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Friends & Neighbors: The Earth Is #

By Mark Corroto
December 13, 2021
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The importance of choosing a name for your jazz band is often underestimated. Take the quintet Friends & Family for instance. When it was formed in 2008, it wasn't dubbed the

Andre Roligheten

saxophone
b.1985

" data-original-title="" title="">Andre Roligheten Quintet or the

" data-original-title="" title="">Oscar Gr?nberg Band. No. From its beginnings, the quintet shared composing duties among its members as well as dutiful deference to each musician's sound. Proof of this friendship among neighbors (all live in Norway) is a string of excellent releases. The Earth Is # is the quintet's fifth disc. The last four were released on Portugal's Clean Feed

What is evident from Friends & Neighbors' music is their penchant to intertwine then untangle knotty and sometimes intricate compositions. And they do so with such ease and finesse. Pianist Oscar Gr?nberg's "Untitled" stops, then jumps sideways with an Ellingtonian grace before the the piano's locomotion launches saxophonist André Roligheten's soused solo. The charm here is both the tight compositions and the disciplined liftoff from those compositions.

On the title track, trumpeter

Thomas Johansson

trumpet
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Thomas Johansson (Cortex,

Paal Nilssen-Love

drums
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit) trades energy bursts in his call-and- response with Roligheten, before soloing with his mute both in and out. This may be the tightest most methodized improvisation recording of the year. By that is meant that the musicians' solos never loose sight of the motifs of each composition.

Jon Rune Strøm

bass, acoustic
b.1985

" data-original-title="" title="">Jon Rune Str?m's bass solo opens "Father's Birthday," which progresses as if it was coming from an

Eric Dolphy

woodwinds
1928 - 1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric Dolphy Blue Note Records session of the 1960s. Drummer

Tollef Østvang

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Tollef ?stvang drives the pulse as Roligheten works his bass clarinet. The final track "Joseph" written by Str?m, reminds one of the

Ornette Coleman

saxophone, alto
1930 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Ornette Coleman tribute band Old And New Dreams, where the quintet assembles, disassembles, then reassembles the lush melody. This is the quintet's finest effort so far.

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Track Listing

Halifax; Untitled; Salad Days; The Earth Is #; Father?s Birthday; Sidelinja; Joseph.

Personnel

Andre Roligheten

saxophone

Thomas Johansson

trumpet

Oscar Gr?nberg

piano

Jon Rune Str?m

bass, acoustic

Tollef ?stvang

drums

Album information

Title: The Earth Is # | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Clean Feed Records

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