Saturday, September 8, 2018

GÖTEBORGS MUSIKKVARTETT – Göteborgs Musikkvartett (Svenska Jazzriksförbundet, 1974) / Aftara (LIM, 1975)

Göteborgs Musikkvartett (Svenska Jazzriksförbundet, 1974)
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

A quartet featuring saxophonist Ove Johansson, later in Mwendo Dawa with Susanna Lindeborg who also engineered Göteborgs Musikkvartett's first album. It's not quite free jazz but it has some free moments; I guess you could call it free-spirited jazz. The tracks sort of emanate from a modal epicentre, and some of them are a bit similar to early Arbete & Fritid with a dash of Albert Ayler and mid 60's John Coltrane. While often good, they sometimes get stuck in a tonal rut. They know what they're aiming at but they don't always seem sure of how to get there, instead treading water. When they catapult themselves forward, it works just fine.

Aftara (LIM, 1975)
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Their debut has faintly funky grooves, and they're more palpable on "Aftara's" side long ”Improvisation”. The pulse ought to give the music a momentum but has, oddly enough, the opposite effect. The others can't seem to get into the flow of Anders Söderling's drum patterns, and the water-treading feeling prevalent on some of ”Göteborgs Musikkvartett” is even more evident here. The two tracks on side 2 are in a freer mode but they too lack the push needed for the music to move forward.

A very good Göteborgs Musikkvartett track can be found on "LIM – Levande improviserad musik", "Bläck aut".

Aftara full album

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