Artist: Lars Danielsson & Leszek Możdżer
     Album: Pasodoble
     Label: ACT
     Year: 2007
     Quality: MP3 256 kbps
     Size: 112 Mb (+front cover)
     AMG Rating:

     Lars Danielsson, one of Sweden's top bassists, joins forces with Polish pianist Leszek Mozdzer for this enjoyable duo session. The precision with which the two men play indicates their classical background, with Danielsson being the most melodic jazz bassist to emerge from Europe since the late Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Mozdzer a perfect partner complementing his every move. The dazzling opener, the bassist's "Praying," has the flavor of a Scandinavian folk song, while the elegant ballad "Fellow" features the keyboardist adding a bit of harmonium and celeste and the leader's warm arco bass. Mozdzer's bittersweet "'It's Easy with You" and tense "Innocence 91" also leave a lasting impression. The only piece not composed by either musician is a haunting treatment of the Swedish folk song "Eja Mitt Hjärta," in which a bit of reverb is added to Danielsson's bowed bass. Highly recommended.

     Artists: Vijay Iyer
     Album: Solo
     Label: ACT Music
     Year: 2010
     Quality: FLAC (EAC rip), Separate tracks, Log + CUE
     Size: 221 MB
     Total time: ~57min

     ACT Music presents Vijay's most personal statement yet: a kaleidoscopic solo piano album, his first, presents bold originals alongside works by Ellington and Monk, as well as a reverent take on Michael Jackson's "Human Nature." Release date: August 31, 2010.

     "Bursting with both emotion and intelligence, this album is a dispatch from the vibrant forefront of jazz"
The Utne Reader

     "even more compelling than its predecessor... Iyer dives deep to find new twists and turns and harmonic surprises; all of them, however radical, sounding ineffably right, all of them glistening with a sense of revealed mystery... magic, from start to finish."

     Artist: Dan Berglund
     Album: Dan Berglund's Tonbruket
     Year: 2010
     Bitrate: FLAC | lossless (tracks+.cue)
     Time: 00:55:20 min
     Size: 290 MB(+5%)

     After the sympathising with EST members Dan Berglund and Magnus Ostrom receded – following the tragic loss of their leader and close friend Esbjörn Svensson in 2008 – concern for their musical predicament followed. They couldn't parachute in a Svensson-like pianist and just carry on. But having been crucial collaborators in one of the most popular instrumental groups of recent times, they were likely to be torn between finding their own paths and retreading at least some of those laid by EST. Bassist Berglund has taken the next step with his quartet Tonbruket, which is about to tour the UK; the word is Swedish for a sound-studio, and this album is certainly an exercise in the layering of effects and textures. Sometimes it suggests an update on Tubular Bells, sometimes it's slide-guitar soft-rock reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac or ferocious metal-thundering (Berglund was a teenage Black Sabbath/Deep Purple fan). On the fragile piano rhapsody over slow funk, called Song For E, it gets closest to the EST atmosphere. It's varied, idiomatically, but I found I waited in vain for a motif that rose much above the trite, or a groove that had some personal urgency rather than a handy pack of studio loops driving it. Berglund is a fine ensemble bassist, but this doesn't really suggest that his own muse has shown him the post-EST light.

     Artist: Oddjob
     Album: Clint
     Year : 2010
     Label: ACT Music
     Format, bitrate: MP3, VBR
     Time: 55:22
     Size: 68.59 MB


     Hello there. It’s time for an excellent new jazz release. The latest album by Swedish jazz ensemble Oddjob is a wonderful tribute to actor/director Clint Eastwood. Clint was originally released back in February and finally added to Spotify in yesterdays update. Read some background info about the album here and some reviews in Swedish here. Recommended listening. Enjoy!