and cohesion, offering a soaring perspective through its carefully crafted rhythmic drive. In turn, “Pearl River”, evocative of New York’s Chinatown and its Asian emporium, leans into more abstraction and suspension. Here, Bro and Frisell intertwine their guitars to create a beautifully sculpted, textural surface that invites deeper listening.

In “Peninsula”, guitars and piano contribute layers of detail that only add to the overall chemistry. Elevated levels of illumination and relaxation are easily found here, and restraint is a key element of all the tracks in this set. The sax-less closer, “Mar Del Plata”, delivered at a slow 3/4 tempo, is nothing short of stunning, with everyone circling around an endearing melody that refuses to come out of your head.

Abounding in smooth, expressive gestures, Taking Turns is another fundamental touchstone for Bro’s radiating atmospheric style, marking an important phase in his career. It grows more enchanting with every listen, offering both warmth and introspection in equal measure.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Haiti ► 05 - Pearl River ► 07 - Mar Del Plata

Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano - Once Around the Room

November 2, 2022

Label: ECM Records, 2022

Personnel - Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone, tarogato; Jakob Bro: guitar; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Larry Grenadier: double bass; Anders Christensen: electric bass; Joey Baron: drums; Jorge Rossy: drums.

This marvelous album put together by two amazing musicians, the American saxophonist Joe Lovano and the Danish guitarist Jakob Bro, is a homage to the late drummer Paul Motian. The latter’s influence and mannerism are dissolved over six pieces - two by each co-leader, one collective improvisation, and one iconic number from the drummer - devised with a highly personal stamp and nearly telepathic interplay. For this project made in Copenhagen, Lovano and Bro convened an unconventional group with three bassists (Thomas Morgan, Larry Grenadier and Anders Christensen) and two drummers (Joey Baron, Jorge Rossy).

Lovano’s “As It Should Be” opens the album with an entrancing mood via the mind bending combination of dawning calm and a spiritual heft that is not completely devoid of inquiries and challenges. The piece blossoms with a coruscating rhythm, distorted guitar chords and long notes that echo with depth, rambling pass pedaling, and searching tenor lines that fly to the infinite and return. Both drummers end this piece with a similar dynamism as they start off “Drum Music”, a Motian composition where the eccentric sax/guitar coalition brings its authoritative melody to the fore. Employing distortion, Bro puts an experimental spin on it, inspiring Lovano to pour out a few volcanic eruptions with both piercing and deep sounds.

“For the Love of Paul”, another product of Lovano’s mind, is marked by a clearly defined theme, producing a slight yet elastic tension over the unfussy tapestry. The co-leaders, who played together for the first time in 2009, are absolutely phenomenal here, opting for a stream of modern creative ideas. With restless energy, the saxist hooks up avant-garde and post-bop elements over the rippling currents provided by the basses and the spacious, effect-drenched guitar of his associate. It also incorporates a fine dialogue between bass players before the reinstatement of the theme.

Bro’s two cuts are etched with restrained intensity, balancing brain and heart: “Song to an Old Friend” is a heavenly tone poem delivered with some pathos and ravishing lyricism, whereas “Pause” ends up the proceedings in laid-back contemplation. On top of all that, the album includes a collective improvisation - aptly titled “Sound Creation” - with looped electronics, non-static drum activity, and the cathartic dances and unpredictable obliques of Lovano on tarogato (Eastern European woodwind instrument).

Once Around the Room has to be made a priority, and as an inspired work of rare talents, you’ll want to spin it over and over again.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - As it Should Be ► 03- For the Love of Paul ► 04 - Song to an Old Friend ► 05 - Drum Music

Jakob Bro - Uma Elmo

February 5, 2021

Label: ECM Records, 2021

Personnel - Jakob Bro: guitar; Arve Henriksen: trumpet; Jorge Rossy: drums.

The music of Danish jazz guitarist Jakob Bro has the ability of giving me inner peace, which is something that not every musician is apt to. His new ECM release, Uma Elmo, consists of nine pieces, old and new, that explore new avenues and create impressive atmospheres with quietly involving sounds and textures. Bro opts for the trumpet-guitar-drums format here, recording for the first time with the Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and the Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy. The album title refers to the middle names of his two children, with a newborn serving as inspiration as well as the current state of the world.

Having been included in the 2008 album The Stars Are All New Songs with the late Paul Motian, “Reconstructing a Dream” appears here surrounded by a crystalline aura, whose stillness veers from introspective to slightly brooding in the last segment. Bro’s fine loops are followed with minimal gestures by Rossy, whose playing invokes Motian, and the soaring lines of Henriksen, who also speaks clearly on the elegiac “To Stanko”, even when hushing, murmuring and crying. This piece, a dedication to the late trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, also involves classical-inspired guitar fingerpicking and understated percussion as part of its aesthetic concept.

Another dedication is “Music For Black Pigeons”, a piece written for the alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, with whom Bro used to have interesting conversations. Obeying to its own cadence, this number boasts a beautiful melody scattered throughout and a loose brushwork for a soft and fluid illumination.

Both “Beautiful Day” and “Slaraffenland” had been previously recorded, while “Morning Song” is a brand new mind-pacifier that sonically describes wide-open landscapes awakening for life. The trio seems to breathe in sync with the earth.

“Housework” is another great new composition. The group displays the same quietude and disposition for openness, circularity and immensity, but explores some different timbres, with the trumpeter emitting a droning vibration like a didgeridoo and the guitarist making a tasteful use of electronics and looped sequences.

Pronounced with an unshakeable serenity, Bro’s meditations are rich in both improvisation and discipline. An artistic enlightenment with so many small things to be appreciated. Like in life.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Reconstructing a Dream ► 02 - To Stanko ► 05 - Housework

Jakob Bro - Returnings

March 19, 2018

Label: ECM, 2018

Personnel – Jakob Bro: guitar; Palle Mikkelborg: trumpet; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Jon Christensen: drums.

Danish guitarist Jakob Bro might not be a heavyweight like Rosenwinkel, Frisell, or Metheny, but is a legitimate owner of a sui generis sound whose rich tones usually translates into intimate musical settings.

On Returnings, his third release on ECM, the guitarist plays alongside the sought-after American bassist Thomas Morgan, a regular in his bands, and a pair of veteran musicians: Danish trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen. The latter returns after a one-year hiatus, retrieving the drum chair that, two years ago, was occupied by Joey Baron on the previous recording, Streams.

The album starts with “Oktober”, a compassionate, stagnant song previously recorded in the album Gefion, and rearranged at this point with a combination of idyllic, cordial, and intensely emotional manners. The balmy trumpet-led melodies tell a story, conveying a comforting tonality and reinforcing what Bro had delivered in the original version.

On the following tune” Strands”, the quartet presses on with the contagious languor that characterizes their routines. Sticking to light textures, Bro fingerpicks beautiful voicings while Morgan’s touches show how wide can the possibilities be when he’s around. The percussion, simultaneously unobtrusive and unflashy, really makes the difference in the creation of an ultrapolished fascination that gains further emphasis throughout the melodious routes of “Lyskaster”, another original from Gefion. The piece, strongly influenced by folk and pop idioms, have all the four instrumentalists taking part in a circular congruity.

Although composed for the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun, we can picture icy landscapes while listening to “Hamsun”. This guitar/bass duet, partly inspired by Paul Motian, has the bassist nodding to the lyric suggestions of the bandleader.

Standing out from the remaining tunes due to a more experimental sonority, the title track features Bro’s curious electronic effects, Christensen’s unflappable drumming, Morgan's unremittingly spot-on bass notes, and the precise trumpet lines uttered by Mikkelborg, often mirroring or matching the guitarist’s melodic suggestions. Mikkelborg co-wrote this song with Bro, but also supplies a couple more compositions of his own: “View” and “Youth”. The former defies form as it operates outside the conventional, having drums and bass pairing down to create moments of orbital suspension. The latter, solely outlined by guitar and trumpet, sheds tears as it evokes nostalgia, wistfulness, and abandonment.

With mood transcending any language or tempo, Returnings draws emotional vulnerabilities from the prevailing, slow-moving instrumental streams. This is a great record to have at hand whenever you need to disconnect from the ‘outside’ world.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Oktober ►05 - Lyskaster ►07 - Returnings

Jakob Bro - Streams

January 2, 2017

Jakob Bro: guitar; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Joey Baron: drums.

Jakob Bro is a Danish jazz guitarist with a highly identifiable sound and deep intimacy inherent to his poetic approach and pallid textures. Streams, his second album on ECM, is a more-than-competent follow-up to Gefion, released one year ago on the same label.
In this transcendent body of work, Bro kept the outstanding bassist Thomas Morgan on his side, giving the drummer’s chair to Joey Baron, who replaced Jon Christensen.

“Opal” starts with a comprehensive circumspection. The trio embarks on a touching quietude that envelops us profoundly, instigating us to fly, open our hearts and souls, and gaze the infinite light beams that can traverse the scattered clouds up in the sky.
“Heroines” assumes a song format, shinning with Bro’s blissful melodies, Morgan’s dedicated bass notes, and Baron’s frequent gentile ruffs. It conveys a glowing harmony that I refuse to let go, even when the following track arrives.

The relentlessly atmospheric “PM Dream”, dedicated to Paul Motian, expands horizons after developing delicate layers of guitar-synth that fall on top of bass free moves and pertinent percussion. Baron almost feels geometric in its strokes, eagerly trying to give the last retouches on a flawless canvas.
Cerebrally designed, “Full Moon Europa”, precedes the surprisingly groovy “Shell Pink”, which gracefully flows amidst the floating sounds created by Bro’s guitar fingerings. The rhythm section boasts an enviable tightness, fundamental to attain this level of quality.
The indelible classical undertones of “Heroines” echoes again, this time in an enchanting solo version.

Jakob Bro relies heavily on his peers to create an elegant album, free of individual exhibitionism, which is an assured itinerary for his compositional concepts. The collective does miracles as it distinctively shapes idle, hypnotizing, nocturnal, and intellectual streams of pacific nature.

Favorite Tracks:
01 – Opal ► 02 – Heroines ► 05 – Shell Pink