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Peeter Uuskyla / Tellef ?grim / Anders Berg: Ullr

By Mark Corroto
February 8, 2017
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Peeter Uuskyla / Tellef Øgrim / Anders Berg: Ullr

Thirty years ago, the trio Power Tools made a one-off recording Strange Meeting (Antilles New Directions, 1987). The long out-of-print LP by

Bill Frisell

guitar, electric
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Frisell,

Melvin Gibbs

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Melvin Gibbs, and

" data-original-title="" title="">Ronald Shannon Jackson is on many a collector's want list. While only a short-lived band, its memory persists. It was for many, a perfect storm of free-metal-jazz music. If I had one wish, it would be for drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson (1940-2013) to still be with us. And

Tony Williams

drums
1945 - 1997

" data-original-title="" title="">Tony Williams. Okay, two wishes. I miss

Elvin Jones

drums
1927 - 2004

" data-original-title="" title="">Elvin Jones, too. Let's stop there.

Jackson and Williams were pioneers in the synthesis of jazz and rock. Both created a fusion music that did not dilute either genre. While we have no more Power Tools music, there is the Scandinavian power trio led by drummer

Peeter Uuskyla

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Peeter Uuskyla to fill the void. Uuskyla is probably best known for his work with German free jazz saxophonist

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann. In addition, he has worked with the legend Bengt Nordstr?m and released a captivating solo session Daydreaming Nerves (Omlott, 2014). The drummer is joined here by bassist Anders Berg and guitarist Tellef ?grim.

The music is charged with the distinct accents of free jazz, rock and blues. All cemented together by Uuskyla's drums. The title track opens with a flurried electric bass run, some scattered guitar, followed by machine gun blasts of drums. The piece thunder crawls behind energized drums and the resurrection of some

Sonny Sharrock

guitar, electric
1940 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Sharrock licks. Uuskyla, the ever inventive pulse master, opens "Shine Your Soul" with handclaps, then simple sticks and brushes on metal and skins that frame the most meditative piece on the recording. The trio plays a phantom funk and blues. ?grim's guitar on "Disembark Then Board" has the same disaffected sound you might hear from a mutinous

Marc Ribot

guitar
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Marc Ribot session and Berg's bass hovers somewhere between that of 1970s

Stanley Clarke

bass
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Stanley Clarke and Last Exit's

Bill Laswell

bass
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Laswell. Pulse master Uuskyla glues this affair

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Disembark Then Board; Ulrr; Lusk; Shine Your Soul; By The Southward Verging Sun; Wulpuz.

Personnel

Uuskyla ?grim Berg

Peeter Uuskyla: drums; Tellef ?grim: guitar; Anders Berg: bass.

Album information

Title: Ullr | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Simlas

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