Fredrik Lundin - 5 Go Adventuring Again (2017)

Fredrik Lundin

Fredrik Lundin - saxophones

Tomasz Dąbrowski - trumpet

Petter Hängsel - trombone, synth
Joel Illerhag - bass

Anders Provis - drums, percussion
Jesper Løvdal - contrabass clarinet (9)

5 Go Adventuring Again

STUNT 17182

By Adam Baruch

This is an album by veteran Danish saxophonist/composer Fredrik Lundin and his quintet which also includes Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski, Swedish trombonist Petter Hängsel, Bazantar (five string acoustic bass) player Joel Illerhag and Danish drummer Anders Provis. Danish contrabass clarinet player Jesper Løvdal guests on one track. The album presents ten original compositions, all by Lundin.

The music is dense and complex, dark and epic, close to contemporary Classical music although undoubtedly Jazzy at the core. The sound of the quintet majestically rises to the level of an orchestral reverberation, with the brass instruments playing unisono riffs behind the solos and the slowly moving melody lines are supported by a brilliant mixture of electronic and acoustic drums and mindboggling bass, or rather Bazantar pulsations. At times it all sounds like a bizarre funeral procession or a very drunk circus band, but the music is absolutely dazzling in its power and glory.

The level of individual statements is also astonishing. Dąbrowski, as usual, plays some incredible trumpet parts, but Lundin and Hängsel are there with him playing not less amazingly. Illerhag is one of the most impressive bass players I have had the pleasure to hear in a long while and Provis pushes the music right to the very edge. But first and foremost the ensemble collectivism these incredible musicians are able to achieve here is way beyond just a sum if its ingredients, which of course adds another layer of significance to this recording.

Overall this is an incredible album, full of superb music and virtuosic performances, which deserves to be heard by as many music connoisseurs around the world as possible. It is absolutely European in its intrinsic elegance and aesthetics, with a strong emphasis on Nordic atmosphere and melancholy and could have never been envisaged and created anywhere else. It is also a monumental road sign as to the future of Jazz, which is moving further and further away from its stale traditionalism towards creating a completely revamped idiom, which is multicultural, cross-genre and open to constant change and progress and deep spirituality. Wholeheartedly recommended to anybody, who really cares about music and where it is going!