Sunday, February 8, 2015

MATS ÖBERG - IMPROVISATIONAL TWO.FIVE

Excellent new record by Mats Öberg.

From the Caprice Records website :
http://musikverket.se/capricerecords/artikel/improvisational-two-five/?lang=en
Before recording the second album in the Improvisational series, Mats Öberg’s headstrong interpretations of the songs of Cornelis Vreejswijk, Mats had a difficult decision to make. He had to choose between making an album with improvisations over his uncle’s music (Berndt Egerbladh, a very well-known jazz musician in Sweden) or with the music of Cornelis Vreejswijk. In the end the decision was too hard to make so Dragan Buvac, the producer of the series, recorded two albums. Caprice decided to wait for the best possible occasion to release the Egerbladh improvisations, which proved to be during the 2014 Umeå Jazz festival with Berndt Egerbladh’s music in focus.

The conditions are the same as for the earlier releases in the series. A sumptuous concert hall containing a large Steinway grand piano, a pianist and a sound technician/producer – in the dead of night, the witching hours. Thus the mood is set for Improvisational, Caprice’s CD series of improvisations by some of our most talented musicians. Once again, Mats demonstrates what an excellent pianist and improviser he is, having already made a name for himself as a cross-genre keyboardist who has accompanied such varied artists as Ale Möller, Frank Zappa, Morgan Ågren (Mats/Morgan Band), Lena Willemark, Ann-Kristin Hedmark and Jonas Knutsson. He also plays in his own trio with Filip Augustsson (bass) and Sebastian Voegler (drums). With a sense of playfulness, mood and tenderness, Mats improvises over Berndt Egerbladh’s best-known songs, including You Never Come Closer, A Song for Amy, Worksong and Sarek. In one word: irresistible.

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