Per Oddvar Johansen - Let’s Dance

The Guardian 80

(Edition)

Per Oddvar Johansen is the widely respected Norwegian percussionist whose sensitivity to texture and ensemble awareness has enriched the work of creative leaders including Solveig Slettahjell and Christian Wallumrød. His own trio here features pianist Helge Lien and the remarkable saxophone pioneer Torben Snekkestad, sometimes playing the spine-tinglingly voice-like reed trumpet. It’s a very broad mix of idioms and moods – including the gripping north European folk-jazz meditation of the title track (with Snekkestad wandering tantalisingly on- and off-pitch, Lien prodding and coaxing, and Johansen playing loose, spacey tattoos), or the deep, slinky groove of No 7, with its winding melody lines and tantalisingly lazy tenor sax phrases, suggesting something of the unflappable hipness of Andy Sheppard. Johansen is also a creative electronicist, stretching warm synth reverberations around the trancelike Flying, and on Uluru (For Anette) inventing a strange, avant-country trot with a mix of guitar strumming and wood-block claps. It’s jazz-steered contemporary music with a much richer and more diverse soundscape than might have been expected from only three players.