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Masqualero: Masqualero
MasqualeroMasqualero
Odin
1983
Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, there are still those who think that Norwegian musicians can't play "real jazz" (whatever that is), and that what they do play is something consistently (and erroneously) categorized as "Nordic Cool." Submitted for your approval is today's Rediscovery: the self-titled debut from Masqualero, a group that would retrospectively become known as a Norwegian supergroup and one that demonstrates there's plenty of "real jazz" going on in this country of five million, with a disproportionate number of significant artists going on to garner international acclaim. What group, after all, would name itself after a composition by American saxophonist
Wayne Shorter
saxophone1933 - 2023
Two of Masqualero's members—its cofounders—were already internationally known names. Double bassist
Arild Andersen
bass, acousticb.1945
Jan Garbarek
saxophoneb.1947
Jon Christensen
drums1943 - 2020
Ralph Towner
guitarb.1940
Eberhard Weber
bassb.1940
Bobo Stenson
pianob.1944
Miroslav Vitous
bassb.1947
Keith Jarrett
pianob.1945
Both continue to record for the label to this day. Andersen's last album was the superb Mira (2014), with his longstanding trio featuring saxophonist
Tommy Smith
saxophone, tenorb.1967
Paolo Vinaccia
drums1954 - 2019
Miroslav Vitous
bassb.1947
The balance of Masqualero's five members were relative youngsters.already showing substantial promise and who would subsequently go on to become well-known leaders and, in some cases, international stars. Trumpeter
Nils Petter Molvaer
trumpetb.1960
Pianist
Jon Balke
pianob.1955
"
data-original-title="" title="">The Source, 
Trygve Seim
saxophone
Jaga Jazzist
band / ensemble / orchestra23 year-old saxophonist
Tore Brunborg
saxophoneb.1960
"
data-original-title="" title="">Ketil Bjornstad, 
Tord Gustavsen
pianob.1970
Mathias Eick
trumpetb.1979
Manu Katche
drumsb.1958
Mats Eilertsen
bassb.1975
Recorded at Oslo's Talent Studio with engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug—a pairing that, by that time, had also become a regular one for ECM label head/founder
"
data-original-title="" title="">Manfred Eicher—Masqualero comes charging out of the gate with Brunborg's high octane "Ved Fossen" and rarely lets up throughout the 73-minutes of Odin's 1997 CD of the original 1983 vinyl edition, adding five bonus tracks totalling 25 minutes and, rather than placing them at the end of the record, integrates within the original set list to create a large whole with its own distinct arc. With compositions from everyone except Christensen, Masqualero shines a powerful spotlight on players whose considerable compositional chops augment their equally admirable abilities as players. Molv?r's balladic Aural Exciter," featuring an impressive solo from Andersen, could easily be seen, with its core themes, reworked into something more akin to his later electro-centric work, while Balke's percussion-driven "Not Yet" and more obliquely constructed, aptly titled "Off Balance" draws a clear line to Anti-Therapy, also released by Odin the same year, from the keyboardist's then-nascent, horn-heavy large ensemble, Oslo 13.
While Molvaer and Balke provided the lion's share of the writing, with Brunborg, in addition to "Ved Fossen," contributing another co-composition with Balke ("Fortere N") and Andersen two pieces—the dark-hued "Til Radka" and similarly crepuscular closer, "Den Hemline"—Masqualero may have been founded and led by Andersen and Christensen, but in execution it was clearly an egalitarian collective. The overall sound was inspired, in part, by the mid-'60s
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto1930 - 2015
Christensen and Andersen had evolved into a formidable team as early as the mid-'60s, when they accompanied American musicians coming through Scandinavia, but with Masqualero—as the two were in and around their fortieth year—they began to pay some of their experiences forward with their younger recruits. Everyone would go on to become big names on the Norwegian scene and beyond, but it all started here with Masqualero...an album that clearly so impressed Manfred Eicher that he brought the group to ECM for its three subsequent albums: 1986's Bande a Part, with the same lineup (and which shared a slightly longer version of Balke's Masqualero bonus track, "Nyl"); Aero (1988), where the departing keyboardist was replaced by guitarist Frode Aln?s; and the group's swan song, Re-Enter (1991), where, with Aln?s gone, the group chose to continue on as a chord-less quartet.
Plenty of ECM fans are aware of Masqualero's three albums for the label, but fewer know that the group came together prior to hooking up with the German label, and that as superb as its ECM releases are, Masqualero remains a record with its own charms...and rewards. A record that stands up to scrutiny three decades later as an important document of three musicians whose careers were still in relative infancy, it's another release well worth revisiting...or, if new to some, worth a first listen.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you know this record, and if so, how do you feel about it?
[Note: You can read the genesis of this Rediscovery column here .]
Tags
Masqualero
Rediscovery
John Kelman
Norway
Oslo
Wayne Shorter
Arild Andersen
Jan Garbarek
Jon Christensen
Ralph Towner
Eberhard Weber
Bobo Stenson
Miroslav Vitous
Keith Jarrett
Tommy Smith
Paolo Vinaccia
Nils Petter Molvaer
Jon Balke
The Source
Trygve Seim
Jaga Jazzist
Tore Brunborg
Ketil Bjornstad
Tord Gustavsen
Mathias Eick
Manu Katche
Misha Alperin
Mats Eilertsen
Manfred Eicher
Miles Davis
Ornette Coleman
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