Jakob Bro Trio

In the organizer's words:

Bro rejects any typical guitarist clichés and dispenses with solos, instead creating multi-layered, atmospherically dense soundscapes with minimalist, short runs and loops, some of which are heavily electronically altered. He is congenially supported by Barcelona-born drummer Jorge Rossy, who is best known as a long-standing trio partner of Brad Mehldau and Larry Grenadier. He doesn't act as a typical time keeper either, but plays around the rhythms in an artful and atmospheric way, which is probably also because he plays piano or vibraphone in other formations. Together they create inspiring soundscapes for the Norwegian Arve Henriksen, who lays his wonderfully restrained, often breathy or echoed melodies on trumpet and piccolo trumpet, which go straight through the ear into the soul. Should anyone be perplexed when studying the liner notes as to where the bass clarinet notes suddenly come from, this is also Henriksen, who blows his trumpet through a saxophone mouthpiece - a novelty even for this reviewer, who is not entirely inexperienced in jazz matters.

The majority of the compositions, which leave plenty of room for improvisation, were written during the weeks-long breaks from performing forced by the coronavirus pandemic, which Jakob Bro spent at home, where the muse often kissed him when his two children were taking naps. The album title is made up of their two middle names. "Uma Elmo" is the debut work of this new, somehow unpretentiously symbiotic trio, which is primarily committed to the group sound and - it's hard to believe given the convincing result - played together for the very first time. Highlights also include several reminiscences of musical personalities and former employers who were extremely important to Bro's musical development: the Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, who is revered as an icon by many, the pioneering drummer and bandleader Paul Motian, or the saxophonist Lee Konitz. Of course, it is tempting to say that "Uma Elmo" is a typically Nordic album, but it is probably one that admirably defies any assignment of time and space. A masterpiece that reveals new subtleties with every listen.

Price information:

Box Office 28€ Reduction 50% | U20 Free admission