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Motif: My Head Is Listening

By John Sharpe
July 20, 2017
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Formed in 1998, Norwegian sextet

Motif

" data-original-title="" title="">Motif celebrates its sixth release with My Head Is Listening and its second on Clean Feed following Art Transplant (2011). Bassist

Ole Morten Vågan

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Ole Morten V?gan, who co-founded the outfit with reedman

Atle Nymo

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Atle Nymo, is once again responsible for all seven compositions. As well as Motif, he boasts some heavyweight credits with

Joshua Redman

saxophone
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Joshua Redman,

Chick Corea

piano
1941 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Chick Corea and

" data-original-title="" title="">Kris Davis, and testament to his organizational skills, has also been appointed Artistic Director of the renowned Trondheim Jazz Orchestra until 2019. V?gan possesses a restless imagination, and nothing stays quite as it seems in his inventive post-bop constructs, which typically spool through a variety of moods, peppered by adventurous outpourings.

In an accomplished cast pianist

Håvard Wiik

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">H?vard Wiik, best known for his similar role in Scandinavian supergroup

Atomic

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Atomic, stands out both for his exploratory expositions and raw-boned comping. On tenor and bass clarinet, Nymo contributes distinctive textures, mixing straight-ahead and strangled sonorities in singular flow, while on trumpet

Eivind Lønning

trumpet
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Eivind L?nning evokes

Freddie Hubbard

trumpet
1938 - 2008

" data-original-title="" title="">Freddie Hubbard with his fast rapid-fire flourishes, but tempers that impression with liquid phrases and growls. Clarinetist

Michael Thieke

clarinet

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Thieke constitutes a new addition, thickening the dense ensembles and alternately pastel-shaded and astringent in the spotlight.

V?gan himself remains largely out of the limelight, but meshes well with drummer

Håkon Mjaset Johansen

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">H?kon Mjaset Johansen to set up the flexibility needed for moving from the charts into free improv sounding exchanges. That's certainly an asset for the title track as it lurches in and out of focus, with first of all a series of fanfares separated by looser ad lib type exclamations, then a disorientating switch to a ballad feel, supplanted by a roiling rhythm churn, and then a sparse section for bucolic clarinet and isolated keystrokes, not to mention making space for a juddering tenor saxophone statement from Nymo.

Elsewhere V?gan calls on a Braxtonian wit in the writing and execution of "Beams, Dreams and Automobiles," in which darting interlocking lines congeal into a unison which goes out of sync to launch squealing clarinet. There's more asymmetrical contours on "Ballroom Glitch" which showcases Wiik, who sounds initially conventional, until his rapidly uncoiling runs spill over the notional bar divides like a madcap player piano.

"The Guns Of Amarone, Episodes 1 & 2" plays more to the tradition, with hot jazz excitement spiced by drum fills and horn trills, but still allowing Johansen to solo twice, as well as more controlled overblowing from Nymo and some vocalized trumpet gusts from L?nning, before finally returning to big band tropes vaguely reminiscent of the "Batman Theme." Like all the music here, the detail proves tremendous, but somehow it just doesn't quite gel into an engaging overall statement.

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Track Listing

My Head Is Listening; Beams, Dreams and Automobiles; Little Cage; Ich Bin Ein Belieber; Ballroom Glitch; The Guns Of Amarone, Episodes 1 & 2; Lontano Sea.

Personnel

Motif

Eivind L?nning: trumpet; Atle Nymo: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Michael Thieke: clarinet; H?vard Wiik: piano; H?kon Mj?set Johansen: drums; Ole Morten V?gan: double bass.

Album information

Title: My Head Is Listening | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Clean Feed Records

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