Playing both upright & electric bass and doubling that with 2nd bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen, Jon Rune Strom leads his quintet of young Norwegian players--trumpeter Thomas Johansson, saxophonist Andre Roligheten, and drummer Andreas Wildhagen--for a live set at one of Norway's premiere jazz clubs, Nasjonal Jazzscene, for a jazz album of powerfully expressive free playing.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2018 Country: Portugal Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded at Victoria, Nasjonal Jazzscene, in March, 2017, by Christian Obermayer.
"Yes, you can create a band concept from the double bass position, but instead of putting himself as the focus of the collective music of his quintet, bassist and composer Jon Rune Strom enlisted a second bass player, Christian Meaas Svendsen, for the group, like him doubling the upright instrument with an electric one. Which means that the idea is on the sound, not the personality. And the choice of companion explains much of what we find in "Fragments".
If Strom is known for his incredible energy and physicality, Svendsen is a force of nature, sometimes using two or three bows or performing with arms, legs, feet and mouth. The center of gravity of the music is low, but the two horns manage to take it to the highest levels possible, namely trumpeter Thomas Johansson and tenor saxophonist Andre Roligheten, with drummer Andreas Wildhagen gluing it all and covering the fortuitous gaps like an octopus.
That's what differenciates the Jon Rune Strom Quintet from all the other bands including Strom's contribution, namely Friends and Neighbors, All Included, Universal Indians and Frode Gjerstad Trio. The project belongs to the same family tree, call it free music or free jazz as you wish, but there's something else going on. Bass-driven pleasure in its purist form, that is."-Clean Feed