Peter Rosendal, The Orchestra & Trio Mio - Trickster (2020) [Hi-Res]

Peter Rosendal relishes in his own musical unpredictability. He is difficult to pigeonhole, and doesn’t object if and when he is called unorthodox as a musician, composer, and arranger. Or, in his own words: “I like to pull the rug out from under the listener.” So… what can we expect from the music on TRICKSTER? On this album, Rosendal fabulates and juggles with 22 instrumentalists in an ensemble created for the occasion by pairing big band The Orchestra with folk group Trio Mio.

Peter Rosendal (born in 1976) arranged all the music heard here and composed the majority of it, creating a complex, whimsical, and – true to the Rosendal-spirit – humorous program. He drew inspiration from the island of Fanø off the west coast of southern Jutland in Denmark, as well as from Belo Horizonte in Brazil. He’s travelled to Brazil several times and collaborated with clarinet legend Paulo Moura, among others. Moura probably never heard of a “Sønderhoning” – both the term for a resident of the city of Sønderho (outsiders might think of it as a mere ‘speck’ on Fanø), and also a local style of music and accompanying dance.

On Fanø, this music that dates back more than 300 years is thriving, more than simply surviving as reproduction by those adorned in the traditionally associated folk costumes. It’s kept alive, cultivated, and re-interpreted by new generations. And, together with the Swedish polka, it’s another source of inspiration for Peter Rosendal. “I don't want to force a jazz template on a folk tune,” he says. “I try to expand on the folk elements and apply new layers, both rhythmically and melodically, but it’s probably disrespectful to the ‘pure’ tradition. First and foremost, I want to develop my own universe.”

Rosendal was raised in the lush regions of Jutland in Silkeborg, a town with a historically famous fondness for traditional jazz. “At the time, I thought that the attitude towards music there was too fundamentalist. I wanted to take things in a different direction,” he remembers. And he still has that spark! Over the course of his career, one can trace his resistance to ‘recreating’ certain music, as well as a general aversion towards musical mimicry. This in no way means that he is completely ignorant of tradition… quite the opposite. For example, one can hear him in Six City Stompers, a group rooted in New Orleans music, but one that has developed their own unique interpretations and musical language. Rosendal recalls a time when he was pressured to emulate the Americans and their approach to jazz, here in Denmark: “I got tired of chasing them. My focus has changed. My inspiration also comes from other sources.”

Peter Rosendal is often labelled as a jazz pianist (which he is), but he’s also much more than that. He was a member of the folk group ULC, whose records have twice been voted Album of the Year at the Danish Music Awards. He plays piano in Trio Mio, which is renowned for its ability to both maintain and reinvent folk music. One of his own trio’s records was named Jazz Release of the Year at the Danish Music Awards. Rosendal has been showered with much-deserved praise over the years, and the multifaceted talent has accumulated numerous awards and honours, including having received a three-year working grant from the National Arts Foundation. He’s released a healthy handful of CDs in his own name, including the acclaimed Stunt releases PICA-PAU, OLD MAN’S KITCHEN, and LOVE FOR SNAIL.

The Orchestra has now been at the forefront of the Danish music scene for several decades. When the band's 17 members are gathered together, their starting goal is to develop, cultivate, and perform new, original, and preferably experimental music. The Orchestra was fascinated by Rosendal's work with his sextet – Old Man’s Kitchen – and its unique navigation of melodic-jazz-through-folk-music-to-the-avant-garde, and… yadda yadda yadda… Rosendal was suddenly writing new music for The Orchestra. The fruits of their symbiotic labours can be heard here on TRICKSTER, where the magically imaginative and fabulously talented Peter Rosendal plays games with genres and tricks with what you think you know is going to come next.