WESSELTOFT SCHWARZ DUO

Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft is often mentioned as one of the godfathers of nu jazz. At least, his early releases are nu jazz classics for sure. I never was a big fan of him, his music often sounded too "lightweight" or too dance-able /clubbing oriented for me.

This Bugges album is his duo with a musician not related to jazz at all. German Henrik Schwarz made his name on the Detroit/Berlin techno scene and is a respected figure in club electronic music. Possibly, it was a big risk that this album would be even more "clubbing" music or radical electronics, but fortunately this didn't happen.

Even more - this album represents a very rare great balance between jazz roots and modern electronic music possibilities. Being almost minimalist, it contains live and studio recorded compositions - both of which are stylish and tasteful. I was really surprised at how well balanced this music is - it looks like both musicians didn't demonstrate their abilities separately, but just moved one towards the other in their music.

Most interesting is how Henrik uses his electronic devices - it's a great example of how samples and electronics can be used as a source for improvs! In all, the music on here is not too extravagant, more normal than one would expect. Also, it's a great side of this release - the listener won't be shocked or attracted by some tricks, this album contains real music, and you will like it or hate it because of that.