Mats Eilertsen Trio “And Then Comes The Night”

A mesmerizing, avant-garde tour de force of exquisite, emotional tenor with exploratory shadings of tone, timbre and unshakeable pitch»

..” a sustained work of near impossible beauty and sublime human interaction”

Mike Jurkovic, AllAboutJazz

“I can’t stop listening to a new jazz trio album from Norwegian bass maestro Mats Eilertsen. I find it stunningly beautiful..”
“And Then Comes the Night is an album that reveals new sonic delights upon each listening, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.»

KCRW (Us)

“this is just a lovely album….   ……it unfolds like a dream, light and airy..”

Steve Greenlee, Jazztimes Magazine

“..en slags verdensrekord i kreativ kollektiv utvikling av skrevne forløp”

Terje Mosnes, Jazz i Norge

“There is a lot of piano-trios. Only a few are as unique as this one.”

Lars Mossafinn. Dag og Tid.

“The beautiful cautiousness hits hard”

A.Andersen. Aftenposten

Rubicon 

“with Rubicon, Eilertsen steps confidently up to the spotlight as leader, delivering an album that, with lessons learned from his existing body of work, opens his music up to even greater interpretive possibilities than ever before”

Review in AllAboutJazz

“The band swings with a seductive lightness, and the quality of the tunes and the ever-changing tonal interest keep lifting the predominantly low-lit mood”

Review in The Guardian

“Having listened to these ten pieces several times the album reveals itself as a masterpiece.”

LondonJazzNews/Henning Bolte

“It all amounts to a slithering snake of an album, soft, discreet, mysterious and, in spots, absolutely gorgeous.”

“Eilertsen may not be a jaw-dropping funky plucker like Stanley Clarke but his twin talents of composition and being a team player is tantamount to being a leader by example.”

“subtle sophistication at work”

Classicalite/ Mike Greenblatt

“It is much to Eilertsen’s credit that throughout he is presence is keenly felt, and more importantly his big toned bass lines lay down an important foundation for the music. It is remarkable how the bassist has been able to retain his own strong personality in a manner that indicates that the music heard is  his musical vision, but also allows such freedom for his fellow band mates to contribute so freely without disturbing the equilibrium  of his concept.”

JazzViews/Nick Lea

“Featuring an international septet, it follows the familiar ECM label aesthetic while throwing a few curveballs along the way. The idiosyncratic inclusion of a vibraphone and guitar in the line-up for a start lends it a little of the grit of a Sixties Blue Note session.”

The Times

“fra første til siste takt så er “Rubicon” på god vei til å få evig liv og forhåpentligvis klassiker-status.”

“For meg er dette mitt første møte med “Rubicon” og jeg bryter gjerne sammen og tilstår at dette er noe av det vakreste av musikk som har kommet i nærhetene av mitt sanseapparat på svært lenge”

Tor Hammerø

“Og det er som om musikken smyg seg inn på deg, vedunderleg og vakker.”

Dagsavisen/ Roald Helgheim

“The pieces on Rubicon travel in a number of directions, subtly melding improvisation and composition, but all retain an overall atmosphere of calm composure and elegant grace.”

Dusted Mag Joseph Burnett

“a loose- limbed, folk-inflected ensemble sound”

Irish Times Cormac Larkin

“The tune “March” on Mats Eilertsen’s Rubicon is one of the most delicious bits of atmospheric noir jazz I’ve heard in some time.”

“Rubicon is full of moody, dynamic music played by a large ensemble whose members listen to each other as skillfully as they play their own instruments. That kind of generosity, coupled with Eilertsen’s intriguing compositions, makes for an unusual listening experience.”

Gary Whitehouse /The Greenman Review

“Plata er full av solistiske gullkorn frå alle i ensemblet, men dei er fint integrert i det heilskaplege musikalske forløpet. Eilertsen kasta terningen, og det blei ein seksar”

Dag og Tid, Lars Mossafinn

“Alle, ham selv inkludert, leverer kor med fynd og klem og stor troverdighet, og bidrar også på den måten til at «Rubicon» er blitt et album som forener vakker, melodibasert stillferdighet og improvisatorisk temperament på begeistrende vis.”

“Han har sørget for å la en omhyggelig utpønsket klangpalett gi stemning, dybde og spenning til melodiene, så vel de enkle, korte temaene som de lengre «fortellingene», og dette klanglig komplekse ensembleuttrykket er sammen med en lavmælt kompositorisk grunnstemning særpreget nok til at «Rubicon» får et helhetlig verk-preg.”

Jazz i Norge, Terje Mosnes

A gorgeous album that is growing in importance for me with each listen.

Indeed, the way piano, mallet instruments and guitar inhabit the same sonic space without getting in each other’s way and still ending up with the overall sound as spacious as this is a real feat.

JazzBreakfast/ Peter Bacon

“Eilertsen steps confidently up to the spotlight as leader, delivering an album that, with lessons learned from his existing body of work, opens his music up to even greater interpretive possibilities than ever before.”

John Kelman/ AllAboutJazz

“Rubicon delivers a series of fine compositions that explore various combinations of intimate, exploratory sounds along (mostly) subtle color lines and elegantly arrayed textural palettes. They evoke an inherent lyricism that, for all its restraint, is tonally expansive and harmonically smart.”

Thom Jurek, All Music

Kulturhuset Nrk P2/ Svein Magnus Furu

“det musikalske håndverket er upåklagelig. Det blir aldri «køjazz», hvor solistene spiller sin tilmålte solo etter tur. Med sitt beherskede, melodiøse spill styrer Eilertsen et kontinuerlig solistisk samspill, hvor musikerne tar seg tid med å utforske temaene. Slik får de frem de mange lagene i musikken, og lykkes med å pakke ut låtene for lytteren.”

Jon Mikkel Broch/ Morgenbladet

Das Spiel der Musiker ist sehr luftig, geradezu schwebend, wie ein atmender Organismus. Zwar fasziniert, mit welchem Abwechslungsreichtum und welch ungewöhnlichen Einfällen die farbenreichen Arrangements ausgestaltet wurden, doch bleibt ein durchweg klarer Fokus präsent – der auch das warme Klangbild betrifft.

Ingo F. Biermann, Nordischemusik.de

In his debut as a leader on ECM, Rubicon, bassist Mats Eilertsen fronts a formidable septet of musicians with whom he has collaborated on many previous sessions. To be fair, many of the tracks on Rubicon feature subsets of the larger group, but the overall musical effect is filled with fascinating textures regardless.

Christian Carey, Sequenza 21

Rubicon_cover

Allaboutjazz

The Guardian

The Times

TheJazzBreakfast

Allmusic.com

Jazz i Norge

TorHammeroBlog

classicalite.com

TheGreenManReview

ToneAudio

Johnnysgarden.nl

Dustedmagazine

LondonJazz

NRK Radio P2

Skydive Trio “Sun Moee” 

“noe av det fineste vi har hørt på jazzfronten så langt i år”

Svein Magnus Furu, Kulturnytt Nrk P2

”En trio med tre sterke stemmer”

”Samspillet i denne trioen er telepatisk”

Salt Peanuts

”Ein manifestasjon av strålende samspel”

”Ei plate for langt fleier enn dei gitarfrelste”

-Dag og Tid

mjukt melodiöst med en distinkt, tilltalande karaktär. Soundet är riktigt fint, varmt och rymligt – det känns som att man befinner sig vid vattenbrynet en riktigt skön sommardag. Kort sagt är “Sun Moee” en älskvärd skiva.

http://tidningenkulturen.se/…/19885-musik-skydive-trio-sun-…

The trio’s relaxed swing is nicely captured in the breezy opener “Bravo” and lyrical ballad “Becks Back,” while “Talbot,” a flattering showcase for Dahl’s soloing chops, makes a compelling case for the telepathy the three seemingly share. Eilertsen’s no slouch in the soloing department either, as shown by the introductory turn he takes on “Slow Turn.”

http://www.textura.org/reviews/finland_monkeyplot_skydivetrio.htm

As debut albums go, Sun Moee is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year. That’s not a surprise, given Skydive Trio feature three of Scandinavia’s most talented musicians, who showcase their considerable talents on Sun Moee

https://dereksmusicblog.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/skydive-trio-sun-moee/

Adressa (N)    English

Dagens Næringsliv (N)   English

Dagsavisen (N)  English

Jazz i Norge (N)

Dag og Tid (N) English

Tor Hammerø Blog (N) English

Kulturhuset NRK P2 

Salt Peanuts (N) 

SAILS SET:

“I rarely award 5 stars but Sails Set is so intelligently crafted and beautifully destilled that it is nigh on perfect”

Fred Gand, JazzJournal UK 

“a fascinating glimpse into the creative well from which he pulls from”

“An album that gives so much with so little and makes the ear crave just a little bit more”

http://www.birdistheworm.com

“The vastly experienced Eilertsen has a broad conception of what his instrument can achieve, and his colleagues (fellow Norwegian Thomas Strønen on drums and young Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje) are equally expansive, creating short studies in rhythm and texture that sail past the orthodoxies of piano trio playing.”

Cormac Larkin, the Irish Times

“they play what is needed when it is needed.

Each idea, each nuance in the music, is an instant distillation of countless possibilities shaped to the requirements of the moment, so perhaps it comes as no surprise that what emerges is often profound and always rich in meaning”

Stuart Nicholson, JazzWise Magazine

Langeweilefrei, aufregend, melodisch, chapeau!

Manafonistas, Michael Engelbrecht (DE)

Mats Eilertsen Trio, Set Sails: Bassist Eilertsen has concocted an intriguing album, and he achieves it through some seriously delicate subtleties. He’s joined by pianist Harmen Fraanje and drummer Thomas Stronen (recently a Jazz Pick with his duo Food with Iain Ballamy). For the most part, this is a series of short tracks, almost like a parade of interludes, and each give brief glimpses of restrained beauty. Stronen’s percussion is often unexpected, and it’s his surprising choices that prevents this album from ever getting sleepy. An album that shimmers with emotion, and keeps some of that emotion hidden, which, ultimately, leads to much of this album’s intrigue. Just a beautiful recording. Recommended.           

Dave Sumner, E.music.com

The result is a thoroughly natural and unpressured recording session, and one which conveys its naturalness and relative serenity to the listener. There is searching here, of course, but not a lot of anguish.

All three musicians put art and sound first, using their considerable technical skills as just the tools, not the means in themselves.

Peter Bacon, the JazzBreakfast

“That Sails Set seems filled with purposeful intent and sense of structure simply means Eilertsen’s trio is looking to create music and not just aimless meandering.Sails Set represents palpable growth and even deeper empathy amongst the members of Eilertsen’s trio. There may be no charts, but this ship clearly knows where it’s going.”

John Kelman, AllAboutJazz   

“Kaptein Eilertsen set segl”

“Mats Eilertsen har mange jarn i elden, og han leier meir enn eitt av Norges beste jazzband.”

“Utruleg vakre songar…  ….med sterkt resultat.”

R. Helgheim, Dagsavisen

“Denne trioen leverer kollektive improvisasjoner med en uvanleg idérikdom og formsans”

“Plata har knapt ein likegyldig augneblink”

L.Mossafinn, Dag og Tid            

“Vi får høre tre glimrende musikere og i flere passasjer når de en høyere enhet som resulterer i vakker, inspirert og energisk musikk”

T. Lundemo, Adressa

en betagande stund av fängslande musik

Det finns pianister och andra musiker som på ett mycket skickligt och känsligt sätt omfamnat tystnadens karaktär, men det är sällsynt att höra någon göra det så konsekvent och distinkt som Harmen Fraanje.

Mats Eilertsen är en alldeles utmärkt kontrabassist, ett lyssnande komplement till Fraanje då han hellre håller inne med en ton och en klang för att höja spänningen ytterligare. Han dröjer, avväger och siktar, och när han till sist släpper iväg tonen har han noga hunnit ta ut riktningen, och den landar som en perfekt pil i musikens bull’s eye.

Peter Sjöblom, Tidningen Kulturen

bjuder i tan-ken genomtaänkta toner innan de formats

foör lyssnarens öron.

Lågmäld allvarstyngd triomusik i den melodiskt vackra tonskalan. Som en både stilla och engagerande poesiafton upplever jag musiken, med känslofull innebörd.

Thord Ehnberg,, Ljusnan, Hela Hälsingland            

Das Mats EilertsenTrio setzt sich aus dem norwegischen Bassisten Mats Eilertsen, dem SchlagzeugerThomas Strønen und dem niederländischen Pianiscen Harmen Fraanje zusammen. Dessen Piano bildet den klanglichen Mittelpunkt des neuen Albums »Sails Set«. Ruhig und tiefsinnig, so lässt sich am besten der erste Eindruck beim Hören beschreiben. Besonders auffallend ist dabei, dass es sich um ein >>improvisiertes Album« handelt. lmprovisation gehört zwar zum lazzwie der Dirigent zu einem klassischen Orchester, doch selten gelingt es so genial, das Resultat in all seiner Spontanität und Grenzenlosigkeit zu einem Album zusammenzufassen. »Sails Set« ist ein sehr entspanntes, musikalisch stimmiges Werk, bei dem leder Musiker seine persönlichen Momente hat, ohne sich jedoch mit seinem lnstrument zu sehr in den Vordergrund zu drdngen.Trotzdem ist es gerade das Klavier, das die Leichtigkeit des Klangs trägt.

Nordis 5/6 (DE)

SKYDIVE:

Ameldelse fra konsert på KongsbergJazzFestival

Mats Eilertsen og hans SkyDive representerer noe av det aller fineste i norsk, og dermed internasjonal jazz for tida. Velkomponert, velarrangert, lyttende til hverandre – med masse plass til solid, improvisatorisk kapasitet.

Arild Rønsen, JazziNorge (konsert på MaiJazz)

´Mens Mats Eilertsen for eit mindre, men oppglødd publikum heldt laurdagens finaste konsert med bandet oppkalla etter siste album «Sky Dive»´

Roald Helgheim, Dagsavisen (konsert på MaiJazz)

“his ability to create anchored interaction—as much a melodic foil as his band mates while, like them, ensuring that the needs to the song remain paramount—makes even the simplest contribution not just essential, but irreplaceable.”

“..a discography that, in its unassuming selflessness, does just the opposite, and brings increasing attention to a leader whose acumen as a performer is matched by his ability to write music that’s deceptive in its apparent simplicity, and his skill in putting together bands with just the right players to meet his vision of the moment.”

John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com

“SkyDive is a particularly evocative and incisive record”

“Is undoubtedly proving his strongest work to date.

“SkyDive continues to showcase the extreme musicality of Eilertsen’s compositions as he makes very good use of his collaborators, giving each one their own space in which to evolve and contribute”

TheMilkFactory 4.4/5

“SkyDive impresses as one of the most accomplished and all-around satisfying releases of the year, regardless of genre.”

Textura (Can)

“A fine session, shot through with a healing note of reverie, and as intelligently shaped as it would appear heart-felt in nature”

  Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal (Uk)

Indeed the album as a whole is eminently accessible and capable of considerable across the board appeal. Eilertsen’s carefully crafted compositions are highly tuneful and the playing by the all star Scandinavian band excellent throughout. It’s a tightly focussed set with the emphasis on a distilled ensemble sound and with the leader adopting a particularly selfless approach as the anchor of the group.

TheJazzMann.com 4/5 (UK)

“musikk som fyller deg med velvære.”

Dagsavisen, Roald Helgheim (N)

“opplagt kandidat til årets CD”

Dag og Tid

“Skydive» er en nytelse av sofistikert vakker musikk”

Bergens Tidende, Olav Gorseth 5/6

“mer smakfullt basspill enn det han leverer, serveres nemlig ikke på bygdene nå til dags.”

“Mats Eilertsen har rukket veldig mye i løpet av sine 36 år. «SkyDive» er hans foreløpige høydepunkt.”  

Side2.no, Tor Hammerø 5/6

“..a minor galaxy of young stars..”

“Here is contemporary European jazz of the highest quality; understated and ccompelling, it is music that makes its point through eloquence and sensitivity.”

Jazzwise 4/5 – Stuart Nicholson (UK)

“Mats Eilertsen slår ut i full blomst med et vakkert og gjennomarbeidet album fullt av fine melodier.

Adresseavisen, Trygve Lundemo 5/6

“med en slik bandklang trekker Mats Eilertsen linjene tilbake til Nordens første jazz-storhetstid, med Jan Garbarek, Bobo Stensson og Palle Danielsson i spissen.”

“Det er nemlig noe tidløst over komposisjonene, soundet og samspillet på «Skydive».

“..Og når sistemann (Eilertsen)  ikke bare er en bassist som har sørget for et enormt antall «golden moments» på andres plater opp igjennom (hans innsats på Kornstad Trios «Arched Shape» fra 2001 er konservatorielektyre for enhver bassist), men som også her overbeviser som låtskriver, sier det seg selv at vi har med et nordisk jazzlag i verdensklasse å gjøre.”

Svein Magnus Furu, JazzNytt           

“På numre som ”Splendor”, ”Parachute Psalm” og ”Embrace” får Eilertsen vist sin uomtvistelige evne til at skabe skønhedssøgende kompositioner med masser af luft og melodi. Her er Tuomarilas klaverspil ofte en sand nydelse, og guitarist Thomas T. Dahl tilføjer sammen Brunborg flere lag i musikken, der svæver sart og sanseligt.”

Jakob Bækgaard,  Geiger.dk

Skydive dispose en effet d’un charme tout particulier.

Un souffle chaud, une âme sensible, des gestes gracieux.
Tout à la fois sophistiqué, introspectif et rassembleur,
c’est un disque de jazz contemporain à même de ravir les initiés
comme de faire plier les plus réfractaires.

Autres Directiones

Fra konserten vår på Kongsberg Jazzfestival 2012

http://www.side2.no/m/?articleId=3431911