01.The Curse 1:24
02.Kompet Går 6:49
03.I Disremember Quite Well 5:04
04.Og Hva Synes Vi Om Det 5:45
05.Last Nite 3:29
06.Blue 5:40
07.Tanga 4:14
08.Om Bare 3:03.
Terje Rypdal - Electric Guitar, Keyboards
Bjørn Kjellemyr - Electric & Acoustic Bass
Audun Kleive - Drums, Percussion.
Digital recording, November 1986 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo.
Terje Rypdal's recordings offer the listener an astounding array of styles - ranging from straight-ahead jazz played in small-combo settings to solo outings to mind-bending improvisations to orchestral compositions, and all points in between. His composition and playing and arranging are always tasteful and excellent, and the musicians he selects to execute his works are consistently first-rate. BLUE is no exception, falling into a trio of albums featuring roughly the same personnel, The Chasers - Terje on electric guitar (also adding some keyboard touches on this recordings), Bjørn Kjellemyr on electric and acoustic basses, and Audun Kleive on drums and percussion. The same players appear on Terje's previous album, CHASER, and on THE SINGLES COLLECTION (with the addition of Allan Dangerfield on keyboards). This is one of those delightful instances of musicians being so sensitively attuned to each other that they literally perform as a unit, delivering some astonishingly powerful and well-executed performances.
Opening with the short intro track 'The curse', then moving deftly into the powerful 'Kompet Går', the set takes the listener through a breathtaking experience featuring both hard-edged and gently beautiful arrangements. Terje's guitar is the only 'lead' instrument in a traditional sense, but the basses and drums of his bandmates are equally in play here. Listen to the funk-driven string-snapping and sliding chords produced by Kjellemyr on 'Kompet Går', and the incredibly precise percussive bursts from Kleive on the same track - they set the stage nicely for Terje's entrance. His playing, as always, is stunning - listen to his trademark attack-muting, as well as his amazing innate melodic sensibilities...and turn it right up! This is an album that deserves extra volume - not to blast the neighbors, but to experience the dynamic subtleties involved.
As I mentioned, Terje has produced a lot of variations during his long and distinguished career - this is a great straight-ahead album to initiate new listeners, as well as (speaking as a long-time fan of ALL of his work) one of my overall favorites in his catalogue. Also check out (besides the other two with this band, mentioned above), ODYSSEY and WHENEVER I SEEM TO BE FAR AWAY (great early works), AFTER THE RAIN (a solo effort, where Terje plays everything), WAVES and DESCENDRE (his earliest work with frequent collaborator, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg), EOS (an incredible duet album with cellist David Darling) and LUX AETERNA (his latest, one of his orchestral outings). His catalogue, almost entirely on Manfred Eicher's ECM label, is (thankfully) large and varied - and all of it very, very good.
Larry L. Looney.
Opening with the short intro track 'The curse', then moving deftly into the powerful 'Kompet Går', the set takes the listener through a breathtaking experience featuring both hard-edged and gently beautiful arrangements. Terje's guitar is the only 'lead' instrument in a traditional sense, but the basses and drums of his bandmates are equally in play here. Listen to the funk-driven string-snapping and sliding chords produced by Kjellemyr on 'Kompet Går', and the incredibly precise percussive bursts from Kleive on the same track - they set the stage nicely for Terje's entrance. His playing, as always, is stunning - listen to his trademark attack-muting, as well as his amazing innate melodic sensibilities...and turn it right up! This is an album that deserves extra volume - not to blast the neighbors, but to experience the dynamic subtleties involved.
As I mentioned, Terje has produced a lot of variations during his long and distinguished career - this is a great straight-ahead album to initiate new listeners, as well as (speaking as a long-time fan of ALL of his work) one of my overall favorites in his catalogue. Also check out (besides the other two with this band, mentioned above), ODYSSEY and WHENEVER I SEEM TO BE FAR AWAY (great early works), AFTER THE RAIN (a solo effort, where Terje plays everything), WAVES and DESCENDRE (his earliest work with frequent collaborator, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg), EOS (an incredible duet album with cellist David Darling) and LUX AETERNA (his latest, one of his orchestral outings). His catalogue, almost entirely on Manfred Eicher's ECM label, is (thankfully) large and varied - and all of it very, very good.
