Firehouse - Live At Glenn Miller Café

[mke]

John Lindblom - g
Fredrik Ljungkvist - ts, cl
Magnus Broo - tp
Johan Berthling - b
Kjell Nordeson - d

Of the seven tracks, two are hi-energy. The opener, "Cyklone Song," is particularly devastating: Lindblom's guitar intro brings to mind DNA with its bizarro-blues dissonance, then Nordeson lays down a barrelling rock beat for Broo to hard boppishly solo over. It's kicked into (even) higher gear when Ljungkvist adds a Mingusian riff. "Nothing Too Eccentric" is a great example of Nordeson marrying a free jazz way of playing to rock propulsion.

The remaining tracks are slower and often pretty. "Inner Place, Outer Space" is different: mostly guitar and cymbals (which are approached like bells and gongs), it gives off a 70's spacey meditative vibe, with Lindblom using a lot of harmonics and an unhurried pace.

Fans of Exploding Customer, Atomic and hot contemporary Swedish jazz in general should like this one.

[jaka]

I'm with mke on this.

An occasion to listen to the excellent Kjell Nordeson in top form, and it's a pleasure to get to hear Atomic's Ljungkvist and Broo in a different context.

Of course, you have to be into guitar, but if you do, Lindblom simply shines all the way.

[mke]

FWIW, I'm more into Lindblom's brand of sophisticated primitivism than most of jazz's clean-toned snoozisms. To put it harshly.