Back when there was excitement and adventure in music, free and avant garde jazz was a way of showing that the times were a-changing in the late 60s, and it wasn’t only happening in the US. These two cds show that Denmark had a hand in the pot as well.
Recorded in August of 1966, the team of Hugh Steinmetz/tp, Kim Menzer/tb, John Tchicai/as, Karsten Vogel/as, Steffen Andersen/b Finn von Eyben/b Bo Thrige Andersen/dr and Giorgio Musoni/perc met at the Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen for some freestyle swinging that gives hints of Mingus and Coleman. The two alto sax players are high pitched, almost coming off like sopranos during the cataclysmic “Kirsten” after the reeds and brass broods on “ The Education of an “Amphibian.” The rhythm waxes and wanes like high tide on “Inside Thule” while they go herky jerky on “Chess.” Drama builds up with a tensile “Viet Kong” and all the while the solos are penetrating and visceral. Whew!
Captured in the Metronome Studio in Copenhagen in 1966, bassist Finn von Eben’s workshop of Jesper Bech Nielsen/ts, Kim Menzer/tb, Soren Svagin/p and Teit Jorgensen charge like a stampede on “Asia” before the reeds brood over Eyben’s bass on “More Flowers.” Eerie piano and thick tenor sax makes up “Krogerup” while staccato sounds pound on “Springtime.” The Radiojazzgruppen is a larger group that sits together for three pieces here. Eyben’s bass and Bjarne Rostvold’s drums thunder on “Flower Point” while the horns veer in and out while “Roads of Flowers” includes eerie piano and woodwinds that flicker in the night. Lots of ideas being tossed up into the air, with enough landing on both feet to keep your interest.
Storyville Records