With two members of Phronesis, a third of Django Bates’ Belovèd trio and the vibist from Cloudmakers Trio all on board, fiery Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset is to return with a new quintet album in early-2015, Pinball.
With additional strings and flute augmenting the core sound on some tracks Pinball was recorded at the residential Ocean Sound studio near Ålesund in western Norway where Nils Petter Molvær recorded his ‘comeback’ album Baboon Moon a few years ago.
Seen as one of the natural successors of Jan Garbarek, Neset first emerged with his People Are Machines and Golden Xplosion bands and was spotted early on by Django Bates in the pianist-composer’s days as a professor at the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen.
Later championed by then Cardiff-based indie Edition Records before moving to the German ACT label who released Lion – his first album for his new label – last year, a big band affair featuring the 11-piece Trondheim jazz orchestra, that release also included in its personnel the presence of Swedish bassist Petter Eldh familiar to UK audiences from Django Bates’ Belovèd trio and who retains his association with Neset on Pinball, the quintet also made up of Phronesis members pianist Ivo Neame and drummer Anton Eger, the band completed by vibist Jim Hart. All the material on the new album is either written or co-written by Neset and his co-producer Eger.
Neset returns to the UK for dates including a duo appearance at the Southport Jazz on a Winter’s Weekend festival on 7 February, and a gig at the Purcell Room, London on 18 March, with more touring later in the year. SG