Alawari - 2022 - Alawari

(43:40; April Records)

Track list:
1. Flimmer 2:48
2. Koral 2:12
3. Hvalen 3:31
4. Misundelse 6:34
5. Sunes Hit 3:50
6. Etude 2:54
7. Stone 3:55
8. Elegi 4:10
9. Sorg Pt. 1 3:38
10. Sorg Pt. 2 1:44
11. Revolution 8:24

Line-up:
Sune Sunesen Rendtorff - piano
Carlo Janusz Becker Lauritsen - trumpet, flugelhorn
Jonatan Melby Bak - bass
Asger Uttrup Nissen - saxophone
Simon Forchhammer - drums
Frederik Engell - saxophone
with:
Eigil Pock Steen - processing, sampling


Danish ensemble Alawari has been a going concern for a handful of years or thereabouts, and from what I can see they started out playing live right from the start. Presumably with a bit of a break in such activities in the past couple of years. Now in 2022 the band are out with their debut album, "Alawari", which was released through Danish label April Records in the late spring.

Alawari explore a style of music I'm not all that familiar with, namely jazz. By and large I'd categorize them as being in the more expressive parts of the jazz universe, albeit staying safely away from the most challenging and out there aspects of the form. That being said, this is a band that appears to be comfortable with sticking to regular melodies and harmonies.

We do get a few of those more old school jazz pieces included on this album though. Not always explored in the more romantic manner we will find when jazz is used as the soundtrack for movies and TV-series, but there are a couple of instances of this present too. Cue the possibly ironically titled 'Sunes Hit'. We also get a bit of crossover into more progressive rock oriented territories with 'Stone', where the second half of the song is divided between passages that gave me associations to Taylor's Universe and Taylor's Free Universe respectively. And am I mistaken when I think I hear parts of 'Sorg Pt. 1' and 'Sorg Pt. 2' reappearing on the concluding magnum opus 'Revolution'?

Where Alawari really shines as a band for me is when they manage to make a more free form variety of jazz more accessible by using melodic but relatively fixed elements as an at least partially dominating trait while the rest of the instruments are given more freedom to roam, as well as when they combine more careful and harmony-oriented passages with more explosive surges and eruptions, allowing the more free form playing style to be used to dramatic effect. For the latter, the more or less big band orientation erupting into chaotic surges on previously mentioned 'Revolution' is a good example of the latter, while my impression is that the opening songs 'Flimmer' and 'Koral' both are examples of the former.

With the stated caveat that jazz is a style of music where I'm still very much learning the A in the initial ABC, my perception of this album is that it is an expressive production where the main focus appears to be the creation of compositions that attempt to balance disruptive and compelling elements. In my understanding of music I'd say that at least an interest in jazz with a bit more of a free form style of execution will be if not needed then at least helpful when listening to this album, and as such this might be a fine album to listen to if you decide to start exploring jazz that is a bit more on the expressive side. If there is such a term as accessible free form jazz, this is where I'd sort this production personally, and I will add that I do find it to be a solid production as well.

Olav M. Björnsen, June 2022

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/ALAWARIMUSIC
https://www.facebook.com/aprilrecords