Palle Mikkelborg, Jakob Bro, Marilyn Mazur
“Strands · Live at the Danish Radio Concert Hall”
Release Date: November 24, 2023
Buy LP: https://shop.jakobbro.com
Listen/stream: https://ecm.lnk.to/Strands
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ – Politiken (DK): “Everything on this album is important – and masterful. The live album by three of Denmarks greatest musicians is sublime.”
★★★★★★ – GAFFA (DK): “Masterful live album from three of Denmark’s undisputed jazz masters opens vertical connections to the divine, the great, the greatest.”
★★★★★★ – Kristeligt Dagblad (DK): “Pure magic.”
★★★★★★ – All That (DK): “One of the most beautiful and complete, international live recordings in recent times. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you!”
★★★★★★ – Nettavisen (NO): “A timeless three-generation meeting with exhilarating conversations that keeps you on the edge of the chair so as not to miss anything.”
Downbeat (US): “Strands is a richly atmospheric live recording that erases any gaps in age and aesthetic tendencies between trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, guitarist Jakob Bro and percussionist Marilyn Mazur.”
★★★★☆ – Le Soir (BE): “Le trio danois peint avec une certaine mélancolie les paysages sonores des plages danoises. Une certaine sérénité soutenue par le vent, à un moment (Returnings) déchirée par quelque cri perçant rapidement assagi, le calme, l’apaisement. La spatialité du son du trio est magnifiée par l’acous tique de la salle et l’enregistrement d’ECM. Ecoutez attentivement: c’est captivant.”
★★★★☆ – All About Jazz (US): “Strands brings together three of Denmark’s finest artists in their ancestral home. It’s an absorbing listen from three masters of creative music.”
★★★★☆ – Marlbank (IE): “Jakob Bro has never sounded more brooding and stark than here on Strands. And we’d put that factor down to the mesmerising presence on this Danish supergroup of a trio of Palle Mikkelborg whose atmospheric trumpet playing is matched by the ever expansive percussive ideas from Marilyn Mazur.”
★★★★★ – Rondo (DE): “What’s amazing is the free flow of thoughts has led to a fascinatingly free journey into the realm of spontaneity and still seems well-considered and anything but arbitrary. This is free jazz of today at its finest.”
★★★★★ – Jazzthetik (DE): “Ausgesprochen subtil in seiner Reduktion auf die kleinsten Elemente, ist Strands in seiner atmenden Organization von schematisch-konzeptionellem Minimalismus doch meilenwiet entfernt.”
★★★★★★★★★☆ – Eclipsed (DE): “Ein Album wie ein Traum. Das Trio entfaltet eine transparente Kartografie aus ätherischen Klangcollagen, durch die das Ohr hindurchgreift wie durch einen süßen Duft, welcher sich umso vehemen- ter in der sinnlichen Erinnerung festsetzt. Strands ist eines der schönsten, wenn nicht DAS schönste Jazz-Album des Jahres”
Weltwoche (DE): “In the end, everyone only hears their own heartbeat. A process like an incantation. Like the concert as a whole. It owes its intensity to the extreme frugality of everyone involved. In the wake of omissions, pauses and silences, the listener’s imagination begins to take flight. And it is, one would hardly dare say, a consequence of the outrageous beauty of this music.”
★★★★★ (4,5/5) – Written in Music (NL):. “Het levert een fascinerend muzikaal landschap dat uitermate boeit en je er bij elke luisterbeurt steeds weer volledig inzuigt. Een machtige registratie om nooit genoeg van te krijgen.”
Jazzviews (UK): “It sounds otherworldly, as if one is slowly walking through a dream landscape. There’s plenty of space around each instrument – each player knows when to play, what to play and when to stay silent.”
Jazz Magazine (FR): “Un trio d’une indéniable cohesion et dont la complicité laisse espérer qu’il ne restera pas sans lendemain.”
Qobuz (US): “This excellent Danish jazz trio—trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, guitarist Jakob Bro, and percussionist Marilyn Mazur—creates whole worlds with relatively spare means. Even when there are only a few elements at play, this threesome deftly conjures an intriguing environment. The color combinations are a study in how to paint vivid soundscapes with a handful of tones.”
The Big Takeover (US): “A Danish jazz summit, the concert captured on Strands brings together three different generations of Denmark-born or based improvisers. Strands is a gorgeous record that makes us wish we’d been there that night.”
Jazziz (US): “Trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, guitarist Jakob Bro and percussionist Marilyn Mazur, prominent musicians representing three different generations in Danish jazz, unite in the evocative album Strands.”
Manafonistas (DE): “Mein late night album des Jahres 2023 ist Strands. Hier passiert all das, was zu einem Abenteuer gehört (gepflegte Abendunterhaltung geht wirklich anders). Hier traut man mitunter seinem Ohren nicht. Hier ist die Stille beredsam, und der Noise-Faktor melodisch. Hier verschwinden Klänge aus dem Bild wie in einer endlosen Filmblende. Hier tauchen aus dem Nichts (das so viel spannender ist als das Nichts der Existenzialisten) melodische Figuren auf (so kristallin wie gespenstisch).”
Musica Jazz (IT): “Un’assoluta pacatezza di tono e riempimento degli spazi contrassegna questo lavoro a tripla firma, il cui sottotitolo recita ‘Live at the Danish Radio Concert Hall’. Danesi sono in effetti tutti e tre i suoi firmatari, con uno scarto anagrafico della bellezza di trentasette anni (Mikkelborg è del 1941, Bro del 1978, con la percussionista in posizione grosso modo intermedia), per un’opera la cui dimensione live ci fa immaginare, proprio in virtù di quanto detto, spazi riempiti da movimenti a loro volta minimi, pochi schizzi, poche pennellate, in un clima quasi sacrale, di un ritualismo e una solennità assolutamente asciutti, di una pudicizia espressiva quasi ritrosa, nonché – va da sé – elegantissima.”
Offtopic Magazine (IT): “E forse tutta la musica espressa in questo Strands vive di una contingenza necessaria, quella elusività che occorre per superare la barriera dell’Io e avvicinarsi sempre di più al senso realmente profondo che dà ragione all’esistenza.”
Cutting Edge (BE): “Er zijn de warme, dromerige gitaarklanken van Bro met de wat koele, ijselijkere trompet en flugelhorn van Mikkelborg. Als tegengewicht is er de inbreng van Mazur die op ‘Strands’ nooit nadrukkelijk aanwezig lijkt, maar evenwel een wezenlijke bijdrage aan het mooie, elegante en groepsgeluid levert.”
Jazznyt (DK): “Det er indiskutabelt at denne trio indeholder de tre største nulevende danske jazzmusikere – også ud fra et internationalt synspunkt. To af dem har endda spillet med Miles Davis. Strands er dansk verdensklasse jazz. Hvor er det skønt at opleve.”
Salt Peanuts (NO): “Dette er, etter min mening, blitt en av Jakob Bros beste innspillinger. Han har endelig funnet sine rette samarbeidspartnere, selv om det også var strålende å høre han sammen med Jorge Rossy og Arve Henriksen tidligere. Men her synes jeg at alt er på plass, og fra start til mål er dette en musikalsk reise som er som balsam for sjelen i den lurvete tiden vi lever i akkurat nå.”
Nettavisen (NO): “Et tre-generasjonsmøte av typen tidløst og der samtalene er av typen som sørger for at jeg sitter lengst fremme på stolsetet for ikke å gå glipp av noe som helst. Her møter vi tre unike stemmer i et ganske så nedstemt og ettertenksomt landskap og univers. Her blir det ikke spilt en eneste unødvendig eller overflødig tone – alt er der for helhetens skyld og for en helhet det har blitt. Palle Mikkelborg, Jakob Bro og Marilyn Mazur tar oss med på en musikalsk utflukt som tar bolig i kropp, sjel og sinn og som gir tanken luft.”