Advertisement
Advertisement

Frode Kjekstad: In Essence

In brief:
"If you're drawn to speed-kings Bill DeArango and Pat Martino, then Kjekstad is definitely for you. But if Kenny Burrell or Wes Montgomery are more your thing, then there's also much to relish"

Born in Lien, Norway in 1974, Kjekstad has long been known as a player of post-bop assurance, with Charlie Parker and Joe Pass key early influences. His fully evolved music, in exhilarating evidence here, is one of both clean-lined and molten technical brilliance mixed with no little melodic poetry and harmonic light and shade: hear the beautifully projected Leaving, eight minutes of compulsive, maturely cast ballad meditation of high order.

If you’re drawn to speed-kings Bill DeArango and Pat Martino, then Kjekstad is definitely for you (Essence, Hot Gloves, Golden Apple). But if the blues-cut harmonic elegance of Kenny Burrell or the warmth of tone and spirit in the rolling cadences of Wes Montgomery are more your thing, then there’s also much to relish: sample Dark Hour, the tight and funky Blues For J.D. and the gorgeous (and thus aptly titled) Peacock Park, where the spirit of Montgomery perfumes the air.

Advertisement

None of this is to suggest that Kjekstad is dealing in pastiche or the afterglow of former giants. A musician of wide-ranging experience, including two well-received early releases on Curling Legs (New York Time and The Italian Job) and the later and equally applauded A Piece Of The Apple from 2017 (on Losen Records), his CV includes work with Gerald Wilson, Frank Foster, Eric Alexander, Dr Lonnie Smith, Claire Martin and the Sandvika Big Band.

A promising operatic tenor in his youth, Kjekstad has melodic gifts and a rich harmonic awareness that inform the present, elegantly crafted – and perfectly programmed – material, all of which he composed.

Throughout, we’re treated to an engaging, now singing and ringing, now stinging guitar sound, filtered through the most intelligent deployment of tonal, melodic and harmonic nuance: guitar buffs will doubtless appreciate the sleeve-note’s concise details on how Kjekstad sets up the sound of his Gibson Johnny Smith 1974 instrument.

His fresh and vibrant voicings, crisply turned blend of linear and chordal ideas and overall rhythmic alertness and élan elicit spot-on support from the excellent Berg (pizzicato throughout) and Stefaniassen. The burnished, superbly recorded whole makes for one of the purest and most enjoyable jazz releases I’ve heard in quite some time.

Find out more about Frode Kjekstad at frodekjekstad.com

Discography
In Essence; The Dark Hour; Hot Gloves; Leaving; The Golden Apple; A Walk in The Peacock Park; Blues For J.D.; Rude Waltz (41.16)
Kjekstad (elg); Frode Berg (b); Magnus Stefaniassen Eide (d). Sandvika, 1 October 2019.
Losen Records LOS 233-2

Latest audio reviews

Advertisement

More from this author

Advertisement

Jazz Journal articles by month

Advertisement

Lucia Cadotsch: Speak Low II

On this year’s strongest vocal jazz album, Swiss singer Lucia Cadotsch and her Swedish trio take apart the standards to see what they’re made...
Advertisement

Obituary: Ellis Marsalis Jr.

Born in New Orleans on 14 November 1934, Ellis Louis Marsalis, pianist and jazz educator, died from complications of Covid-19 in his home town...
Advertisement

Alex Hitchcock: making connections

One of the tracks on saxophonist Hitchcock's new album is the Brexit-inspired Cakeism, written when he sought unity in a time of division
Advertisement

Nothing But The Music: Thulani Davis

American writer and political activist Thulani Davis wears her poet's hat for this trawl of her work from 1974 to 1992, which springs from...
Advertisement

Motherless Brooklyn

Actor Edward Norton secured the rights to Jonathan Lethern’s best-selling novel Motherless Brooklyn on publication in 1999. Exactly 20 years later he brings it...
Advertisement

JJ 02/81: Chris Hunter – Early Days

I may be violating some obscure code by reviewing this record, because I also wrote the sleeve note, but never mind. The important thing,...
"If you're drawn to speed-kings Bill DeArango and Pat Martino, then Kjekstad is definitely for you. But if Kenny Burrell or Wes Montgomery are more your thing, then there's also much to relish"Frode Kjekstad: In Essence