Rypdal, Terje - Blue
SKU
28-ECM1346
Imo, Terje is one of the greatest jazz/rock guitarists of the present era. Unfortunately most of his greatest stuff is not available in the USA and with the $$ as weak as it is against the Euro, we weren't planning on bringing them in (you are welcome to try and convince me otherwise). However, there are still a number of excellent albums by him, including this one by his 1980s trio.
"Terje Rypdal's recordings offer the listener an astounding array of styles - ranging from straight-ahead jazz played in small-combo settings to solo outings to mind-bending improvisations to orchestral compositions, and all points in between. His composition and playing and arranging are always tasteful and excellent, and the musicians he selects to execute his works are consistently first-rate. BLUE is no exception, falling into a trio of albums featuring roughly the same personnel, The Chasers - Terje on electric guitar (also adding some keyboard touches on this recordings), Bjørn Kjellemyr on electric and acoustic basses, and Audun Kleive on drums and percussion. The same players appear on Terje's previous album, Chaser, and on The Single Collection (with the addition of Allan Dangerfield on keyboards). This is one of those delightful instances of musicians being so sensitively attuned to each other that they literally perform as a unit, delivering some astonishingly powerful and well-executed performances. Opening with the short intro track 'The curse', then moving deftly into the powerful 'Kompet Går', the set takes the listener through a breathtaking experience featuring both hard-edged and gently beautiful arrangements. Terje's guitar is the only 'lead' instrument in a traditional sense, but the basses and drums of his bandmates are equally in play here. Listen to the funk-driven string-snapping and sliding chords produced by Kjellemyr on 'Kompet Går', and the incredibly precise percussive bursts from Kleive on the same track - they set the stage nicely for Terje's entrance. His playing, as always, is stunning - listen to his trademark attack-muting, as well as his amazing innate melodic sensibilities...and turn it right up! This is an album that deserves extra volume - not to blast the neighbors, but to experience the dynamic subtleties involved..."-Larry L. Looney