Danielsson Neset Lund - Sun Blowing (2016)

Three musicians, who all make their homes in Copenhagen, met as a Trio for the very first time in a studio. That initial encounter was recorded, and this extremely fine record is the result. The instigator was Danish drummer Morten Lund. The seed was sown in a conversation with Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset and Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson, when all three were travelling back by train to Copenhagen from Jazz Baltica in 2012. That encounter gave Lund the idea that a session like this could work. Danielsson and Lund were already familiar with each other from their work in groups led by Caecilie Norby and Ulf Wakenius. Marius Neset had hardly ever played with either the bassist or the drummer. 'The saxophone/ bass /drums trio gives space and freedom', says Lund. 'I felt that the three of us had same passion for trusting the moment.' The three musicians arrived at the studio on Thursday April 3rd 2014, ready to start work at 2pm, and by the time they emerged some five or six hours later, they knew they had created something very special. They indeed achieved miracles throughout, both in settling into grooves and in giving compelling shape to the freer sections. As Lund recalls the mood at the playback on the next day: 'It was like: Wow did we really do that?!' '(Marius Neset is) one of the hottest European jazz talents of recent years.' GUARDIAN

There s a lot of inviting improv space in the harmonically free trio format of saxophone, bass and drums, but there s also nowhere to hide. Only the most resourceful players have risked it (saxophonists Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, John Surman and latterly Mark Turner in the Fly trio have been frontrunners), but the trio of Norwegian saxist Marius Neset and Swedish bassist and drummer Lars Danielsson and Morten Lund joins the best. Formed out of an accidental meeting on a train in 2012, it s another triumph for the prolific Neset, who often plays in structured settings but cuts enthrallingly loose here. He suggests both Rollins and Michael Brecker on the sinewy Little Jump. Danielsson and Lund open the lamenting Coltranesque title track with enthralling detail. There are shy soprano-sax tone-poems, memorable themes suggestive of Carla Bley and Charles Lloyd. It s an unashamedly jazz-rooted conversation without electronics or pop hooks, but so spiritedly lyrical and dynamic that its contemporaneity is never in doubt. --The Guardian

'spiritedly lyrical and dynamic' The Guardian 4* ---- 'an inspired choice' The Wire ---- 'a session with an upbeat, freely energized spirit' --Jazzwise

'a natural balance of spontaneous, on-the-edge improvisation characterized by a delicate, secure sense of home .' --AP Reviews