CD review: Carsten Dahl Trinity – Painting Music 2019: Videos, CD cover

It is such that the universe has a sound and rhythm. Everything moves forward, either powerful and explosive or modest and like slow shadows in a landscape.

The energy, which urges me into an artistic unfolding – is the power of the universe. I am painted or played. I am thrown through these enormous rhythms and through the interference of light and dark – and can only act as an instrument.

At the same time I am also like water. Everything moves me and everything mirrors itself in me. Every wind makes the innermost in me sway and under the water an endless depth seeks to be examined. I have never chosen art. It has been sitting on my back like some kind of staurolite. It wants something from me, or rather – IT wants something from me and with art as an instrument. Amounts of universal streams flow through me and with such a speed that these impressions are communicated like an imprint in my soul in a timeless fashion.

You immediately recognize them, the tunes of famous standards such as “All The Things You Are,” “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” or “Autumn Leaves,” but you think you hear completely new tunes: The Danish pianist undresses on “Painted Music.” Carsten Dahl consistently great classics of the jazz repertoire and makes it his own with his own personal view.

Born in 1967, Dahl has been one of Europe’s outstanding jazz pianists for many years. But he was late for his instrument, because at the age of nine he first started to play the drums, was almost a professional at 12 and was recorded at the renowned Copenhagen Rytmisk Conservatory of Music at 18, where he studied with the famous US drummer Ed Thigpen. Only then did he change to piano – an instrument he had not had a single lesson before. So Dahl began the study again from scratch, first with Jørgen Nielsen, then with his mentor Butch Lacy, whom Dahl still calls his greatest influence.

Already this unusual way to his instrument shows the devotion that characterizes Dahl’s self-understanding: “I have never chosen the art. She wanted something from me – or better: it wanted something of mine, with art as an instrument, “he says. “The universe has sound and rhythm. Everything strives forward, either powerful and explosive or calm like shadows in a landscape. It is this energy, this power of the universe that drives me to artistic expression. I’m an instrument, and I’m painted or played. ”

It seems that this primal force did not choose Carsten Dahl for no reason. His talent was quickly obvious. Already his first band project Embla caused a sensation in the Danish jazz scene. An intense time of countless collaborations began. Dahl had great success with his own projects and not only played with local and Scandinavian stars like Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen or Cæcilie Norby, but also with international greats like Didier Lockwood, Dave Liebman and Wynton Marsalis. In the more than 25 years of his career Dahl has played on over 250 CDs and produced more than 30 of his own.

Awarded major prizes such as the Ben Webster Award, the Django D’Or, the Carl Nielsen Prize or a Grammy nomination, Dahl is one of the most universal and extraordinary artists on the European jazz scene. In all the diverse projects – from solo recordings to orchestral works, from free jazz to Bach’s Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier – Dahl’s handwriting is unmistakable. His inspiration comes from classical and classical jazz as well as from Danish folk music, world music and modern music. In addition, he devotes himself intensively to painting, as you can see impressively on the cover motif of “Painted Music”, which comes from Dahl himself.

As ACT Owner and Producer Siggi Loch strives to bring together the best European pianists on his label, it is time to introduce this “musicians musician”, still a secret tip in this country, to a wider audience. What could be more suitable for this than Dahl’s – Trinity trio with bassist Nils Bo Davidsen and drummer Stefan Pasborg, who have already been compared to Keith Jarrett: “That’s my favorite constellation. We’ve been playing together for years with my larger band Experience, and it felt like we were painting together on a canvas and merging our perceptions into a single spirit. This is indeed a rare, precious experience in music, “enthuses Dahl.

With eight cover versions from the Danish folk song to Miles Davis’ “Solar” as well as two co-written own compositions, the three of us share in this magic. They are always strong melodies, first introduced gently, then handed over to Dahl’s inexhaustible ingenuity, which transforms them into a common improvisation into each of the original works of this Trinity. In fact a musical painting, fascinating and captivating.

1. Sailing with No Wind (5:34)
2. All the Things You Are (6:07)
3. Somewhere over the Rainbow (6:43)
4. Jeg gik mig ud en Sommerdag (4:18)
5. Bluesy in Different Ways (4:11)
6. Solar (2:43)
7. Be My Love (8:22)
8. You and the Night and the Music (5:08)
9. Blue in Green (4:48)
10. Autumn Leaves (6:32)

Carsten Dahl / piano
Nils Bo Davidsen / bass
Stefan Pasborg / drums