John Fordham 

Jacob Young: Forever Young review – polished grooves

The Norwegian jazz guitarist boosts his formidable sound in collaboration with a Polish trio, writes John Fordham
  
  

Jacob Young with Seim Wasilewski Miskiewicz Kurkiewicz
Norwegian-Polish relations: (from left) Jacob Young and saxophonist Trygve Seim, with Marcin Wasilewski, Michal Miskiewicz and Slawomir Kurkiewicz. Photograph: Summer Krinsky/ECM Records Photograph: Summer Krinsky/ECM Records

Guitarist Jacob Young is once again partnered by his closely attuned old friend, the delicate saxophonist Trygve Seim – but following a meeting with Marcin Wasilewski at the 2012 Oslo jazz festival, that relationship blooms in fertile new ground laid by Polish pianist Wasilewski's brilliant trio. Young often plays quietly and obliquely (not only is he Norwegian, but those masters of guitar meditation Jim Hall and John Abercrombie taught him), but he likes grooves – and this fine set has plenty. There's a Brazilian feel infusing the tranquil I Lost My Heart To You, and the silky Therese, while the steadily strummed, horn-purring Bounce is a louche swinger that sounds like a Roxy Music song And the smoky, late-clinch sway of We Were Dancing contrasts with the supple 7/4 that underpins the playful Time Changes. The combination of Young's acoustic sound with the vapour trails of Seim's gently pungent improvisations, or his rounded electric tone against Wasilewski's probing piano figures, make this a set full of undemonstrative surprises and contrasts, and the quality of the composing matches the formidable powers of the band.

 

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