Large Unit/Fendika — Ethiobraz
The ten-track CD appears on Nilssen-Love’s label PNL- and it comes in a glossy, thick & colorful mini gatefold that takes in the colors of the Ethiopian flag, and pictures of the large collective performing the songs in a live setting.
The album is a live recording from 2018 where the twenty-piece band played at the Molde International Jazz festival in Molde, Norway. As we’ve come to expect from Nilssen-Love the often dense & active sound of the big band is capture in wonderful clarity & depth- and really aside from the few moments on stage banter, and applauses you wouldn’t know this was a live recording.
The twenty-person band takes in the following-Nardos Tesfaye- Vocals, Melaku Belay- Dancer & Vocal. Julie Kjær- Flute, Alto Saxophone. Kristoffer Berre Alberts-Tenor & Alto Sax. Klaus Ellerhusen Holm- Clarinet , Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone. Thomas Johansson- Trumpet. Mats Äleklint-trombone. Per Åke Holmlander-Tuba. Kalle Moberg- Accordion. Tommi Keränen- Electronics. Habetamu Yeshambel- Masingo. Fasika Hailu-Krahr. Terrier Ex- electric guitar. Jon Rune Strøm- Electric & Acoustic Bass. Chistian Aeaas Svendsen- Electric & Acoustic Bass. Mesay Abebaye- Bobero. Paulinho Bicolo- Cuica. Celio De Carvalho-Percussion & Berimbau. Andreas Wildhagen- Drums. Paal Nilssen- Love- Drums.
Kicking off the album we have “Zelesegna” a four & a half minute track, & this starts things in a nicely moody, tautly exotic & mysterious manner- as we find a blend of raw-yet- brooding rousing string riffs, hovering wind work, and wailing ethnic female singing. As we move through the album the pace is largely kept upbeat & urgent, yet there is both variations in player set-up & mood present- we move from bounding & snaking percussion meets building manic jazz horn work of “Fluku”. Through to the sassy-meets- cluttering horn/losse grooving acoustic bass/ and simmering guitar swing of “Shellele”. Onto densely backed-yet- joyful “Nargi” with its thick matt of drum/ percussion detail, chanted & richly wailed female vocals, & sawing banks of string & horn work. Through to the building & shambling mystery of the final track “Tezeta”- this just over six-minute track begins with blocks of furtive at first horn darts, mood string saws, brooding-yet-tight guitar tones, loose drum patterns- added to this we have the return of the smoky rich & heady female vocals. With the whole track nicely building to a rousing crescendo.
I’d say Ethiobraz is certainly on par with Paal Nilssen-Love other big-band focused projects- as he once again mangers to put his stamp on the material here which are largely traditional Ethiopian songs. Certainly, if you enjoy more ethnic focused jazz with a good blend of some fairly firey free jazz & moodier atmospheric fare you’ll need to pick up a copy of this.