Bright and melodic jazz from Norwegian quartet Flukten on their second album Flukten (ODIN RECORDS ODIN9583).
Much of their altruistic nature is reflected on the colourful graphics of the cover, which could be read like a mannered update on the cover for the Mingus 1962 album Oh Yeah. But there’s something quite ingenious lurking in the twists and turns of the way they tilt at a melody, with unexpected intervals in the soda stream, or pauses at the wrong traffic light. Can’t decide if I prefer the fluid guitar of Marius Klovning or the equally fluid – so slippery it’s like a buttered eel – sax work of Hanna Paulsberg. Bonus point for gender balance in this group, by the way. But maybe such inclusiveness is more common in Norwegian jazz circles, e.g. Ellen Brekken leader of A Tonic For The Troops, or Marthe Lea who plays both sax and guitar and holds her own against a large crew of burly males in Large Unit.
Hey, what’s going here on ‘Dekonstruert Komle’? It feels more like an elaborate riddle than a tune, with false repeats and sax-gtr interplay where the two proponents aren’t quite saying the same thing twice, but instead shining two tiny penlights on the same face from different angles. Even when spun three times, the riddle cannot be solved. Not unlike what’s going down on ‘Omar’s Theme’ also, a tricky double-flipperoo which must have taken the players weeks to learn, or ten minutes of sight-reading. This all might be mistaken for glib cleverness, but it isn’t; Flukten are making their own way to a decent orbit around Planet Jazz and managing to escape the gravitational pull of the Afro-American genre definers. They’ve grown more comfortable with each other since their 2021 record Velkommen Håp, which also helps.
Norway is a land of many contrasts, but today the sun is out in full. The drummer Hans Hulbækmo is also very agile and brings to the table an odd-shaped box of his tastes and influences, including Henry Threadgill, an overlooked Chicago genius who led many exciting combos. Come to think of it we’re under-estimating the importance of his intricate rhythms on this fine record. A real grower, looking forward to the next release in like manner. (22/04/2024)