Mount Everest Trio -- Waves from Albert Ayler

[Muskrat Ramble]

An unjustly obscure but wonderful disc: The Mount Everest Trio's Waves from Albert Ayler (Atavistic). Awesome balls-out Swedish free jazz from the 70's, with a few vaguely conventional bluesy numbers and pretty ballads. Much of this music falls somewhere between classic Ornette and Ayler (i.e., just the right spot!), with tons of energy and lots of subtlety too. Their bassist, Kjell Jansson, has a HUGE tone and can barrel along like a locomotive or play with delicate, refined grace. He's really one of the best bassists I've heard. Alto and tenor sax man Gilbert Holmström's tone and style often call to mind Trane with bits of Ayler, but he has his own thing going on, too, and he has a soft touch on ballads. Conny Sjökvist beats the hell out of the skins on this one--in a nice way

You can hear a sample here: http://www.epitonic.com/artists/mounteveresttrio.html

AMG Review

These guys show the great potential of free jazz played by disciplined, highly skilled players

[couw]

thanks for the heads up. The sample convinced me. I just ordered a copy.

[ds0823]

Oh yeah the music of Mount Everest Trio kills.......

thanks to John Corbett for the UMS series.

BTW, if anyone digs Kjell Jansson, try to get a copy of "True Swede", released by Dragon records,

Jansson shows his composition abilities there, the sax player also from M.E. Trio, Gilbert Holmstrom, shows influences not only from Ayler or Coleman, but also from Coltrane.

[Daniel A]

Interesting that you should bring up Holmström's Coltrane influence, ds! I remember there was quite some discussion about that on a Swedish message board some five or six years ago. Some people were claiming Holmström had in fact developed his style on his own. The fact that he actually did sound a bit like Coltrane on some recordings was waved off as a mere coincidence... I'll try to ask a friend of mine who was active in the discussion if he remembers more (I believe there were some more specific talk about Holmström's improvisational philosophy).

Anyway, the one Mount Everst LP I have (recorded three years later, in 1978) sounds nothing like the sound clip. It features Holmström together with Ronny Johansson on piano, Matz Nilsson on bass and Anders Kjellberg on drums, and is in a lyrical post-bop/fusion vein.

[ds0823]

Actually that's just how I feel after listening to several CDs that Holmstrom played in, I felt a little bit of Coltrane in him.

As a matter of fact, lots of players would claim that they developed their styles by their own, that's true, but I would like to look from a diffrernet direction, such as their growth from the music-learning era, had they never listened to anyone? I doubt that. Therefore, even one claims that he did that all by himself, somehow there're some, or very little influence from his past listening experience.

I'd like to put B. Mehldau as an exemple, he said that he plays his own music without any influences, maybe I'm wrong, but I still can hear a bit of Evans in him.

I'm from Taiwan, hope you can understand what I think from my poor English.

[couw]

Listening to this album right now, and man! This is a blast! Very powerful stuff.

I do hear some of the Trane bag in Holmströms playing as well. But there is also Ayler, Ornette, some Bartz/Maupin in there. Nothing to get strung up about as the guy definitely has a story to tell.

I find this very enjoyable stuff. Thanks to Muskrat for the heads up. His description of the music fits very well for me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED indeed!

[Daniel A]

Your English is excellent, ds, no need to apologize! And I understand you completely! If someone is playing in something that could be described as a given jazz style, as bebop, swing or whatever, that person has certainly been listening somewhat (or probably a great deal) to others playing in that style. Of course it could be possible to learn chordal improvistion from a theoretical point of view, and then cut loose on a set of bebop tunes, but the results would probably not sound too much like bebop. It has been pointed out again and again through the years that young jazz musicians should "know their jazz history" and things like that. Sometimes I wonder though, if not young players could do with a little less listening if we want to see something "new". With 1000 Coltrane solos in your luggage, how could they not affect you, either if you're playing in reference or in opposition to them?

Regarding Gilbert Holmström, I think he was really in search of a voice of his own, and the similarities to Coltrane migh perhaps not been a result of him really studying Coltrane. However, if the result is sounding like Coltrane, noone will care if you've been copying Trane or your personal mix of influences from the whole of jazz (including Coltrane) just happend to make you sound a bit like him.

Edit: Reading couw's post that slipped in between this and the post of ds, I realize that I shouldn't be too hard on poor Gilbert without having heard all of the album this topic about. I'll see if I can pick it up locally...

Edited January 28, 2004 by Daniel A

[ds0823]

Thanks Daniel A

And yes I can hear that there's a bit of Bartz in Holmstrom's playing, but Maupin, maybe I should review my CDs again when I get back home. Anyway, Holmstrom indeed has stories to tell, and his music cooks!!!!!!