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Kjetil M?ster: Ran Do

By Mark Corroto
March 5, 2018
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More than in any other American jazz scene, the musicians of Chicago have embraced and continue to embrace their colleagues in Europe and the UK. In the 1990s the Chicagoan

Ken Vandermark

saxophone
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Ken Vandermark began a long-standing association with

Mats Gustafsson

woodwinds
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Mats Gustafsson (Sweden) and

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann (Germany). And

" data-original-title="" title="">Hamid Drake has been crisscrossing the Atlantic for ages. These connections seem a natural part of the Windy City's jazz methodology.

That said, this meeting of the Norwegian saxophonist

Kjetil Møster

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Kjetil M?ster and the Chicagoans, guitarist

Jeff Parker

guitar
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Jeff Parker, bassist

Joshua Abrams

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Joshua Abrams, and drummer

John Herndon

percussion

" data-original-title="" title="">John Herndon comes as no surprise, yet the connections and social intercourse heard on Ran Do appear as if the players are next door neighbors.

Of course for a long time, Parker, Abrams, and Herndon were Chicago residents. The guitarist and drummer are members of Tortoise and multiple ensembles founded in Chicago, including Isotope 217 and those of

Rob Mazurek

trumpet
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Rob Mazurek. Abrams' bass has been involved in just about every Chicago experiment of the last 25 years, from David Boykin to

Nicole Mitchell

flute
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Nicole Mitchell. Kjetil M?ster is probably best known for his quartet M?ster! and the Zanussi Five.

The music is all improvised, yet deftly organized. Opening with "Orko," the grind is ever so slow. Herndon dutifully pushing that boulder up the hill as Parker and M?ster dig gnarly footholds. The pace is ceaseless as jagged notes are hammered and M?ster's post-Coltrane sound is on display. That same velocity is the signature of this quartet. "Dig Me Out" and "Pajama Jazz" join the march, the latter piece with a darkened swing. The interest increases when the groove breaks down into a more open-ended sound. Bowed bass births rattled cymbals, feedback guitar effects, and fluttered/growled saxophone explorations. The quartet's unabashed vulnerability with their improvising cues the longest piece here, "Anicca." The music opens with an African pulse and M?ster carrying the melody and Parker posing some electric Miles lines before the music quiets into abstraction. Abrams solos to set up a quiet empathetic conversation between the players that unwinds into an echoey memory.

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Track Listing

Orko; Dig Me Out; Island Life; Anicca; Pajama Jazz.

Personnel

Kjetil M?ster

saxophone, tenor

Kjetil M?ster: tenor saxophone; Jeff Parker: guitar; Joshua Abrams: double bass; John Herndon: drums.

Album information

Title: Ran Do | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Clean Feed Records

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