Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit

Large Unit
Fluku ( PNL ‎– PNL038, 2017 )

The 27-minute opener reveals an enthusiasm for repetitively riff-rooted, improv-triggering harmonies, as it alternates between terse hooks, squelching electronics, wriggling low-brass and sax conversations, and a sudden unison swagger like an old Art Ensemble of Chicago anthem. Springsummer is contrastingly almost thematically mellow, and borders on lyrical in its clarinet variations. Playgo’s overlapping multi-horns riff becomes a reshuffle of constant tempo changes. Happy Slappy joins clanking abstract sounds, battering drumwork, and blustery high-altitude trumpet lines stalked by a honking baritone sax. The Large Unit is best heard live, but for habitués of musical outlands such as these, Fluku cans its remarkable heat very well. — John Fordham, The Guardian

A six-member wind section, composed by Julie Kjær on alto saxophone and flute, Klaus Ellerhusen Holm on clarinet, alto saxophone and baritone, Kristoffer Berre Albert on alto and tenor, Thomas Johansson on trumpet, Mats Äleklint on trombone and Per Åke Holmlander on tuba , to guarantee a devastating firepower. Then Ketil Gutvik on electric guitar, Tommi Keränen on electronics, Jon Rune Strøm and Christian Meaas Svendsen both electric bass and bass, Andreas Wildhagen and Paal Nilssen-Love on percussion and drums, with the latter also as composer and bandleader. This is the Large Unit of the Norwegian monstre drummer we have already admired in the Fire! or in the Arashi and that with this big band, arrived with Fluku on the third album, does not seem to travel in territories so distant from those explored by the Orchestra of Mats Gustafsson.

The record, recorded live - and it could not be otherwise - in one day only in Oslo, opens with the 26 extraordinary minutes of the title track, a sabbath of dishes on which entwined horns in unison that immediately disappear, fantastic interference eloquent memories of the work of Otomo Yoshihide and a stray and very personal guitar, then the phrase of the wind section returns, while the chaos happily mounts more and more, almost an updated version of the Art Ensemble's sarabande or the explosive folly of Alan Silva And His Celestrial Communion Orchestra. We had already found a similar atmosphere in the beautiful Crimetime Orchestra album (Life Is A Beatiful Monster 2005), where Nilssen Love sat on the drums. Reached the climax, the wind remain alone to chase after somersaults and rebuke, with the baritone and the tuba in evidence, as if we were in the presence of an expanded and schizophrenic version of the Rova Saxophone Quartet, while in the rear electronics puts tares. And it's only been five minutes. The hubbub continues with a perfect management of dynamics, spaces (the rhythm section has not yet practically pronounced verb), and timbres, until finally arrives an oncological theme raised to the sky by the brass and part of an odd groove dragging, as they could conceive it and play it a less controlled and wilder Steve Reid or Steve Coleman. A new Thème De Yo Yo (Art Ensemble, year of grace 1970) without the voice of Fontella Bass, but with the electronics of Keränen to rummage in every corner, and all the wind to push like damned without ever being less than necessary. Pure show, and we are just a little over half the piece. Then, at the ford, one of the batteries, first furious and then thin and at the edge of silence, leads us to the other side, where a long note of the reeds opens new worlds, Phil Cohran, the acoustic drone, Africa, some classical, the oriental silences that we learned to explore in jazz thanks to the ACM of Chicago, then it is the guitar to take the scene, among daring free rock escapes and the legacy of John Mc Laughlin and Sonny Sharrock. It closes on the edge of nothingness, not too far from certain things of the Nuova Consonanza Improvisation Group. A monolith to listen and listen again, then again and again. After so much of God, it is possible not to accuse dips of tension? When the musicians in dance are of this caliber, absolutely yes. After the multifaceted fury of the beginning, "Springsummer" is a sort of ballad with the clarinet to bring the singing and the contrabass backstage to keep the whole cabin standing, and the wind section that enters the scene only towards the end, with airy phrases and instant classic. "Playgo" instead attacks like a Sun Ra or a vintage Braxton: there is no pedestrian imitation in these tracks, but sincere desire to continue the interstellar journeys of the masters, with full awareness of the roots and security in space even in sound elsewhere sometimes even unpublished and never free.

Sixteen minutes on levels of absolute excellence, the references that could be cited are really a thousand, but what is worth emphasizing strongly is the vivid inspiration of every single passage of this record, orchestrated in an exemplary, melodic without ever being predictable or superfluous, supported by a full rock slap but never rhetorical or chaotic to be so (how certain musicians should learn noise from their fellow jazzmen!). The short ten minutes of "Happy Slappy", with an attack that makes you think of The Ex (there is a thin freepunk vein that acts as a red thread, in this album, an anarchic approach and a marching band gone crazy). with Brass Unbound and that changes form in a basilisk with Afro-Brazilian body (the horns dressed up for the party) and Japanese head (the white and ruthless noise to strangle the whole), and a distressed in opposition that makes me suppose that the reference in the title to "Slap Happy" is absolutely intentional.

We used to consider Nilssen Love as a battery fury, extraordinary in adding confusion to confusion, furor to rage in a poetic and ferocious way, but sometimes not always very calibrated, especially in live, in the use of dynamics. This record instead delivers to the archives a complete drummer, an absolutely mature composer, versatile, courageous, free and open to a thousand influences, which are reworked with personal style and with the contribution of a large group of musicians in a state of grace. We can not wait to intercept the Large Unit spacecraft live, if it passes on orbits not too far from ours. A record to be had and slammed in the face to the highest volume to those who say that free jazz is all the same. — Nazim Comunale, The New Noise

“Fluku” is the newest avant-garde jazz album released by “PNL Records” only a few days ago – on October 13. The album was recorded by famous improvisers ensemble “Large Unit” which is formed of many original and innovative jazz masters – Julie Kjær (alto saxophone, flute), Klaus Ellerhusen Holm (Bb clarinet, alto and baritone saxophone), Kristoffer Berre Alberts – (alto and tenor saxophone), Thomas Johansson  (trumpet), Mats Äleklint  (trombone), Per Åke Holmlander (tuba), Ketil Gutvik (electric guitar), Tommi Keränen (electronics), Jon Rune Strøm (electric and double bass), Christian Meaas Svendsen (electric and double bass), Andreas Wildhagen (drums and percussion), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums and percussion) and Christian Brynildsen Obermayer (live sound). “Large Unit” ensemble music is dynamic, adventurous, bright, colorful and innovative. Many different music styles and genres are masterfully fused together in their compositions. The part of the most famous talented jazz masters are the members of this ensemble. Their inventive and modern experiments, unusual and stunning musical decisions, free and expressive improvising had made this ensemble one of the most famous and interesting avant-garde jazz ensemble on avant-garde jazz scene.  The music of this album has extraordinary and original sound. Wide range of various musical expressions, acoustic and electronic instruments, other music elements and playing techniques are the main elements of these compositions. The musical pattern of all compositions is made of various music styles and genres synthesis – avant-garde jazz, bebop, post-bop, some of traditional jazz elements, afro-american music intonations, various rock and experimental music styles and many other elements are essentially combined together in one composition. Expressive and aggressive, very sharp or silent and soft – acoustic instruments solos are very dynamic and effective pieces of this album. These solos are mixed with electronics, live sounds and electro-acoustic instruments. The combination between these absolutely different elements make original and extraordinary sound. Sharp and dissonance chords, long and separate sounds, dynamic and variable rhythmic, expressive and interesting solos, repetitive melodic and rhythmic elements, high variety of percussion instruments are the main and most important elements which form the musical pattern. The musicians also like to experiment – innovative and interesting musical experiments give colorful and versatile sound to the album. Extended playing techniques, traditional and innovative ways of playing extract and produce wide range of unusual sounds and timbres. The musicians are creating interesting and dynamic sound which is based on contrasts and concepts – joyful, playful and emotional episodes are connected with sharp, aggressive, loud and powerful collective improvisations which are the most effective episodes of the album. There also are some calm and subtle episodes with soft and slow solos and lyrical mood. All these episodes gently fit rogether with collective improvisations which are the most effective and important places of the album. The musicians demonstrate their own and unique playing style, free and adventurous improvising, expressive and vital solos and create dynamic sound. Wide range of playing techniques, musial expresions, characters and moods, masterful and outstanding improvising of talented and experienced jazz masters create original, dynamic and interesting sound of this album compositions. — AvantScena

Noen har hevdet at den norske trommeslageren Paal Nilssen-Love lager altfor mange plater. Og det må de gjerne få lov til å mene. Men det vil ikke si at dette er den hele og fulle sannhet. For selv om en musiker lager en rekke plater, så er han eller hun hele tiden på veien med forskjellige prosjekter, og en del av disse er såpass spennende, at det nesten ville vært dårlig gjort overfor oss som ikke kan sette av tid og penger og følge den energiske trommeslageren rundt om i verden, også får mulighet til å høre ham og noen av hans prosjekter. Når var for eksempel Paal Nilssen-Love sist i København med et av sine prosjekter? Det begynner faktisk å bli en god stund siden!

Og med sitt Large Unit «storband», har han siden 2014 kommet med noen strålende plater, som startet med «Erta Ale», fortsatte med «2015» før vi fikk «Ana» i 2016 og nå den nye «Fluku». Innimellom har det også kommet et par EPer, pluss samlingen «Selected Tracks 2013-2017».

Jeg har tidligere sammenlignet Large Unit med kollegaen Mats Gustafssons Fire! Orchestra!, men de senere årene, og særlig på den forrige innspillingen «Ana», syntes jeg Nilssen-Love gikk sin egen vei. Men hele veien er det energien som står i førersetet for begge disse banda. Hos Nilssen-Love vises det i første rekke av de to trommeslagerne, han selv og kollegaen Andreas Wildhagen. Men også med det solide laget av norske, svenske, danske og finske medspillere, som alle er med på å gjøre Large Unit til en stor fest.

Vi får fire strekk på den nye innspillingen, alle «skrevet» av Paal Nilssen-Love. Men det er nok ikke altfor mye av den «rene» musikken som er skrevet ned her. Temaene, kanskje, og hvem som skal gjøre hva, når. Og med et slikt lag av musikere, så fungerer det mer enn godt nok.

Det starter med tittelsporet «Fluku», hvor optimismen råder i starten, før gitaren til Ketil Gutvik, overtar i en heftig, men litt innadvendt sekvens, før «helvete» bryter løs. Og derfra og ut er dette et kroneksempel på hvordan et større band kan kommunisere, kun styrt av en «duracell-kanin» bak trommene som har den komplette kontrollen hele veien.

Derfra går man over i «Springsummer», som åpner med de to bassistene Jon Rune Strøm og Christian Meaas Svendsen, en med bue, den andre med streit komp. Julie Kjærs fløyte kommer inn i en litt «sær» sekvens, som jeg tror mange «fagfolk» innenfor fløytefaget kanskje vil reagere på, men som fungerer perfekt i denne settingen. Det starter nesten litt surt, men utvikler seg fint over trommer og bass, og vi sitter bare og venter på den store eksplosjonen. Men den kommer aldri. I stedet får vi en overraskende «nedpå» låt, hvor det meste er nedskrevet. Blåserne legger seg fint inntil Kjærs fløytespill, og det hele ender så vakkert, så vakkert.

Deretter følger «Playgo», som starter litt forsiktig, før Gutvik igjen får utfolde seg med sitt helt særegne gitarspill, som også kan høres ut som noe elektronikk gjort av Tommi Keränen, før hel bandet kommer smygende, med den svenske trombonisten Mats Äleklint i førersetet. Han avleverer en av sine sedvanlige, stjernesoloer, som nesten ingen gjør ham etter, over noen lekne riff fra de andre blåserne. Trompeteren Thomas Johansson overtar og det enkle temaer ruller fra den ene blåseren til den andre, og det hele bygger seg opp til noe ekstatisk. En tung elbass kommer inn, men heller ikke her eksploderer det, slik vi er vant til fra Large Unit. Men det gjør ingenting! De holder oss bare på pinebenken, mens den musikken som kommer ut av høytalerne i aller høyeste grad er spennende og interessant. Vi får solier fra flere av musikerne, og innimellom er vi et godt stykke inne i den frijazzen vi fikk på 60- og 70-tallet fra for eksempel Jazz Composers Orchestra, før det renner ut med elektronikken til Keränen.

Så runder de av dette settet med «Happy Slappy», hvor Äleklint setter standarden sammen med Nilssen-Love og en av bassistene på elbass. Blåserne kommer inn med et riff, men Äleklint lar seg ikke stoppe så lett. Men etter hvert er han fornøyd og overlater scenen til Gutviks gitar og Keränens elektronikk. Johanssons trompet overtar, på sedvanlig, skarpt vis, mens han inviterer de andre til å bli med på reisen. Og de lar seg ikke be to ganger. Klaus Ellerhusen Holm plukker fram barytonsaksofonen og avleverer en solo det slår gnister ut av, men de andre lar han ikke holde på for lenge. En av altsaksofonistene overtar (jeg tror det må være Alberts, men det kan også være Kjær), eller er det kanskje en klarinett. Men det er ikke så farlig. Alberts kommer uansett inn med en fin tenorsaksofonsolo over rullende trommer, og det hele er i ferd med å bygge seg opp til et uvær i Vestlands-klassen, som Nilssen-Love kjenner så godt. Men det smeller ikke helt, slik man kjenner vestavinden dundre over sørvestlandet. Nilssen-Love stopper de andre musikerne før det går så langt. Og plutselig er det slutt. Vi blir sittende igjen med et slags rop om mer, mer! Men det kommer ikke på platen, men jeg regner med at publikum på Victoria krevde, og fikk det.

Innspillingen er gjort live på Victoria, Nasjonal jazzscene i Oslo den 8. april 2016, og for oss som ikke hadde muligheten til å være i Oslo den kvelden, er denne innspillingen en gave vi tar imot med stor glede. Det låter strålende hele veien, og det er ikke bare «tut og kjør» fra start til mål, slik det av og til kan være når man har med Paal Nilssen-Love å gjøre. Her er det derimot stor variasjon i spillet, og de fleste musikerne slipper til, der de føler de har noe de skulle ha sagt.

Derfor er også denne utgaven av Large Unit en opplevelse av de sjeldne. På deres forrige innspilling hadde de med flere perkusjonister i bandet, blant annet Celio de Carvalho, noe som gjorde musikken mer «brasiliansk». Men denne gangen er det tilbake til «røttene», og den musikken vi er blitt vant til å få fra dette ensemblet. Rått, tøft, spennende og ytterst interessant!

Så da er det bare for noen arrangører i København å få dette «holdet» nedover. Vi nordmenn, som er akterutseilt her nede, forlanger det. Selv om jeg ikke er sikker på om de mer profilerte nordmenn, som Åge Hareide og Ståle Solbakken, vil møte opp om denne gjengen med energibarer stiller på en scene i kongens by. Men jeg vil være på plass! Garantert! For dette bandet skal man bare høre så ofte man kan! — Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts

Large Unit
Ana (PNL ‎– PNL033, 2016)

Personnel: Thomas Johansson trumpet; Mats Äleklint trombone; Julie Kjær alto saxophone and flute; Klaus Holm alto and baritone saxophone; Per Åke Holmlander tuba; Børre Mølstad tuba; Ketil Gutvik electric guitar; Tommi Keränen electronics; Paulinho Bicolor cuica, triangle, tamborim; Celio de Carvalho congas, bongos, tamborim, pandeiro, berimbau, caxixi, alfaia; Jon Rune Strøm acoustic and electric bass; Christian Meaas Svendsen acoustic and electric bass; Andreas Wildhagen drums and percussion; Paal Nilssen-Love drums and percussion.

Please visit the "Download" section in the upper menue under the band photo for reading the full reviews.

Hooting avant-funk passages sound like Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time caught up in a Rio street carnival. There’s even some earthily trad-jazzy trumpet blues. The third section opens with rainforest animal whoopings and chitchat, passes through a strange free-trombone samba and out on a shuffle of flutes and percussion and a floating dreamscape of an ending. It’s uncompromising free-jazz, but the Large Unit’s 40-gig US and European tours last year show how far it travels beyond that loop. — John Fordham, The Guardian

As with the earlier Erta Ale, and remarkably so for the product of a recently blooded big band channeling Brazilian vibes, Ana has it’s impassioned moments but it’s a much less stoked, subtler and more complex album than you might expect. — Tim Owen, Dalston Sound

As with Brötzmann’s Tentet, there’s a shrewdly struck balance between collective hollering and delicate miniatures for soloists and subgroups, and clear throwbacks to John Coltrane’s larger-group explorations in the 1960s. But Nilssen-Love is a sophisticated thinker as well as a terrifying percussion juggernaut, and this music is distinctively his. — John Fordham, The Guardian

Large Unit
2015 (PNL ‎– PNL030)

2015 is a beautiful limited-edition gem, not only because of the great music, but also thanks to the insightful photos of of bass player Christian Meaas Svendsen and Peter Gannushkin, taken on-and-off-stage and the amusing notes of all the Large Unit musicians and the interview with Nilssen-Love. 

The first disc was recorded at the Casa del Popolo club in Montreal and features small units of the Large Unit, one duo and three trios, playing short free-improvised pieces. The Large Unit interplay often involves such small units playing off and against each other, and these impressive pieces highlight the strong individual languages and offer new ideas for future combinations within the Unit interplay. 

The second disc capture the Large Unit at the height of their powers in the last performance of the North American tour at the Earshot Jazz festival in Seattle. It feature new arrangements of older pieces - “Fortar Hardar”, “Erta Ale II” and “Fendika” and two new pieces - “ANA”, the title piece of the forthcoming Large Unit release, and “Circle in the Round”. The Large Unit plays with endless fiery energy, even when it stripped down to small units, as if possessed by a higher force. Keränen, trumpeter Thomas Johansson, Äleklint and Holmlander shine on “Fortar Hardar” before the inevitable volcanic eruption of the whole Unit. “ANA” revolves around an infectious brass fanfares and a manic driving pulse that just keeps intensifying from the first second until the last one. “Circle in the Round” is the only loose form piece, developed patiently through a series of individual solos, including a most beautiful one of Kjær on the flute. “Erta Ale II” is re-arranged as a piece that highlight the massive front line of Äleklint, Johansson and sax players Klaus Elierhusen Holm and Kjær. The whole Unit now is in tight and fiery mode, ready for the last piece, the Ethiopian-tinged explosive-addictive pulse of “Fendika”.   

The unassuming perspective of Svendsen photos, together with his intuitive sense of photo composition and the short notes of the musicians, shed light on the demanding life on the road. The complicated logistics puzzle of arranging such tours, having all the musicians packed in three dense vans, and the need to balance different needs and tastes, including between vegan and carnivores. But above all it reflects the fun that all had together between “driving, soundchecking, gigging, sleeping”, multiplied few times, as Äleklint summarizes it. But with few detours to the Niagara Falls, swimming in Lake Erie, singing karaoke at a Korean barbecue after a 6-hour performance, buying shoes and driving a Harley-Davidson. Others like Kjær and Holm comment about the different types of humor - Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish, Keränen advises where to avoid eating Polish food in Chicago, but all are very appreciative about this invigorating experience. “This is what we live for”, writes drummer Andreas Wildhagen. “Nothing can be more rewarding than creating energy and music in the moment, let the sounds flush and blow out like they should in the ‘now’”.  Nilssen-Love, obviously the most experienced working musician in this band, performing about 200 to 250 days a year, notes that the Large Unit “takes having fun serious”. He suggests insightful perspective about the importance of such tours: “a band needs experience from the road in order to develop. The music changes and people interact in completely different way if you’re out for more than a week or so”. He concludes by saying that “this feels like a beginning of it”. — Eyal Hareuveni, Free Jazz Collective

Large Unit
Erta Ale (PNL ‎– LP, CD, Cassette, 2014)

Please visit the "Download" section in the upper menue under the band photo for reading full reviews of this release.

The Large Unit successfully combines the energy of youth and the casual familiarity of the neighborhood, both welded together by the focus of Nilssen-Love’s musical personality. … The multi-disc set may echo the band’s fascination with scale, but this is large music, a window on a scene that seethes with creative energy and an unbridled intensity. — Point of Departure

Nilssen-Love has put together his biggest and most ambitious ensemble to date and brought to it a set of compositions that serve an ambitious mission. … There’s plenty of high-energy action across Erta Ale’s 16 tracks, which include multiple performances of pieces that differ drastically from each other; the compositions invite players to imagine the music anew each time rather than work out detailed variations upon a theme. … Nilssen-Love doesn’t exactly draw attention to himself as a drummer, although his management of energy flow and dynamics is key to the music’s emotional ebb and flow. But his place in these performances corresponds to his place in improvised music today. He’s not only making it happen; he is keeping it going by creating a continuum in which the clashing and mixing of personalities, genres, sounds and scenes is the stuff of creation, and he is an instigator and guide. It’s not the size of this set that proves Nilssen-Love’s significance; it’s the space he gives to the right people, and what they do with it. — Bill Meyer, Dusted Magazine

...While it’s a frequently raucous and quite noisy unit, with a hard-charging energy reminiscent of Charles Mingus crossed with the Melvins, there are numerous passages where individual instrumentalists take lengthy and at times quite meditative and exploratory solo turns. And given the fact that most of the players are not nearly as well-known internationally as Nilssen-Love, he’s to be commended for providing them with such a superb platform. — Burning Ambulance

There is a trust and a democratic nature that allows it to live and breathe a way that many other bands are not able to do. That democratic nature allow the music to ebb and flow, use dynamics and seemingly at times thermodynamics especially in the live settings, where their relation to energy and work is astounding and heat and temperature developed by the band particularly by the pushing and pulling by Nilssen-Love who is so supremely confident and completely in control of the music is very impressive. To begin the recorded history of a band with a three disc boxed set is an audacious move, but it pays off quite well. This is a very exciting band who makes excellent music. —  Tim Niland, Music and More

Large Unit
First Blow (PNL ‎– PNL021, 2013)

I love this album. It’s only two long songs (one 12 minutes and the other almost 9) but any time you listen to a record and it makes you smile, feel intrigued and challenges you is a good thing in my book. 

Song 1 starts with a couple of blast from the Large Unit then enters immediately into squeals and digital disturbance for a minute or two before the Large Unit enters back in for real. It’s very playful, almost sounds entirely improvised were it not for the tightness of the changes by the group together, and has a lot of dynamics. It sure ain’t boring, that’s for certain. 

Song 2 has more digital interference and tasteful sax squeals and improv but is no less fun than track 1. It’s less bombastic than the first song and a lot more out there but very cool on its own. It’s also less of a combined unit song but that didn’t inhibit my enjoyment of it one bit. Norwegian artists get tagged with the “electronic free jazz” moniker often but when it’s used this well I don’t think of it as such. I just hear it as a natural part of the composition and great music. 

Mr. Love is a superb band leader and improviser and it’s hard to think of a drummer right now I’d rather listen to in the free jazz world. He’s powerful, commanding but never overwhelming or ostentatious. That he could take a complete seat back on the second track and let it happen outside the drums is a testament to his taste and restraint. I originally wasn’t going to review it because I didn’t want to be tagged “the Norwegian guy” but I’m glad I did. It’s enriched my musical palate and expanded my mind. I also didn’t want to give it such a high rating since the last few reviews I’ve done were so high but this album demands it. Highly recommended. — Ed Pettersen, Free Jazz Collective