A very solid, powerful and conscious debut by City Nights, Swedish band composed by some of the best and most requested Swedish jazz musicians from the younger generation. Andreas Hourdakis, to begin with, guitarist of Magnus Öström (Esbjörn Svensson Trio), Nils Jansson, the most interesting trumpet player of his generation, the great groover Martin Höper on bass, and Chris Montgomery on drums, with his rich and versatile punctuation.
The album touches and immediately goes beyond jazz rock, almost creating a new style, if one had to give a genre definition. Freedom from jazz and rock becomes the most distant point from both poles, making the fusion free from usual schemes. There are elements of rock, indierock, jazz and progressive, often used in an innovative and unprecedented, unexpected way. And the fantastic interplay resulting from the fusion of instruments and inspiration is really the alchemy that makes each piece interesting and easy to remember.

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Huge expectations for this almost-debut gig of pianist Daniel Karlsson’s trio, probably the most legitimate heir of Esbjörn Svensson in the Scandinavian jazz scene. Actually, their musical paths did often cross as they also played for the same artists. Contrary from Svensson though, who had his own trio from the start, Karlsson has been more embedded in bands rather than going solo, starting with Oddjob, by far one of the most innovative and explosive bands among Nordic jazz. In fact, by coincidence, the very evening of this concert Oddjob won their second Swedish Grammy Award for their latest album, Jazzoo.
Expectations were duly met and actually exceeded in respect to the Das Taxibåt album (reviewed here). In the live performance not only Karlsson’s powerful pianist skills were confirmed or even surpassed but also the intense and joyful complicity between the three musicians was there, with double bassist Kristian Lind proving a truly inspired and stronger talent compared to what the CD would disclose, while Fredrik Rundqvist on drums won enthusiastic applause for a couple of highly catchy and original solos; and this is not easy when you are dealing with an already percussive, rhythmic and accented talent as that of Karlsson.

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Another sold out concert for the highest caliber crossover jazz trio around: regardless of your personal taste about music, these three gentlemen really know how to play with elegant perfection and reach a “complex simplicity” that is by no means easy to achieve. And still, you will not stumble into anything resembling a virtuous complacency in the dynamics of the trio, it all rather seems a wonderful game of fraternal complicity between three giants who play with the same naive enthusiasm of three young kids strumming cover songs in the house’s cellar after school. Having never attended a JK3 gig with the previous drummer Jonas Holgersson, there is luckily no way to make comparisons, but the young Ikiz (Turkish but naturalized Swedish) is a phenomenon, a pure instigator, with a couple of gears above the average: his ability to transform and his groove.Actually, to be truthful, it is only the birth certificates the lie about the other two on stage.

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Concert at the Salon IKSV, Istanbul, Turkey, January 18, 2014
 

A completely sold out concert in a city where jazz really beats like few other places in Europe and the world. A musical scene to pay close attention to, and one that pays close attention to what is going on. Turkey is hungry for innovative and quality music. And the age of the listeners is often incredibly young compared to other countries, I have never seen so many boys and girls at a jazz concert, ever. Magnus Öström is really at home here, everything that is related to the Esbjörn Svensson Trio enjoys the status of a loving and warm cult. “Loving" is not an adjective chosen at random, it is different from “adoring”. In fact, the gap between audience and stage is tiny and the liquid boiling energy which abundantly fell on the audience was repaid with delirious shouting, applauding and sighing that no one cared to hold back. I have never experienced anything quite like that at a jazz concert before.

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