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Espen Berg: Water Fabric

By Chris May
November 10, 2023
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The Norwegian pianist and composer Espen Berg has already carved out a formidable reputation with his trio. Earlier in 2023 he began a parallel strand with The Trondheim Concert (NXN), the recording of a wholly in-the-moment improvised solo concert, in the

Keith Jarrett

piano
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Keith Jarrett tradition, which he gave in 2019. Berg has since released two more albums in the same vein: The Nidaros Concert and The Hamar Concert (both NXN, 2023).

Berg is also heard to advantage in saxophonist

Anders Lønne Grønseth

saxophone, tenor
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Anders L?nne Gr?nseth's Multiverse band, exploring Gr?nseth's intriguing Bitonal Scale System. Multiverse's two most recent albums, Outer View (NXN, 2022) and Inner View (NXN, 2023), are highly recommended.

Berg's restless, cerebral musicality now offers Water Fabric, with a sextet completed by trumpeter

Hayden Powell

trumpet
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Hayden Powell (also a member of Multiverse), drummer

Per Oddvar Johansen

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Per Oddvar Johansen, violinist

Harpreet Bansal

violin

" data-original-title="" title="">Harpreet Bansal, violist

Ellie Ma?kela?

viola

" data-original-title="" title="">Ellie Ma?kela? and cellist

Joakim Munkner

cello

" data-original-title="" title="">Joakim Munkner. "Water Fabric" is a six-part suite which Berg developed out of a piece he wrote in 2005 and later arranged for string quartet. It was premiered at Jazzfest Trondheim in 2022. The seventh and final track, "Triple Point Suite," sounds like a separate piece, more light-hearted in feel, conjoined only by the instrumentation.

"Water Music" is mostly through-composed and one suspects that the improvised passages, such as they are, follow detailed, predetermined paradigms, such is the intricacy of the score. The result is lyrical, texturally inventive and compelling. Lest there be any confusion, however, it should be said that this is not a jazz album, unless one uses a definition of jazz that is so broad as to be practically meaningless. Jazz moments occur, but they are isolated and infrequent. Essentially, the album is a venture into the string quartet tradition, without a second violinist, refracted through a string trio. It is fascinating, substantial music, and if a definition is insisted upon, classical-contemporary is probably the best.

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Track Listing

Sun Glacier; Circumzenithal; 1914; Hydrophobic; Acres Of Dew; Duelling Rivers; Triple Point Suite.

Personnel

Espen Berg

piano

Hayden Powell

trumpet

Per Oddvar Johansen

drums

Harpreet Bansal

violin

Ellie Ma?kela?

viola

Joakim Munkner

cello

Additional Instrumentation

Hayden Powell: trumpet, flugelhorn.

Album information

Title: Water Fabric | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Odin Records

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