Part of a trilogy which will include Westergaard’s Positioner/Positions (2021) and a yet to be released collection from Kjærgaard, this is both a leaderless trio and a trio of leaders. Now in their third decade, the Danish trio’s deeply symbiotic relationship has been described as “liberated intuition”, and it would be hard to imagine a more intellectually cogent and simultaneously remote outpost of the Evans-LaFaro-Motian tradition.
On this occasion their creative launchpad is a set of advanced theoretical concepts from Bruun. In contrast to the “vernacular avant-garde” of his group All Too Human, where subversive intent is concealed behind an electro-pop veneer as he searches for the lowest viable common denominator for improvisation, Thēsaurós proudly embraces complexity and demands almost as much of the listener as it does of the musician.
Taking its title from the notion of rhythmic synonymity, Bruun uses three unimaginably complicated “rhythmic designs” (12/13, 12/11 and 18/17) as frameworks which at times barely contain the trio’s improvisational cross-tensions. Two pieces are played in each signature, and the players’ endlessly inventive melodic and harmonic overlays create strikingly different perspectives each time.
After many hours of rehearsal over a four-year period, Bruun knows the material inside out and no rhythmic feat seems impossible. Kjærgaard favours a semi-abstract but linear approach, often suggesting Paul Bley, while Westergaard can be as precise or capricious as the circumstance demands. From the torrid rhythmic climax of Epitome to the infectiously propulsive walking bass-line of Taxis, the disorienting turbulence of Kinesis or the crystalline splendours of Dhē and Chest, this is structured improvisation of the very highest order.
Vinyl vultures are treated to a seventh track, Causal Structures, and although I haven’t heard it because I’m reviewing the CD, it will surely be worth the upgrade.
Discography:
Thēsaurós No 6 (18/17): Epitome; Thēsaurós No 3 (12/13): Dhē; Thēsaurós No 5 (18/17): Taxis; Thēsaurós No 2 (12/11): Kinesis; Thēsaurós No 4 (12/13): Treasure; Thēsaurós No 1 (12/11): Chest (63:49)
Bruun (d) with Søren Kjærgaard (p) and Jonas Westergaard (b). Copenhagen, June 2021.
ILK Music ILK341CD
