In the period starting sometime around 2006, Scandinavian jazz saw an explosion of outstanding power trios. Over the next 10 years we saw the emergence of Bushman’s Revenge, Elephant 9, The Thing, Krokofant and many more. One of the best of the bunch was definitely the Swedish trio Fire!
Fire! started in 2009 as baritone sax player Mats Gustafsson with Johan Berthling on bass and Andreas Werliin on drums, a simple line-up but with enormous power.
Like many of the trios, Fire! experimented with their line up, often collaborating with a fourth member, and are probably best known for the monstrous 28 piece Fire! Orchestra (desribed fairly accurately on their website as a free jazz/ experimental/ psychedelic/ noise/ free improv ensemble).
In this new album they have gone back to basics, both with the line-up and with the music. The album was recorded live in the studio on analog tape at Steve Albini’s studio in Chicago, the home of a long string of huge rock recordings.
The album starts with “Work Songs For A Scattered Past.” A very simple bass riff runs through the piece. The drums join in with a steady rhythm as the sax plays a single note. Then everything starts to ramp up. The sax develops that note into its own version of the riff, and the drums start to add powerful improvisations. That riff then passes back to the bass as the sax improvises over the top. After a period of intense power everything calms down back to a basic rhythm and the simple riff as the volume gradually fades to an end. It’s powerful and dramatic, but beautiful at the same time.
Other tracks take a similar structure, although one starts with the drums, and the final ten minute track starts with a raucous sax before fading down to another short few bass notes.
Describing it this way makes it all sounds very simple and repetitive, and in some ways it is. What lifts it above that, is the way they change intensity and tempo through the tracks, and the power and imagination of the three musicians at the peak of their powers, and in perfect sync with each other
Peter Slavid broadcasts a programme of European Jazz on mixcloud.com/ukjazz and various internet stations
