Skage Larsen – Indus – Couleurs JAZZ

The vibraphone is generally considered a “warm” instrument, much like its ancestors or cousins—the marimba and even the balafon—both of which are associated with tropical climates.

Admittedly, there have been more northern performers for several decades now, such as the Americans Gary Burton and Bobby Hutcherson, not to mention the Frenchman Michel Hausser and the Belgian Sadi. But seeing a Norwegian vibraphonist emerge on the European jazz scene is something of a surprise.

And a very pleasant one, for this musician—who, incidentally, has composed the entire repertoire of his debut album with great talent—is an excellent improviser and a seasoned instrumentalist. One can, of course, detect in his playing the influence of the duo of Gary Burton and Keith Jarrett, who produced a magnificent album in the early 1970s that every jazz lover ought to own and revisit regularly with delight. But that’s where the comparison ends. Skage Larsen possesses a personal style that is significantly more expressive than Gary Burton’s.

As for pianist Sondre Moshagen, he doesn’t try to copy Jarrett, and his playing is thoroughly convincing. Together, with the help of an excellent rhythm section that is at times forceful and at times more discreet, they have forged a perfectly personal group sound. And we’ll overlook the fact that they saw fit to feature—on one track—a vocalist with a delicate timbre, a choice that could have been avoided to maintain the project’s cohesion. Indeed, the quartet itself sounds highly cantabile and possesses a dynamic range of its own that is truly admirable.

It must be said that the four partners benefited—in their native Norway, before turning professional—from the education provided by the Trondheim Conservatory, one of the continent’s most renowned educational institutions, through which many Scandinavian musicians expressing themselves in different styles have passed.

It is the in-depth and open approach to jazz taught there that allows young musicians such as the members of this group to offer, from their very first recording, music that is both refreshingly fresh and beautifully mature, capable of immediately taking on an international dimension.

Let us therefore wish a long life to this group with their inspiring performance, hoping that they will soon be able to share their music far beyond the fjords and shores of Scandinavia and, of course, on French stages, which would benefit greatly from discovering them.