Anne Mette Iversen’s Double Life So Many Roads

Anne Mette Iversen’s Double Life
So Many Roads
BJU Records

Danish born bassist, composer and leader Anne Mette Iversen leads Double Life which is comprised of her own Quintet comprised of John Ellis on saxophone, Peter Dahlgren on trombone; Danny Grissett on piano and Otis Brown III on drums; and 4Corners, a string quartet comprised of Tine Rudloff on violin; Sarah McClelland on violin; Anne Soren on viola; and Mats Larsson on cello.

In her brief notes, she states she wants to have the music speak for itself: "Its conception and realisation has been a long journey. Along the road I had many ideas about how to present it to you: which story to tell you, which words to describe it with and which pictures to paint in your head. In the end, I rejected them all to let the music speak for itself, and, hopefully, to leave space for it to become your own personal journey.” In line with the above, she has eschewed titles for the parts of her recording and simply refers to them as Chapters. For this recording, we have a solo bass prologue followed for four chapters and then a brief epilogue.

Iversen’s bass solo enables her to provide an underlying motif that the strings, her and Ellis first state with the strings spotlighted with Ellis’ soprano sax providing a counterpoint to them which has the full ensemble restating the theme before Dahlgren takes lead on the remainder of the first chapter backed by the quintet with the strings providing additional musical shading on a performance with a pastoral feel. It it illustrative of Iversen’s adeptness at integrating strings into a swinging jazz performance and not simply being a sweet background.

The strings help set the transition to the second chapter that opens with very invigorating playing by Grissett accompanied by Iversen’s firm bass and Brown’s driving drumming before the horns enter. Ellis takes a fiery solo which is followed by the gruffer sound of Dahlgren on trombone. If the first chapter is a pastoral stroll down a rural roadway, Chapter two takes us to a busy interstate with the strings accenting the hard bop including Brown’s drum solo. After Brown’s solo, the music segues into an interlude from the string quartet before the entire ensemble rides this piece out with the voicing of Dahlgren and the strings prominent.

Chapter Three opens in a languid vein with the strings and Dahlgren up front while Brown’s light touch enhances the mood. Ellis takes a lovely solo exhibiting his marvelous tone, followed by Iversen taking a solo with the strings, especially cellist Larsson, providing counterpoint, leading to a lovely solo trombone segment. The tempo rackets up with the strings adding to the heat with spirited interaction among themselves and the quintet.

This is an engaging recording that illustrates Iversen’s adroit blending of the string quintet with a jazz ensemble for varied, and captivating, recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is the Anne Mette Iversen Quintet in performance.

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Ensemble's Fond Portrait Of Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Jazz Underground is a cooperative association of jazz artists who aim to build a greater awareness of original music emerging from Brooklyn, NY. Five of the members have collaborated on a new recording A Portrait of Brooklyn on the association’s sister company, Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. The members forming the Brooklyn Jazz Underground Ensemble are David Smith (trumpet), Adam Kolker (tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute), Dan Pratt (tenor sax, clarinet, flute), Anne Mette Iversen (bass) and Rob Garcia (drums). In addition to being excellent musicians, instrumentalists and band leaders, each contributed two compositions to this recording. While the compositions are inspired by Brooklyn, this recording does not attempt to define the Borough.

Listening to the performances here, one is impressed by not simply the compositions and playing, but also the ensemble work. One might suggest several influences of the overall sound including the classic Ornette Coleman Quartet, and such post-Ornette influenced groups as Old Dreams and New Dreams. Ornette's influence perhaps is most evident on Kolker’s JV, a selection that evokes Ornette’s classic groups (and Kolker’s alto saxophone here echoes Coleman’s blues-infused tone). Smith’s trumpet provides a nice contrast while Pratt plays in a bit more gutbucket fashion. If not sounding like a previously unrecorded Coleman composition, Smith’s Starr St. is a lively original in the post-Ornette vein. Kolker is strong on alto here (not sounding like Coleman) and also adds bass clarinet to the ensemble passages. Garcia’s playing is especially strong here, including during Smith’s solo.


Garcia’s “King” is a strong free-bop performance with a solo from Pratt along with nice supporting riffs by the other horns. Iversen provides a firm anchor as Garcia propels the performance along. Pratt’s Buttermilk Channel is built upon an intriguing motif stated by Kolker on bass clarinet. Garcia’s other original is the lovely, wistful 1898 (the title referrs to the year the City of Brooklyn became part of the City of New York), with thoughtful and lovely playing by Smith as Pratt provides embellishments under the solos.

Iversen’s Osgood in Brooklyn has imaginative interplay between the horns while Garcia’s The Hill is a toe-tapping performance with excellent playing by him as well as from Kolker on tenor. Pratt’s The Cyclone (named after the famed Coney island roller coaster) closes this recording in a hard bop vein, conjuring up some of Woody Shaw’s compositions and recordings. A Portrait of Brooklyn is an excellent collection of first-rate original compositions and terrific playing.

For more information visit http://www.bjurecords.com/artistsBJU.html. I received my review copy from a publicist.

Anne Mette Iversen Celebrates Jazz & Motherhood

Bassist-composer Anne Mette Iversen is among the jazz artists associated with the Brooklyn Jazz Underground and the associated BJU records has just issued Milo Songs. Performed by her Quartet with her on bass, John Ellis on tenor sax and clarinet, Danny Grissett on piano and Otis Brown III on drums, the seven compositions on this album grew from a melody her son made up at the age of 2, and the recording is an affirmation and her celebration of her successfully juggling motherhood and being a professional jazz musician. She explains that the titles of her compositions indicate her intent that each tells stories of a child’s life such as the turbulence of a new sibling in the home, the ability to focus on something seemingly unimportant to others, the fantasy world, dreams shared with mom in the morning and more.

Whatever the particular employment of Milo’s song in a specific composition, the seven years of having played together is reflected in the interplay among the quartet. The performances flow organically as on the opening The Terrace, on which Ellis displays a full tenor sound as Grissett dances around him, while Brown adds percussive accents and Iversen anchors the quartet before Grissett takes a strong solo. From the somewhat romantic feel of The Terrace the mood shifts on the The Storm. This opens as a heated dialogue between Ellis and Grissett before Brown and Iversen join in to vigorously frame the pair’s call and response with each other. Then Grissett launches into his high energy solo followed by some vigorous tenor sax.
 
Drum Dreams, with Ellis on clarinet, has a meditative tone to it and both Grissett and Ellis display restraint while Iversen’s bass provides a strong axis for the performance. Brown takes a solo here that is an extension of the performance. There is a playful lyricism displayed on Trains & Chocolate, and a latin tinge to the animated Milo’s Brother. Child’s Worlds with Iversen taking a solo might be the highpoint of this excellent set with Grissett and Ellis shining as well and Brown being terrifiic in pushing this performance forward.

For more information on this excellent recording (including ordering information), check out the BJU Records website, www.bjurecords.com and Anne Mette Iversen’s own website, www.annemetteiversen.com.


As I write this I note that the Anne Mette Iversen Quartet is scheduled to celebrate the release of this at An Die Musik in Baltimore on Friday, June 24 and at Twin’s Jazz in Washington DC on Wednesday June 29.

I received this from a publicist for this release.

Brooklyn Jazz Underground's Diverse Modern Jazz

I had been listening for several months to “Brooklyn Jazz Underground, Volume 4.” This is one of several compilations of performances by some of today’s modern jazz performers who call Brooklyn home. BJU is a collective of composers and musicians who operate in a similar manner to Chicago’s AACM, and other similar groups, enabling BJU to showcase their own music. In addition to producing recordings, they have produced festivals to showcase the BJU performers.

This sampler provides a sample of the musical range within the BJU. The collection opens up with “Cataldo One” by Danish bassist Anne Mette Iversen, a rousing hard bop number with some tenor sax from Jerome Sabbagh and piano from Danny Grissett. It is followed by Adam Kolker’s strutting “Flag Day,” from a new Sunnyside album, with a band that includes John Abercombrie and drummer Paul Motion. Kolker’s dry tenor sax is very appealing to these ears and complemented by Abercombrie’s chords and single note runs. Just these two numbers one provide the listener with a sense of the variety to be heard. I am not going to run down all eight selections, but simply mention three more. Sunny Jain Collective is led by drummer and composer, Sunny Jain, and the track “Avaaz,” from the album of the same name mixes the sounds of his native India including sitar guitar and the vocals of Samita Sinha, with Steve Welsh’s emphatic tenor saxophone creating a wonderful blend of sounds. Another drummer, Rob Garcia, contributed the fascinating “Little Trees,” opening with some free sounding piano from Dan Tepfer, before tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger engages in some call and response with Tepfer as drummer Garcia and bassist Chris Lightcap answer and provide a responsive foundation.“After,” by tenor saxophonist Dan Pratt, is composition that evokes some of Abdullah Ibrahim’s ballads. The group that includes trombonist Alan Ferber, organist Jared Gold and drummer Mark Ferber, and opens with the leader’s bluesy saxophone and there is strong interplay here between Pratt and trombonist Alan Ferber.

“Brooklyn Jazz Underground, Volume 4” is a marvelous introduction to these independent and inspired musicians. BJU also has a series of podcasts where the musicians discuss their music at length from influences to their present objectives. This can be downloaxded from their website, www.brooklynjazz.org, and this writer has them on his itunes. Also listening to this sampler, has led to the purchase of several albums by these performers. More information on the artists and the recordings can be found on the BJU website and many of these artists have recordings available on cdbaby.


The review copy (or downloads) was sent by the publicity firm for the Brooklyn Jazz Underground.