Melaza

fourth album from the free spirited power trio that should need no long introduction by now, apart from the significant fact that frank rosaly has taken over the drum stool from paal nilssen-love. no mean feat, seeing how the hand in glove rhythm section of nilssen-love and hker flaten has graced a large number of recordings over the years and built a solid reputation as one of modern jazz and improvs most reliable units. that said, the chicago based drummer is doing a remarkable job in both keeping the group sound intact while bringing new blood to the proceedings. as with the previous albums, %u201dmelaza%u201d was recorded live in the studio with a minimum of overdubs, this time by robert mussi at bill laswells new york studio. raoul bjrkenheim is from finland and was raised on hendrix, zappa and rock music before he discovered miles, coltrane, mingus and eric dolphy. he recorded for ecm as a member of finnish pioneers krakatau as well as with bill laswell, henry kaiser, jah wobble, peter erskine, paul schtze, mats gustafsson, nicky skopelitis, krakatau and others. he has also written film scores and orchestral music. norwegian ingebrigt hker flaten is a member of the thing, atomic, school days, free fall with ken vandermark and has his own quintet. he has toured with trygve seim, joe mcphee, chris potter, dave liebman, tony oxley and many others. drummer and composer frank rosaly has been an integral part of the chicago music scene for 10 years, navigating between the improv, experimental, rock and jazz communities.