Stunning debut album by three of Norway's most in-demand session musicians. Atmospheric, yet tight trio compositions between Herbie Hancock and EST.
In the past, the members of the Oddgeir Berg Trio - Oddgeir Berg (piano), Karl-Joakim Wisløff (bass) and Klaus Robert Blomvik (drums) - have remained in the background, acting as instrumentalists for renowned Scandinavian colleagues. With the release of 'Before Dawn', things are about to change. Their album instantly ranks as an excitingly different entry into the long list of piano trios. And despite their decades of combined experience, it sounds every bit as fresh and hungry as you'd expect from a debut.
Thanks to an otherworldly, yet focused ambiance, 'Before Dawn' doesn't so much feel timeless as 'outside of time'. It therefore makes perfect sense, when Berg quotes legends such as Keith Jarrett and McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock and EST as influences and inspirations. After all, it is precisely the link between the past and the present, the tension between tradition and progression, which turn the album into such an exciting proposition.
Mesmerising fusion elements are broken up by classic improvisation sections and propelled forward by Klaus Robert Blomvik's simmering breakbeats and pulsating walking bass patterns. Although a touch of the 'Nordic jazz sound' can undeniably be felt, there is a lot more hiding underneath these dreamy arrangements than just sentimental ballads.
