The Squid's Ear Magazine


Cosmic Ear ( Bothen / Gustfsson / Kajfe / Zetterberg / Romero): Traces (We Jazz)

A rich and spiritually resonant quintet featuring Christer Bothén, Mats Gustafsson, Goran Kajfeš, Juan Romero, and Kansan Zetterberg, drawing inspiration from Don Cherry's transcultural legacy as they weave meditative global grooves with donso n'goni, karignan, electronics, and deep improvisation into a vibrant and exploratory sonic journey.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Christer Bothen-donso n'goni, bass clarinet, contra bass clarinet, piano

Mats Gustafsson-tenor saxophone, flute, slide flute, Ab clarinet, live electronics, organ, harmonica

Goran Kajfes-trumpet, pocket trumpet, synth, electronics, percussion

Juan Romero-congas, berimbau and percussion

Torbjourn Zetterberg-bass, donso n'goni

Marianne NaLemwo-karignan


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Insert with liner notes by John Corbett.

UPC: 4062548112061

Label: We Jazz
Catalog ID: WJCD 076CD
Squidco Product Code: 36188

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2025
Country: Finland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Studio Ingrid, in Stockholm, Sweden, by Gustav Lindelow.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Cosmic Ear is a new group bringing together Christer Bothén, Mats Gustafsson, Goran Kajfeš, Kansan Zetterberg, and Juan Romero. Their debut album Traces is presented by We Jazz Records, including six deep cuts.

Traces is an album that sees Cosmic Ear tracking down the "traces" of the legendary Don Cherry's legacy while paving their own way in contemporary creative music expression. Christer Bothén, a collaborator with Don Cherry during his Swedish period in the 1970s, brings depth to the history of the band, while his bandmates each belong at the top of the game in Scandinavian jazz.

Their music is meditative and deep, much recommended for fans of the likes of Don Cherry, Alice Coltrane, and Pharoah. That being said, listeners should approach Cosmic Ear only with openness and curiosity, without set stylistic boundaries, as it's the group's natural flow and togetherness that brings their music into a fresh territory of their own.

As John Corbett writes in his liner notes:

"The Cosmic Ear. Five souls, sometimes six, on the same road. The pied piper path of Mr. Cherry. Christer Bothén, one of Cherry's main collaborators in his Swedish period and one of the most beautiful bass clarinetists on planet earth, together with next-gen saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, who has carried so many torches in Cherry's procession, and younger Swedish stars trumpeter Goran Kajfeš, bassist Kansan Zetterberg, and percussionist Juan Romero. Together a tempo is set, a path is charted.

There are global grooves. A berimbau, a karignan (metal scraper from Guinea), donso n'goni. There are ET grooves. Synth, live-electronics, slide flute. The globe is a glove, a hand warmer that radiates with extraterrestrial power, returning the fingers to their place at the center of the galaxy; the Cherry path is a balm that restores essential moisture to the lips that blow life back into the megacosm.

Let us all praise warm fingers and moist mouths."

-We Jazz



A donso n'goni is a six-stringed harp-like instrument from West Africa, specifically associated with the hunter societies of the Wassoulou region of Mali. It is also known as the "hunter's harp". The donso n'goni is used in ceremonial contexts, often accompanied by singing and the karagnan (a serrated metal tube scraped with a metal stick)

A karignan (also spelled karinyan, karignan, or karinyen) is a metal scraper idiophone traditionally used in West African music, especially in Guinea, Mali, and neighboring regions. It's typically made from a piece of metal or iron, often shaped like a rod or cylinder, and it's played by scraping it with a metal stick or rod (sometimes a knife or another piece of iron). The resulting sound is rhythmic and percussive, often sharp and shimmering, and it adds a textural, driving layer to traditional and contemporary African-influenced music.

In the context of Cosmic Ear, it's part of the broader palette of global percussion instruments that evoke Don Cherry's eclectic, boundary-crossing style.


Insert with liner notes by John Corbett.

Artist Biographies

"Christer Bothén born 1941 in Gothenburg, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Composer, musician and artist. His main instruments are bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, donso n'goni and guimbri. Bothén spent 1971 - 72 in Mali, where he studied hunter's music and donso n'goni with master Broema Dombia in Bougouni, Wassoulut. In 1977 he took up gnawa music studies with master Maalem Abdellatif Elmakhzoumi in Marrakech, who he studied with until the master passed away in 2017. From 1970 onwards, Bothén collaborated with Don Cherry, and he also taught Cherry the donso n'goni. In 1980 Bothén started Bolon Bata, a band that toured intensively, performing Bothéns compositions. Its members included Bosse Skoglund, Marianne N'Lemvo and Ulf Lindén. Later the band became Bolon X, adding band members Morgan Ågren and Rafael Sida. From 1990 onwards, Bothén has continued leading his own groups, and has also collaborated frequently with multi-reedist Mats Gustafsson, performance artist and musician Sara Lundén and cornetist Goran Kajfeš."

-Thanatosis (https://thanatosis.org/christer-bothn)
8/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
"Born 1964 in Umeå, Northern Sweden.Saxplayer, improviser and composer. Solo artist and international tours and projects with a.o. Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi, Ken Vandermark and in working groups The Thing, FIRE!, Gush, Boots Brown, Swedish Azz and Fake (the facts). Large ensemble work with Barry Guy New Orchestra,FIRE! Orchestra and the NU - ensemble.over 1800 concerts and over 200 record productions in Europe, Australia, Africa, North & South America and Asia.Collaborations with contemporary dance, theater, art, poetry as well as projects with noise, electronica, contemporary rock and free jazz.Discaholic - running the discaholic corner website.Producer of international festivals and concert tours as well as work with own record labels Slottet, OlofBright Editions and Blue Tower Records."-Mats Gustafsson Website (http://matsgus.com/archives/category/bio)
8/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Goran Kajfes, born 22 June 1970 in Tyreso Assembly, is a Swedish trumpeter. Kajfeš is the son of Davor Kajfeš.

Goran has worked with, among others, Eric Gadd, Stina Nordenstam, Fläskkvartetten, Kent, The Tiny, Bruno K. Öijer, Neneh Cherry, Robyn, Mando Diao, Lester Bowie, Blacknuss, Sugababes, Nicolai Dunger, Håkan Hellström, Janet Jackson, Moneybrother, Freddie Wadling, José González, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Eric Malmberg, Club Killers, Monica Zetterlund, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Eldkvarn, Matti Bye and Bo Diddley, The Thing XL, weeping willows, Cheik Lo.

Solo debut Home (2000) was released on the EMI (Kaza / Blue Note) and a lot of attention for his mix of jazz and electronics. Sequel HeadSpin won a Grammy (2004). The third album, X / Y (2010) was nominated for this year's jazz album in The Independent, and was hailed around the world including magazine Mojo. He was also awarded the Nordic Music Prize for the disc. After the album was released (with his Subtropic Arkestra) The Reason Why Vol.1 (2012) and most recently, The Reason Why Vol. 2 (2014). Both featured in Mojo, Uncut, Songlines, The Wire, Jazz Journal and so on.

Kajfeš is also featured in the jazz group Oddjob, together with among others Per "Ruskträsk" Johansson and Daniel Karlsson, who has released six full-length albums (Amigo Music, ACT, Headspin Recordings) and beyond that also Grammy Award winning children's album Jazzoo. He is also a member of the free jazz band Nacka Forum (Moserobie Records) with Kjell Nordeson, Jonas Kullhammar and Johan Berthling, Angles 9, Fire! Orchestra, Magnus Carlson & The Moon Ray Quintet and skabandet Jobalites.

He runs the record company Headspin Recordings, with David Österberg.

Kajfeš has also composed music for films and television series including Kristian Petri's The Well documentaries and feature films Details, The Mouse of Bigert Bergstrom, The Sun of Ulf Rollof, vignette music to the SVT Cobra, All wild, a film about Birgitta Stenberg, Havana Motor Club by Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt. He has written and performed music for Saw The White Buffalo Dancing with dance group Vindhäxor.

Oddjob The group performed a large part of the music (composed by Matti Bye) to the hundred year old who climbed out the window and disappeared.

Kajfeš produced weeping willows albums The Time Has Come, Magnus Carlson and the Moon Ray quintet and most of Titiyos album Hidden.

In 2014 asked Kajfeš in collaboration with David Osterberg audio installation Batysphere on Färgfabriken."

-Wikipedia translated by Google (https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goran_Kajfe )
8/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Juan Romero was 16 and lived in Argentina when he took his first steps in music. This was under the leadership of Jose Pineiro Tadeou do Santos, a Brazilian percussionist from Bahia. In 1990 he moved to Stockholm, where he studied Candombe through various cultural institutions.

In 1993, Juan formed the percussion ensemble Yakumbé. Yakumbé has toured and given workshops around Scandinavia and in most large and small festivals in Sweden. 1993, he was also a member of Rinkeby Samba School led by Carlos Pussetto and Fidel Velazques. Here he learned the basics to many Brazilian rhythms. In 2001 he created the percussion course Sambomba in Rinkeby, which today is both a course and a well-established band. 2002, Romero worked with a candombe ensemble in Jakobsberg where Juan Romero and Daniel Bingert acted as musical leaders and teachers for 3 years. 2008 Juan studied BEAT, a one-year line with Andre Ferrari as a teacher. With a focus on everything from world music to club music. 2010-2014 Juan Romero acquired his bachelor's degree in Music from other cultures at the Royal Academy of Music with teachers Pepe Espinosa, Rafael Side, Mikael Nilsson, Valter Kimbon."

-Juan Romero Website (https://juanromero.org/in-english/)
8/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Torbjörn Zetterberg (born 10 May 1976) is a Swedish jazz musician (double bass) and composer, known from collaborations with Jonas Kullhammar. Zetterberg attended Södra Latin och Fridhems Folkhögskola in Svalöv but was first recognised as bassist when he studied at Kungliga Musikhögskolan in Stockholm still very young. Here he studied bass under guidance of Jan Adefelt. Soon he joined drummer Fredrik Norén's band together with the saxophonist Jonas Kullhammar. Already at this point one could sense that he would become a prominent figure in the Swedish jazz scene. Now his name is firmly rooted in the vibrant progressive selection as the new jazz generation.

He went through a personal crisis and did not record as a bandleader for more than seven years. Zetterberg was uncomfortable with his career and in 2010 he decided to leave the urban life including his bass, and moved to a Buddhist temple. There he resided for a year and still spends half of his time there in 2016. This existential crisis led to the production of the album Och Den Stora Frågan ("And the Big Question" in Swedish) in 2014. Here he collaborated with well known musicians from his earlier career, like the Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and drummer Jon Fält, known from albums with pianist Bobo Stenson's trio. The album is "charged with joyful urgency, shiny optimism and confident flowing energy, despite the doubts and uncertainties that accompany any creative, artistic process", the reporter of All About Jazz stated in 2014."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torbj%C3%B6rn_Zetterberg)
8/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Father and Son 6:37

2. TRACES of Brown Rice 4:41

3. Love Train 9:16

4. Right Here Right Now 10:57

5. Do It (Again) - For Sofia Jernberg 10:00

6. TRACES of Codona and Mali 7:26

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Quintet Recordings
Mats Gustafsson
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

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We Jazz.


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