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Atomic at Nighttown

Nighttown
Cleveland Heights, OH
February 10, 2015
Fresh in the glow of its 50th anniversary celebration, kicked off by a party a few nights earlier and extending through the end of the month, Nighttown put its eclecticism fully on display February 10, presenting powerful Scandinavian free-jazz group Atomic. The Nighttown faithful are, by and large, a straight-ahead crowd (two Manhattan Transfer shows set for Friday, February 13, sold out well in advance, for example), so it's good to see the folks there are still willing to push the envelopeit is, in fact, part on the club's vitality. Atomic, in just their second visit to Clevelandthe first a 2004 go at the Beachland Ballroommade that vitality palpable, exploding with an orchestrated chaos that the 30 or so in attendance will likely not soon forget.
Over the course of two 45-minute sets, the quintet previewed all seven tracks from its forthcoming release, Lucidity (Jazzland), due out in March, plus one additional tune, "Stuck in Stockholm." That title notwithstanding, the group seemed ever- present in Cleveland, ever-present in the moment, fleshing out original post-bop compositions with an intensity and purpose that never waned. Leader

Fredrik Ljungkvist
saxophone, tenorb.1969

Håvard Wiik
piano
Andrew Hill
piano1931 - 2007
Credit bassist

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
bassb.1971
Wiik was, perhaps, the least heard from of the group, using the piano more as a soloing instrument than as one to supply rhythmic comfort. Hard to pin down, he blinked in and out of a terrain groomed by visionaries as diverse as

Cecil Taylor
piano1929 - 2018

George Gershwin
composer / conductor1898 - 1937

Magnus Broo
trumpetAnchored by points of leaving and return, Atomic's music throughout the evening was a richly tangled, frenetic cord that razzled listeners with both its freedom and cohesion. No icy intellectualism this, the boys from Norway and Sweden attacked the Cleveland night with a jazz as likely to kick in your teeth as stroke your brain. "A McGuffin's Tale" of sorts, as one of their latest compositions would have itthe journey, not some mysterious objective, being the thrilling part.
Set list: First Set"Lucidity," "Start/Stop," "A New Juncture," "Major." Second Set"Laterna Interfuit," "A McGuffin's Tale," "December," "Stuck in Stockholm."
Tags
Atomic
Live Reviews
Matt Marshall
Fully Altered Media
United States
Ohio
Fredrik Ljungkvist
H?vard Wiik
Andrew Hill
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten
Hans Hulb?kmo
Cecil Taylor
George Gershwin
Magnus Broo
Comments
About Atomic
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
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