Once again the groove is catchy, the way of shaping melodies utterly distinctive; these aspects define the sound of Shalosh. And once again, the trio is incredibly tight – after all, the band’s name does mean “three” in Hebrew. On “Tales of Utopia”, Shalosh have taken their music, their way of telling stories through sound, and placed them in the bigger context. Drawing elements from the Old Testament and the Odyssey, they combine Christian and Greek mythology in a way which is individual… rhapsodic. The connecting of world cultures gives a common thread to the album: a young hero is travelling into the unknown. But what is unknown to him is not just the external world, but also the inner self. Every journey also leads to increased self-awareness, and that makes him stronger. “Tales of Utopia” is about how utopian thinking is based on the preoccupation with one’s own self, on concentration and meditation. Keeping that focus well honed functions as the antidote to information overkill.

Four is a winner: that was the unanimous opinion of critics and audiences alike on the first album from German-Swedish supergroup 4 Wheel Drive. The eponymous debut disc from this band of bandleaders went straight to the top spot as best-selling jazz album in Germany for2019. And the media didn’t hold back with their praise either: “Four first-league jazz musicians with pure joy of playing and a love of good pop music”, said ZDF’s “heute-journal” about this spirited and enjoyable group, which combines trombonist/singer Nils Landgren, pianist Michael Wollny, bassist/cellist Lars Danielsson and drummer Wolfgang Haffner. AllAboutJazz, a leading American jazz website, asked whether this album might be worth adding to a listener’s collection, and answered the question succinctly:”4 sure”.

Swiss vocal acrobat Andreas Schaerer and Finnish guitarist Kalle Kalima have some things in common. As artists, each is essentially in a category completely of his own. Both are musicians who can always conjure something special from their chosen instruments.

Canadian trumpeter Lina Allemano and her signature acoustic quartet return with their latest album Pipe Dream. The Juno-nominated band’s seventh release includes the new four-part suite “Plague Diaries” and offers up a new chapter in the chamber-jazz quartet’s ongoing evolution. The band’s seamless improvisations and orchestral arrangements reflect a level of maturity that can only be achieved after 18 years as an ensemble. The quartet features Lina Allemano on trumpet, Brodie West on alto saxophone, Andrew Downing on double bass and Nick Fraser on drums.

There is a transcendental place that musicians can reach during performance. A space where they get lost in the music, letting the years honed skills and natural inclination take control. Many of the exhilarating moments in improvised music come from the sudden shift, the accentuation of razor sharp focus, to get back on course.

This is a soul-stirring release performed by Pat Metheny and a plethora of friends, all great jazz musicians in their own right. Works II is a compilation of his finest work, spread out from the years 1976 to 1984. This guitarist/composer/bandleader became one of the leading names in the jazz genre during the '70s and '80s. This collection of beautifully written numbers reflects his character of good taste and the unique flavor of his graceful, even-flowing solos. Opening with "Unquity Road," Metheny is joined by the legendary Jaco Pastorius on bass and Bob Moses on drums. The soothing sweeping tones of his guitar blends in charmingly with Moses pulsating percussion and the rousing basslines of Pastorius.

After 15 years of waiting: Audio portraits of Oslo's tragic-heroes by Norway's least Nordic piano trio.The idea for the album came to Aarum after reading "Oslo originals" - a book about the fascinating residents from the Norwegian capital's history. Each track on the album, he decided, would paint a portrait of one of these personalities. Take "El Jucan", a tribute to Einar Olsen, who walked the streets as a fakir, swallowed swords, flames and glass and lay on a bed of nails. In an inspiring twist of serendipity, the recording studio happened to be in the immediate vicinity of a mental hospital. This set the mood perfectly, as many of the personalities captured on the album battled with alcoholism and deteriorating psychological health. The entire album, the first one by the current line-up of the trio after 15 years, was recorded in a single 1,5 hour short session. Thanks to this impressive achievement, the Anders Aarum trio are now originals as well. They, too, have now become part of the Oslo puzzle.

From Norwegian folk singer and harpist Sinikka Langeland comes a seductively subtle contemporary jazz album. The lyrics are all Norwegian or Swedish (the sleeve notes have translations), and celebrate the poetry of Edith Södergran and Olav Håkonson Hauge – the first a shortlived pioneer of modern Swedish poetry, the second the Norwegian "lumberjack poet" who came to the art in his 40s. Langeland's band brings together trumpet-player Arve Henriksen and saxophonist/composer Trygve Seim, and it's a magical combination. Despite a predominant feeling of tranquillity, the singer sometimes adds an almost Nina Simone-like bite, for which Seim's smoky sound, Henriksen's ghostly multiphonics and Anders Jormin's bass are ideal foils. The mood is often broken by grooves that suggest some strange fjord-village cabaret music, or episodes that are like Nordic Miles Davis. It's a real one-off.

Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen, an ECM musician for more than fifty years, is a masterful player who has always welcomed a challenge. His first recording with his new quartet – including rising stars Marius Neset and Helge Lien (both bandleaders in their own right)– is almost entirely improvised. The players make the leap of faith together and find and develop forms in the moment, an object lesson in spontaneous group creativity. Affirmation was recorded in November 2021 at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio.

The music of Norwegian trumpeter/Nu Jazz progenitor, Nils Petter Molvaer, has always been cinematic. Call it music for a non-existent movie or a film of the mind, Molvaer's albums, beginning with the groundbreaking Khmer (ECM, 1997), have always been about aural landscapes evocative of highly personal imagery and plenty of club-ready grooves. Even in performance, the lighting provided by Tord "Prince of Darkness" Knudsen is intended to provoke the imagination rather than focus attention on the musicians. It's no surprise, then, that Molvaer has been recruited to provide music for film. His score for the 2005 French film Edy already saw limited release on Molvaer's Sula imprint the same year. Re-Vision culls four pieces from Edy and, by combining them with music from two other films—the 2007 German film Hoppet and 1999 Norwegian documentary Frozen Heart—and one non-soundtrack piece, fashions a continuous 46-minute suite that stands independently as yet another highly visual piece, incorporating Molvaer's ever-expanding frames of reference. Re-Vision is also Molvaer's first release in years to not primarily feature members of his touring band, but guitarist Eivind Aarset remains a fundamental part of its overall soundscape.

The album covers of the iconoclastic British violinist Nigel Kennedy often promise more craziness than they actually deliver, and that's true in the case of this release, presenting to the buyer a cartoon of a mohawk-wearing figure saying "Shhh!" The contents differ considerably from what the cover would suggest; Shhh! is a more or less straight-ahead album of jazz in various styles. Kennedy came by his inclination toward jazz honestly, playing jazz on the piano as a child and appearing in a duet concert at age 16 with Stéphane Grappelli despite warnings from his teachers. Here he appears, as on several other albums from the 2005-2010 period, with an all-Polish group of musicians (except for Afro-British percussionist Xantoné Blacq)…