Neumann/Gutvik/Håker Flaten/Nilssen-Love — New Dance

New Dance is a lively ‘n’ weaving improv release that shifts between skittering 'n' scuttling, and compact 'n' taut. The release brings together two generations of Norwegian improvisers with Carl Magnus Neumann - alto saxophone, Ketil Gutvik - acoustic & electric guitars, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - double bass, and last but hardly least Paal Nilssen-Love - drums & percussion.

This CD release appears on Paal Nilssen-Love label PNL Records- coming in the labels house style glossy and thick mini gatefold. This features on its front cover a selection of different sized texts, and on the inside, a black and white picture of the four picec all looking rather jovial.

The four-track album was recorded at Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo, Norway in July 2020- with an eye on recording a studio album as a four-piece down the line, but I believe this hasn’t happened yet due to Covid- but this release is certainly a great statement of the four pieces sound.

The album opens with just over eleven minutes of "Å så et Frø"- it begins with forlorn guitar runs and strums, weaved with snaking, but never overtly dense horn dart- with shifts of bass runs and very contracted/ controlled percussion touches. Later on, things become more open/ active- with scrubbing 'n' sketching guitar tones, more bashful-to-cheeky sax rolls, and cluttering percussion.

With track two we have the title track and this is the longest thing here at just shy of the thirty-one-minute mark. It moves from detailed, but solo percussive fill work, before moving onto wavering and manic blends of scrubbing surf guitar, warbling horn honk, tight bound bass, and complex/ layered percussion work that highlights Nilssen-Love prowess. In the tracks second half, we find detail-yet-micro neck scrubs, shifting with moments of compressed-to-stabbing bass tone, sudden percussive runs, bass drum 'n' double bass rounding- all creating a track that’s both cool as a cat, but nervy as a caught bird.

The album is finished off with the shortest track here "Dett var Dett"- which comes in just shy of the ten-minute mark. Here we find a tense web of skittering ‘n’ snaking percussion, manic and compressed guitar stums, rapid bass runs, and wavering ‘n’ warbling horn work. All making for a great exit to this release.

I’ve always been impressed/ enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve heard on PNL Records, and New Dance is no exception to that. If you like lively-yet- nervy improv, I’d say you’ll too get a big kick out of New Dance …so I can’t wait to hear the mentioned studio album with this four-piece.