TERJE RYPDAL

It had been a few years since Terje's previous solo album, his incredible debut, Bleak House (1968) as he'd been studying in graduate school under George Russell--a man whose album George Russell Presents The Esoteric Circle (recorded in October of 1969 and released locally as "Jan Garberak with Terje Rypdal's Esoteric Circle"--considered by some as Jan Garbarak's debut album--but it was not published internationally until late 1971 by Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label) is considered one of the most important and influential albums in the history of Norwegian music. George was an American-born jazz musician who had chosen to make his home in Oslo in the early 1960s where he even became a professor at Norway's Conservatory of Music--where Terje and Jan Garbarek, Jon Christensen, and Arild Anderson all met and played in the school's jazz orchestra that recorded George Russell's Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature (recorded April 28, 1969; released January 1, 1971).

1. "Keep It Like That - Tight" (12:10) spacious-yet-steady syncopated bass and drums over which Terje issues strums of odd distorted electric guitar chords for five minutes. Then there is a dramatic shift (spliced?) into a slightly more straightforward section of same palette, different rhythm pattern, over which Jan Garbarek's tenor sax screeches and wails. At 8:49 the electric piano of Bobo Stenson suddenly rises into the middle of the mix (a blocked track that is now 'faded in'?) but it's Terje's distorted guitar that soon takes over in the lead position with some aggressive and abrasive soloing over the more-Miles Davis-like sound palette. Even some of the rhythmic and palette constructs feel as if they're direct imitations of In a Silent Way and some of Bitches Brew.) (17.25/25)

2. "Rainbow" (7:05) bowed bass and triangle and nut shell shakers open this one with a sinister feel. Oboe and clarinet join in to make a soundscape that feels like an outer space version of a Paul Winter Consort piece. Interesting, eerie, and cinematic. I'd love to see the music charts for this one! (13/15)

3. "Electric Fantasy" (15:45) more "space symphony" music using different instruments to create an initial sonic field to the previous song: drums, electric bass, Herbie Hancock Mwandishi-like electric piano, reverb-effected winds, fast- reverbed (and/or flanged) wah-ed electric guitar chords and even vocalese (courtesy of Inger Lise Rypdal) offer sound into a vacuum: the notes/chords fast-fading off into the distant stars as soon as they're issued. Very cool effects but about as memorable, melodic, or engaging as the previous song--even in the 11th-minute when the release of aggression and volume are ramped up (which all ends in the 12th-minute as everything goes back to the space music of the opening). Weird to claim one's highlight to be the vocalise from the female voice. (26/30)

4. "Lontano II" (3:10) more sinister music, this time feeling more industrial: as if music coming out of the mouths of tunnels or holes in the Earth. Bowed and effected bass and strained guitar chords, finger percussion, but mostly a show of engineering effects. (8.666667/10)

5. "Tough Enough" (4:45) solo electric guitar opening: some fast picking turning into gentle John McLaughlin-like chords, played off of by bassist Bjørner Andresen and Jon Christensen's drums. Though I don't really like this guitar sound and its blues-rock nature, the instrumental play and mix is my favorite on the album: there's actual motion and as if a story is being told as opposed to the spacious generations of soundscapes of all of the previous songs. These guys can play! (8.75/10)

Total time: 42:57

B/four stars; not my favorite Terje album or sound exhibition.