Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Björn Meyer’s Convergence
(Photo: Courtesy ECM Records)Swedish bassist Bjørn Meyer releases his second solo LP, Convergence (ECM; ★★★ 37:58), certainly not sounding alone with his deep drapery of effects. Minute details of Meyer’s six-string electric axe fingerings promenade across the sonic stage, hanging decay contrails forming a deep tonal backdrop. He improvises in the studio, with an ear for instant composition, his bass often hiking up to a guitar range from graceful picking to forceful strums. Atmosphere has primacy. An interesting, nay frightening, strike opens “Drift,” incongruously returning coated in far-distant reverb and echo to punctuate this floater. He makes a manifestation of systems music when he introduces rhythmic repetitions, as on “Motion,” reminiscent of the style adopted by Andy Summers and Robert Fripp in 1982. “On Hope” features a slow tumble of notes and phrases, then “Rewired” shunts to a massive soundstage. Perhaps this album should have been longer than 38 minutes to accommodate these epic spreads?
Ordering info: ecmrecords.com
Hopping across to Finland, Rabbit Hole (Eclipse; ★★★½ 41:00) finds Helsinki tenor saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen working in a similarly landscaped zone. Rabbit Hole is also the name of Lyytinen’s trio with Andreas Løwe (keyboards) and Julian Sartorius (drums). Roles are smeared, as Lyytinen and Løwe also employ electronic tweaks and coatings of unlikely tones and textures. Spontaneous spatial positioning also succeeds in painting this almost mystical geography. Sounds akin to koto and gamelans are sprinkled, alongside a general bleep-scattering, as the focus zooms in on the tenor’s interior bowels. “Snirkel” has soft repeats, while “Mooncat” has a new-agey synth-warble and some imaginative percussion. Lyytinen takes a tenor solo on “Barrelling,” his reed vibrating alongside piano progressions and slowclap percussion. All is softness, and ECM ought to welcome Lyytinen into its folds, so he could spread his highly evocative mysteries further.
Ordering info: eclipsemusicrecordlabel.bandcamp.com
Denmark is also offering quality deceleration (and thoughtful minimalism) with a piano trio album from Ginman Blachman Dahl, Plays Ballads (Storyville; ★★★½ 61:18), taking a standards selection down real slow. Each of them have a long history together (from 1992), but this is their first foray into radical ballad conversion. There’s a moderate opening glide, but the genuine enchantment begins on the fourth track, as the Duke Ellington focus becomes apparent, followed by slow gems from Thelonious Monk (“Blue Monk”) and Nat Adderley (“Work Song”, the fastest, most emphatic interpretation here). There is a soft form of subversion to experience these tunes at an exceedingly careful pace, slinking and shimmering with spacious restraint. Thomas Blachman’s brushes are out, softly rustling, while Carsten Dahl’s piano notes are diligently in place. “C-Jam Blues” roams up a different avenue, and the album concludes with a Duke threesome (also with Billy and Mercer), “Satin Doll” reclining in the lounge, “Come Sunday” and “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be” sealing this dreamy triumph.
Ordering info: storyvillerecords.com
The fourth Nordic album on show is the most mainline in terms of pace and push, but it’s also, paradoxically, the least exciting. From Norway, bassman Bjørn Alterhaug leads his quartet, recorded high up in Trondheim. Blame It On My Age (Losen; ★★ 53:33) has tenor saxophone, piano and drums making up a classic lineup, but also a very conventional one, especially when viewed in the glowing context of this column’s preceding releases. Alterhaug contributes four originals, with “Drum Bird” being the best, the others somewhat lacking, bland and prettified. Erlend Vangen Kongtorp has a pleasing tenor tone, but there are few untoward moves, the pieces being pleasantly played but unremarkable. Track 6 is where the LP lifts up, with “Oleo,” a spirited reading with push and pull inside the quartet. Then there’s a ballad with more heartfelt meaning, “Easy Living” adding velvet quality. Alterhaug is now 80, recently surmounting the effects of a 2017 stroke, although the lack is not with his playing but with some of the tunes and with the band relationship itself. Fortunately, some tension returns for Horace Silver’s “Peace,” with its tenor-drums tussle, followed by a second section that allows for meditation, and then a closing second romp through “Oleo,” well justified: spirited, speedy and assured. DB
Ordering info: losenrecords.no
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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