André Roligheten – Marbles

Odin

Another serial collaborator from the Nordic jazz scene, sax player André Roligheten goes solo and draws some heavy hitters with him to bring to life the musical ideas swimming around in his head.

With Jon Rune Strøm on bass and Gard Nilssen on drums, you know that you have a limber and flexible rhythm section able to bend themselves to whichever whims come their way; but to make it truly magical we also have Johan Lindström on pedal steel and Mattias Ståhl on vibes. This is an unlikely combination but works so well, propelling the pieces from feel-good jazz into some other parallel universe where we might be sashaying around a tiki bar on a sunlit beach.

The warmth in the alto tips a hat to the sort of joyful ’60s concoctions that breeze across the dancefloor, but the pedal steel and vibes elevate the pieces to an otherworldly realm. Opener “Sonny River” swings but gently, with just a hula swish to move us along. The pedal steel is almost theremin-like in its tone and rather than emulating country is more akin to some of the experimental noises that would have emanated from The Radiophonic Workshop or Joe Meek‘s bathroom. It is the ability to conjure another warmer, softer world that separates the eight tracks here from lesser compositions.

All through the album, the rhythm section subtly hustles, letting you know they are there but never overstepping. The percussion is taut and the soft wash of cymbal adds to the sensation of a heartfelt embrace, although sometimes you feel the sax searching for something just out of reach. The rest of the players assist in that journey, prompting and directing, their own unique touches in very different parts of the mix so that the whole is a widescreen vision.

The pieces are diverse and the slow dream of “Ariel’s Song” really lets the air in , revelling like a slow-motion full-body stretch. It highlights the softness of the vibes, the simmering cymbals just off the heat, while there is a touch of Henry Mancini swing in “Whale Waltz”, which is also shot through with a certain melancholy.

The group has a tendency to allow the tracks to morph as they progress, sometimes descending into a stifled lull and then breaking out into a full-scale workout, but it seems to happen without you really noticing until it is there in your ear. The transitions are subtle and give the impression that there are more songs than there actually are. “Lagoon Mist” strips away momentum and its stuttering awkwardness enjoys its inexplicable time signature. It is disjointed but compelling and you can hear the bounce of the drums like a rhythmic echo.

It is all effortless; the summery sway of “Pyramid Bance” with its vibes solo subverting the form, shifting shapes, while “Twin Bliss” is a real rocker. It has power and fervour that you can tell has the group grinning from ear to ear. The kick of this piece is that you find it pushing into some oddly Eastern corners as if they just want to see what happens. It is raucous and flings itself around with wild abandon and just to push the point home, Johan pulls out the axe and hammers a solo home.

The lachrymose bedtime swoon of “Liv Sover” finishes the album off in a suitable manner, slowing things back down and stepping around one another in the most skilful manner. Everyone responds to a bass figure that draws them in its wake and effortlessly drifts into some smooth as silk groove with a hint of an edge peeping through.

This is quite the most joyful thing I have heard in a while and while ticking the jazz boxes, heads off into some other place, somewhere we may not have realised we wanted to visit; but after hearing this, realise that is essential.

-Mr Olivetti-