{"id":8555,"date":"2017-08-11T23:21:08","date_gmt":"2017-08-12T06:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=8555"},"modified":"2017-08-12T20:18:12","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T03:18:12","slug":"the-carsten-dahl-experience-deborah-brown-lundgren-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2017\/08\/the-carsten-dahl-experience-deborah-brown-lundgren-twice\/","title":{"rendered":"Carsten Dahl, Deborah Brown & The Lundgren\/Landgren Duo"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the Ystads Konstmuseum, the Carsten Dahl Experience was, indeed, an experience. After launching his career as a drummer, Dahl taught himself piano in the early 1980s and quickly developed formidable technique that was on full display with his quartet of fellow Danes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At the beginning of his concert, the pianist reached inside the instrument to make harp-like sounds. Alto saxophonist Jesper Zeuthen played notes that seemed incidental but may have been \"\"intended as commentary on Dahl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strumming. Out of the piano\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insides and seated at the keyboard, Dahl indulged in fragmentation in the manner of Cecil Taylor. Zeuthen responded by emulating the Ornette Coleman school. Addressing the audience, Dahl described Zeuthen as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a pioneer of free\"\" jazz.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Moving on, Dahl played a short solo whose intensity and intriguing harmonies seemed more likely to have been inspired by Franz Liszt than by Taylor. Then, at considerable length, Zeuthen played free jazz with a full tone\u00e2\u20ac\u201dincluding vibrato\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat was reminiscent of the French classical saxophonist Marcel Mule. Throughout, bassist Niels Davidsen and drummer Stefan Pasborg energized the proceedings with rhythmic churn that they constantly adjusted to one another and to Dahl\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Zeuthen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s permutations. In a piano solo that he managed to make both controlled and free, Dahl disclosed familiarity with the roots of jazz, quoting Lester Young\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jumpin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 With Symphony Sid.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He gave his listeners an hour and a half of uncompromising music leavened with episodes of lightheartedness.<\/p>\n

Deborah Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deborah Brown, born in Kansas City, evoked her hometown in an Ystad concert dedicated to the memory of Ella Fitzgerald. Ms. Brown has performed widely in Japan and Indonesia and been based in Europe for a dozen years. She has collaborated with leading musicians including Clark Terry, Toots Thielemans, Red Mitchell, Lee Konitz and Ed Thigpen. At the Ystads Theater, the Polish orchestra Leopoldinum Strings accompanied her, along with Polish tenor saxophonistSylwester Ostrowski and an American rhythm section of pianist Rob Bargad, bassist \"\"Essiet Okon”\u00a0Essiet and drummer Newman Taylor Baker (To the left we see Baker with her). When she scatted, her smooth delivery, accurate intonation and assured time feeling were assets. Scatting in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What Is This Thing Called Love,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she was particularly evocative of Fitzgerald. She vocalized beautifully over the richness of the strings in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How Deep Is The Ocean.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cry Me a River\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was notable not only for Brown\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emotional singing but also for short, contained, solos by Ostrowski and pianist Bargad and for Ms. Brown\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boogaloo vocalese ending the piece. With Jon Hendricks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lyric the Thelonious Monk ballad \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pannonica\u00e2\u20ac\u009d becomes, as Ms. Brown told the audience, “a song about butterflies.” She scatted the tune\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bridge the second time through, and in his solo Ostrowski tapped his Charlie Rouse gene. As her own skilled piano accompanist, Ms. Brown sang \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Love Will Wait For You\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Nearness Of You.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The concert\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big moment came near the end when she sang the blues \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Goin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 To Kansas City.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Enlisting the audience, she told them that they would be her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153jazz choir.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 She then led them through a call-and-response routine that permeated the theatre with good feeling.<\/p>\n

Landgren Meets Lundgren<\/strong><\/p>\n

In two major concerts Jan Lundgren, the festival\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s artistic director, slid out of his management function and onto the bench of the Ystad Theatre\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brand new nine-foot Steinway. His duo partner was trombonist and vocalist Nils Landgren, one of contemporary Sweden\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most popular performers. Their concert began as Deborah Brown\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had ended, with the blues, played with gusto and camaraderie.\"\" In large print Inside the bell of Landgren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horn was emblazoned the name of its manufacturer; not a subtle touch, but perhaps effective if there were prospective trombone buyers in the audience. In his veiled voice, Landgren sang \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This Masquerade,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and followed with two traditional songs, Swedish in feeling, very restrained. A fast piece whose Swedish name eluded me concluded with one of Landgren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trademarks, a big trombone whoop leaving no doubt that the song was over. Landgren began to sing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Nearness of You,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d had a memory lapse and asked the audience to come to his rescue. They supplied the lyric and he started over. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what happened,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve sung that hundreds of times.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Take two was fine.<\/p>\n

Through a program that included the Beatles\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Norwegian Wood,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Leonard Bernstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Somewhere,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mancini\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Mercer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Moon River\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and the Russian song \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Moscow Nights,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Landgren and Lundgren performed with the virtuosity that has enabled both to rise to the top of their nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cultural circles. Lundgren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friendships included one with the poet Jacques Werup (1945-2016), who inspired the pianist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s composition \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Poet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which he played alone. In Joe Sample\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Same Old Story, Same Old Song,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Landgren encouraged the audience to sing the title phrase with him each time it appeared. Some did, \"\"with rollicking enthusiasm. Loud demand for an encore led Lundgren and Landgren to a slow version of the perennially popular “Ack V\u00c3\u00a4rmeland, du sk\u00c3\u00b6na”\/”V\u00c3\u00a4rmlandsvisan,” a classic of the Swedish folk tradition known in much of the world as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dear Old Stockholm.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stay slow for long. As the pace picked up, Lundgren began initiating random key changes and finally threw one that Landgren could not negotiate. He had to concede that he had lost the chromatic competition and bowed out playing a series of deep trombone split tones. That amused Lundgren, Landgren and the audience and brought the concert to a hilarious close marked by wild applause and cheers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the Ystads Konstmuseum, the Carsten Dahl Experience was, indeed, an experience. After launching his career as a drummer, Dahl taught himself piano in the early 1980s and quickly developed formidable technique that was on full display with his quartet of fellow Danes. At the beginning of his concert, the pianist reached inside the instrument […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}