Until reading the release for this disc I hadn’t realised that Nilssen and Roligheten had grown up together in the same small Telemark town, but it certainly explains a lot – they are musically inseparable. Their first encounter with Swedish bassist Petter Eldh came in 2005 in a student ensemble directed by Django Bates. Although the three have played together many times since, Acoustic Unity was formed in 2014 and this is their fourth album.
Drawing heavily on the spiritual quests of Ayler and Coltrane and the joyous free-bop of Ornette Coleman, they have also antecedents in ECM’s back catalogue. Jan Garbarek’s Triptykon (1973) is an obvious touchstone, and it’s certainly no coincidence that Nilssen’s kit for this rhythmically elastic recording incorporates one of the late Jon Christensen’s cymbals.
While nothing on Elastic Wave breaches the five-minute mark, it is an extremely potent concentrate. Eldh’s Altaret (”the altar”) opens in reflective style, the trio’s supple agility hinting at their phenomenal latent power. The playful Spending Time With Ludvig, dedicated to Nilssen’s son, touches on Ayler and Coleman, Influx Delight and Acoustic Dance Music raise the energy quotients further still, and Eldh’s muscular groove on Nilssen’s Boogie recalls his work with the extraordinary Koma Saxo.
Yet Elastic Wave also has its quieter moments. The haunting Locket Til Jon, Og Skjerfet Til Paul uses a scarf left at Studios La Buissonne by Paul Motian to dampen Nilsssen’s bass drum, while Cercle 85 carries echoes of the late drummer’s trio with Brackeen and Izenzon. Til Liv, dedicated to Roligheten’s daughter, is perhaps the pick of the ballads, though his affecting bass saxophone on the final track comes very close.
Tight-knit and free-flowing to the last, Elastic Wave is an exemplary addition to a great musical lineage.
Discography
Altaret; Spending Time With Ludvig; Dreignau; Influx Delight; Locket Til Jon, Og Skjerfet Til Paul; The Other Village; Boogie; Cercle 85; Acoustic Dance Music; Til Liv; The Room Next To Her (44.00)
Nilssen (d); André Roligheten (ts, ss, bs, cl); Petter Eldh (b). Pernes-les-Fontaines, France, June 2021.
ECM Records 3899586
