Christian Wallumrød aims to avoid stereotypical jazz elements

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      Every edition of the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival seems to include at least one “What the hell was that?” moment, and more often than not those have some kind of Scandinavian connection. Think of the Scorch Trio incinerating Gastown during a free outdoor show, or the Thing eviscerating PJ Harvey and the White Stripes at the Cultch, and you’ll get the picture.

      It’s likely that the surprises the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble has in store for local listeners will be of a gentler nature. The sextet, which prefers to perform without amplification, has positioned itself somewhere between a chamber group and a jazz band, and its music often echoes the stately, serious cadences of the Lutheran hymns that pianist, harmonium player, and composer Wallumrød heard growing up in a devoutly religious household. The stark yet otherworldly tones of Norwegian folk music, especially when Gjermund Larsen puts down her violin to pick up the eerie-sounding Hardanger fiddle, are also audible, and when pressed to name his influences, Wallumrød cites that American master of nuanced suspense, Morton Feldman, first. (Note, though, that Bon Iver, Swedish dance-music diva Robyn, and “old Neil Young” also make the cut.)

      Wallumrød contends that his compositional approach has also grown out of the sonic intimacy that he and his bandmates have developed since 2001, when he convened the Ensemble’s first incarnation.

      “At that point, I think I had the urge to find something that was not very expressive or outgoing—more of a chamber-music-like thing,” he explains in a telephone interview from Oslo. “Maybe there was also an urge to escape the stereotypical elements of jazz music that I had already worked a lot with over a few years.…I really wanted to have a look at collective work rather than this focus on playing a nice song or melody, having a lot of solos, and then getting back to the song for the finish. That’s at least how it started, and that also has stuck with this project all along.”

      When casting his band, both personality and instrumentation are important, he adds. Trumpeter Eivind Lønning and saxophonist Espen Reinertsen often work as a duo, specializing in free improvisation and extended techniques. Larsen also plays viola; in conjunction with Tove Törngren’s cello, this allows Wallumrød access to exceptionally dark and rich string sounds. And drummer Per Oddvar Johansen, the bandleader’s musical collaborator since they were teenagers, brings a lively imagination to the mix.

      “He still surprises me a lot,” Wallumrød notes. “Two or three years ago he suddenly showed up with a vibraphone, because he’d just purchased it and he wanted to check it out in an established situation. That brought a lot of new colour and possibilities into both the improvisation and the writing.”

      The keyboardist is being modest: although his music shares a few qualities with other Norwegian acts, most notably its deceptive simplicity and emotional heft, it sounds like nothing else on earth.

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