SKYWARDS

Terje Rypdal is well known by his very personal guitar techniques and characteristic sound. And by his quality albums as well. So - even if Skywards is far not his best work, this album is worth listening for sure.

With a team of his most usual collaborators (including great Norwegian trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg), Terje recorded one of the most eclectic album for years. Mixing neo-classical music with some vintage jazz , heavy rocking guitar and plenty of pleasant, a bit new-age-like soundscapes, he produced quite easy listening album, but with high quality standard for all music on it.

To be honest in some moments listening to this album I caught myself that possibly Terje's excurses to easy listening zones are too deep there, but every time the taste with he is doing such excurses saved me from even a traces of disappointment. At best moments, album contains great neoclassical melodies, Mikkelberg's crystal trumpet sound and some free form modern music elements. With few jazzy pieces and aerial ECM label sound.

Not the best place to start, but still good album for Rypdal fans and all tasteful instrumental music lovers.

"Skywards started as a project to celebrate ECM and the work Manfred Eicher and I have done together over 25 years", says the Norwegian guitarist and composer Terje Rypdal in the liner notes. He's accompanied by trumpetist Palle Mikkelborg, pianist Christian Eggen, violinist Terje Toennesen, cellist David Darling and two drummers.

The 4-minute opening title track is IMHO an obvious highlight (it is indeed "in the 'Per Ulv' melodic tradition", as Rypdal states -- 'The Return of Per Ulv' on his previous album If Mountains Could Sing, 1995, is fantastic) but after that the album somewhat loses focus and wanders a bit too shapelessly in its introspective soundscapes. Especially the next, 7+ minute track 'In the Wilderness', which -- like several other pieces on Skywards -- is based on Rypdal's earlier composition.

'It's Not Over Until the Fat Lady Sings' is a tender piece with violin, cello and piano paving way for Rypdal's very distinctive electric guitar sound. This and the next one have some similarity to the impressionistic album The Sea, which was perhaps primarily pianist Ketil Björnstad's project but featured partly the same musicians as this album. The emotional impact however remains smaller here.

'Out of This World (Sinfonietta)' drags for roughly 16 minutes and concentrates on the spatial textures without a solid structure or clear melodies. A disappointing one, honestly, despite some nice trumpet on the last third. A nocturnal trumpet ang clanging of metal percussion are actually all there is on the slow and meditative-but-creepy 'Shining'. Sorry, again quite boring and pretentious artsy- fartsy stuff. 'Remember to Remember' is also a slow and meditative piece, but its flowing violin melodies are among the most pleasant details on this album, which I certainly wouldn't recommend as a starting point into Terje Rypdal's art. If you generally enjoy also the less melodic, calm and texture-centred European chamber jazz in the ECM label, give it a try.