Jazz /
Strands (Live At The Danish Radio Concert Hall)
"When we walked out on stage it felt like a homecoming,” says Jakob Bro of this texturally spacious and emotionally charged live recording from Copenhagen, on which three of the defining protagonists of improvisation in Denmark, leading musicians from three generations of Danish jazz, come together. The concert, in February 2023, was particularly poignant since it marked a return to performance for trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, who delivers some of his most thoughtful playing here. Repertoire, dra…
Afric Pepperbird
Recorded in Oslo in September 1970, Afric Pepperbird was released on New Year’s Day in 1971. Half a century later, it still conveys the freshness and excitement of discoveries being made. The album signalled the arrival of four Norwegian improvisers – Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen – at the fledgling ECM label. It was the start of a lifelong association with each of the musicians, whose influence was soon to reach far beyond the borders of their homeland. In exten…
Japan 2019
PNL Records and Audiographic Records are thrilled to announce the release of the seven CD boxset, Paal Nilssen-Love & Ken Vandermark: Japan 2019. This co-production includes live recordings by this long-standing duo from their 16-date concert tour of Japan, as well as new collaborations with legendary Japanese musicians: Akira Sakata (reeds/voice), Masahiko Satoh (piano), and Yuji Takahashi (piano).
The Nilssen-Love/Vandermark is an internationally acclaimed percussion/reed duo and has been in c…
Afro Blue
Saxophonist Mats Gustafsson is notorious for his prolific nature and constantly expanding circle of collaborators, but few of his partnerships have been as powerful and profound as Gush, the Swedish trio which formed way back in 1988 and celebrates its 36th anniversary in 2024. This performance was captured live at the famous Stockholm jazz venue Fasching on December 17, 1998, and the music excited all three musicians when they revisited it this year. The album is named for the Mongo Santamaria …
At Home (An NPR Tiny Desk Concert)
Svaneborg Kardyb are Nikolaj Svaneborg – Wurlitzer, Juno, piano and Jonas Kardyb – drums, percussion a multi award winning duo from Denmark, with a fast-rising international reputation and with an NPR Tiny Desk concert – number one on many artist’s wish lists - in the bag before even the release of their Gondwana Records debut album Over Tage last November. Their beautiful, exquisite compositions draw on Danish folk music and Scandinavian jazz influences, resulting in a joyful melding of beautif…
Family
Norwegian drummer/composer Gard Nilssen debuts on We Jazz Records with his major new album “Family” with the 17-piece Supersonic Orchestra. A veritable who’s who of Scandinavian jazz (and beyond), the Supersonic Orchestra is one of the most exciting large groups in the current international jazz circuit. Captured at Mondriaan Jazz Festival in Den Haag, Netherlands, “Family” presents the ensemble in top form across the 8 tracks, all of which are original compositions by Gard Nilssen and André Rol…
Trio
Jesper Nordberg Trio is a group based in Copenhagen (DK) and Malmö (SE), featuring the double bass player Jesper Nordberg, violinist Stefan Pöntinen and trumpetist Ruhi Erdogan. With Nordberg's compositions as a starting point, the trio's playing can be characterized by close interplay, radical shifts, and having elements ranging from experimental improvisation, Balkan music, Scandinavian folklore, jazz and expressionism. Jesper Nordberg's warm tone and rhythmic displacements meet Ruhi's trumpet…
Spirit Spirit
*2023 stock* Spirit Spirit is an improvised suite in nine parts and epilogue by the Scandinavian trio featuring the renowned saxophone player Torben Snekkestad, pianist Søren Kjærgaard, and double bass player Tomo Jacobson. The suite was carefully composed from almost 3 hours of spontaneously improvised studio recordings by the trio. The outcome is a focused, minimal, dark, dynamic, enigmatic 38 minutes of music that unfolds like a ghostly tale. The trio was formed in 2016.
Variations On No Particular Theme - Part 2
*2023 stock* Lo and behold, the second and final part of the diptych from the unusual free improvising quartet featuring two New York-based viola players Mat Maneri & Tanya Kalmanovitch, and Copenhageners Tomo Jacobson on double bass & Kresten Osgood on drums, is finally here! This time, we enter into a darker, fiercer, seemingly telepathic exchange - a powerful finale to an unprecedented musical journey.
Variations On No Particular Theme - Part 1
Perhaps for the first time in the history of music, here is two violas, double bass, and drums quartet featuring the New York-based Mat Maneri & Tanya Kalmanovitch, and Copenhageners Tomo Jacobson & Kresten Osgood. Calling their music chamber free improv gives some clues about the sound world you are entering, but it also falls very short in the face of the multitudes presented here. ‘Variations On No Particular Theme’ is a pregnant name in which we can look for the key to this album. Of course,…
The Cod And The Cat
*2023 stock. 50 copies limited edition* After his oneiric, Casio-centric 'Nullpluss' that Kristian Tangvik released two years ago, the time has come for his next move. In Kristian's own words: "The Cod and the Cat has developed over the course of two years. It came to me in a dream. Some compositions arrived while traveling, others in a complete standstill. And so I have gathered a fresh combination of exceptional performers from the rich and exciting underground of Copenhagen's music scene, and…
Litterjug
*2023 stock* Bloodstock themes, cascading drum fills, pumping bass lines, and flamethrower saxophone cries - Litterjug is a rollercoaster ride of joyful anarchy. Litterjug is a Copenhagen-based contemporary trash jazz trio featuring three original improvisers from Poland, Lithuania, and Denmark. The band's explorations are heavily rock-inspired, with a dose of abrasive free flow improvisations. The trio offers contrast-filled, action-packed music, sometimes rocking a simple groove, and other tim…
ecoegoe
ecoegoe is an ensemble led by bassist, composer, and producer Mark Ibsgaard Gregersen. During early developments, he had experiences where acoustically made sounds would resemble digital samples, echoes, and compression. Or was it just an idea? Their sound is loud and intense while also containing the fragility and closeness of an interplaying acoustic ensemble. The septet consisting of saxophones, percussion, double bass and synthesizer explore sonic, rhythmic and structural inspirations from e…
The Studio Intim Sessions, Vol.1
*2023 stock* Geir Sundstøl has made a name for himself as an innovative session musician on hundreds of Norwegian and international albums. 2015 saw the release of Furulund, the first self-composed long player from this Master of Strings. Langen Ro, Norwegian Grammy winner Brødløs and St.Hanshaugen Steel, followed soon after. Now, the stage is set for something quite different. The Studio Intim Sessions, Volume 1, Sundstøl's fifth solo album, has taken a trip on its own, away from the cinematic …
Fengselsfugl
*2023 stock* "Trond has been compared with guitar calibers such as Bill Frisell and Ry Cooder among a number of reviewers. "Bedehus & Hawaii" locates Trond Kallevåg at the right height on the heels of Ry Cooder and Bill Frisell. " - Jazzaroundmag.
On "Fengselsfugl" (prisonbird in english) Trond takes the listener into musical landscape inspired by his job as music teacher in Oslo Prison. Isolation, hope, darkness and the ballads inside the prisons in the 18th century are some key words that desc…
Nyanser
Originally released in 1979 on Mistlur Records in Sweden, Nyanser is widely considered Thomas Almvqvist’s masterpiece.
Echoes
Mats Gustaffson and the Fire! Orchestra return with an album recorded in the company of Jim O'Rourke entitled Echoes and to be released on 14 April 2023 by Rune Grammofon. For the 14th anniversary the Fire! Orchestra presents itself with a gigantic line-up of 43 elements. Within the big band we also find the confirmation of singer Mariam Wallentin, as well as the addition of the voices of David Sandström and Joe McPhee (also present as tenor sax).
Echoes is a new chapter within the discography o…
Black and White
Tip! Existing somewhere between the post-psychedelic period of Soft Machine and the electric funk of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, Black And White, the 1976 album from Norway’s Vanessa is without question a formidable beast of a jazz-rock record. A potent brew of sonic experimentation and pulsating off-kilter groove. Taking their name from the genus of Nymphalidae butterfly, Vanessa was founded in 1971 by saxophonist Svend Undseth and pianist Frode Holm, the founder of the Oslo record store turn…
Supergolden
** Ltd. 100 copies ** "Supergolden" is the name of Petter Asbjørnsen’s debut album featuring Kjetil Møster on saxophone and bass clarinet, and Øyvind Skarbø on drums. Møster and Skarbø are prominent figures in the Norwegian jazz community, known from ensembles such as Zanussi 5, 1982, Skarbø Skulekorps, Møster! and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Stints living in Bergen, Copenhagen, Berlin and New York informed Asbjørnsen’s work as a composer and performer in projects with Molecules and Erlend Sko…
I'm Here
*Limited edition of 500 copies* Drummer and composer Edward Vesala, the most internationally renowned jazz musician from Finland, was very keen on percussion instruments. Oddly enough, this broad and enduring interest is hardly evident on his albums.Whether playing on his own albums or contributing to other musicians’ work, Vesala played a standard drum kit most of the time. He hardly used external percussionists on his own albums either. And most of all: his music was almost never percussive, a…