Editor's info:
Following in the footsteps of In The Country and Espen Eriksen Trio, Kjetil Mulelid Trio is the third piano trio to appear on Rune Grammofon. Although they can be placed in the same musical landscape, it´s also fair to say there are certain obvious differences. There is a solid dose of youthful playfulness and curiosity at work here, at the same time they show an assured maturity that belies their age (26, 26 and 29). The music is based on compositions by pianist Mulelid - inspired by everything from psalms to free jazz - but there is also room for collective improvisation. It can be energetic, rhythmically complex and harmonically rich, but also intimate and with a beautiful melody. They work purely with acoustic sounds and timbres and are constantly reaching for new ways to express themselves within these frames.
London JazzNews:
Kjetil Mulelid is a young Norwegian pianist who normally plays in a trio with bass player Bjorn Marius Hegge and drummer Andreas Winther (album reviewed here). Mulelid is a graduate of the renowned jazz course at NTNU in Trondheim and played at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival as part of the collaboration with the jazz course at Birmingham Conservatoire.
On this occasion he plays a solo piano set with 11 tracks. The set was recorded on a beautiful-sounding Bösendorfer piano at Athletic Sound studio in Halden, Norway. The recording is crystal clear and the piano sound is excellent.
In the early tracks, Beginning, Skjong, and Point of View (YouTube below) there is a strong influence from classical music, apparently the pianist in his childhood listened repeatedly to music by Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, and there are echoes of the music of these composers in these tracks.
Dancers is much more rhythmic and upbeat, while Le Petit builds up to a climax and the improvisation has a nice arc in the way it develops. Later tracks, Love Story, For you I’ll d....... więcej