Lage Lund Delivers Another!
Anthony R. Guarriello | Rutherfordton NC | 03/01/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Well I'v just received my copy of Lage Lund's newest offering for the Criss Cross Jazz label Unlikely Stories. I'v listened to it now several times & I think that it's a intelligent mature piece of work from one of jazz's rising stars on the electric guitar. This album finds Lund stripping down from quintet to quartet & it features musicians that Lund has worked with before. Bill Stewart on drums was on Seamus Blake's last two albums for Criss Cross Way out Willy & Bellwether both feature Lund on guitar, "both are worth checking out by the way". The bassist Ben Street works regularly with Lage in David Sanchez's group their lastest work Cultural Survival was a great album. The only guy that hasn't worked with Lage much is pianist Edward Simone but Lage is quoted in the linear notes saying he had wanted to have Simone on piano because he was a strong player & Lund admired his playing and thought he would be right for the music. Lage also says these are the types of compositional devices he's working with now. The album leads off with Swagger a medium tempo swinger that begins with Stewart alone establishing the groove Lund & Simone voice a serene melody in unison which allows a funky 6/4 figure to emerge for bass & piano. Next up is Folly which is personally one of my current favorite tracks. Here each part has spaces built in where other parts can come in & fill, a experiment with form harmonically & melodically. Next is the lively tune Worms a funky odd meter piece in 9 or three bars of triplets, the title refers to the way the melody moves very stepwise. 12 Beats is a straight forward blowing tune with a brazilian lilt and some neat unison passages played by the whole band between soloists. TruckStop Queen is a beautiful ballad written for Lund's wife which begins with Lund unaccompanied setting the mood for the haunting rubato that prevails this tone poem. Drum starts dark & ominous which gives way to a knotty melody played by piano & guitar, bassist Ben Street gets to blow on this tune with a fat clear tone like Larry Grenadier, the bass solo gives way to a swinging piano solo by simone & Lund, both solos are great. Life At The Bottom of a Lake is a floating ballad. The last track What We See has contrasting sections from completely different worlds that despite their different origins somehow combine, the A section is a loose 12/8 triplet feel & the B section called by Lund "the german section" for its tight militaristic highly regimented rhythm. The song is basically in two keys at once at all times so there's lots of tension. Overall I would highly recommend this album to fans of great jazz guitar playing as well as fans of great modern jazz. I say this is not casual easy listening but rather heady modern jazz by one of the musics rising stars. Support Lage Lund in his quest for the perfect music. Check this out!"
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1