Gaute Storsve Trio - 2022 - El Gran Gotzilla

(39:43; Apollon Records)

Track list:
1. Las Dos Fridas 6:29
2. ¿Nada? ¡Nunca! 6:31
3. The Lucha Libra Lullaby 7:11
4. Einar 4:21
5. Beta Batá Beat 6:33
6. El Gran Gotzilla 8:38

Line-up:
Gaute Storsve - guitars
Petter Barg - bass
Henning Carlsen - drums
with:
Ingrid Berg Mehus - violin
Jørgen Mathisen - saxophone
Angel Terry Domech - percussion


Norwegian band Gaute Storsve Trio has a history that goes back to 2017 or thereabouts, and released their debut album in 2018. They are now ready with their second album "El Gran Gotzilla", which is out through Norwegian label Apollon Records.

This is a band that proudly exclaims their jazz orientation on their Facebook homepage, and jazz is what we are treated to as well. Instrumental jazz at that, and a variety of this style where the guitar is a central instrument.

We pretty much get three different variations of the style presented to us here. One is a low key excursion where wandering plucked guitars backed by careful but playful rhythms are the driving forces of the song, with subtle but expressive details and flow being the prime tension bringers. The second type of creation here makes use of pretty much the same ingredients but adds in sounds and textures with more of a melancholic folk music touch to the proceedings, occasionally with a stronger mournful presence. The third type of creation that we are treated to use a rougher sounding electric guitar to provide riffs and soloing with more of a blues-oriented and dirtier sound to combine the jazz with the blues, with the bass, drums and percussion mainly providing the jazz oriented parts of the totality. As one might expect, the additional musicians contribute as one would expect, with the percussionist and saxophone player adding jazz-oriented details and the violinist providing a bit more of the folk music tinged additions to the soundscapes.

The musicians involved are good, and those who are more well versed in jazz and in world music than I am will probably pick up on the stated Cuban impulses that is a part of the totality here too, presumably the details that I noted down as Latin-sounding when I listened through this album and that were present in most of the songs where I noted something of a playful spirit.

I find this to be quite the accomplished production, and one with many fine and alluring details many will enjoy. For me this also sounds a bit more like a production that will have more of a niche audience potential. That being said, those who enjoy instrumental jazz with the guitar in the driving seat and a range that spans from folk music to blues and on to world music in approach and orientation and from delicate wandering affairs to dirty driving ones in terms of intensity should find a lot to be happy about on this album.

Olav M. Björnsen, February 2022

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/GauteStorsveTrio
https://www.apollonrecords.no/