Bergen Open by BMX

Note: 2CD contains 47 min long piece "Bergen Open". Originally released 2010 on NORCD.

Original liner notes:

REAL-TIME COMPOSITIONS

Having started out as a trio inspired by the trio of Paul Motian, Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano, BMX develops this inspiration into a musical landscape stretching improvised music in many directions. On this album Per Jørgensen's trumpet adds colour and texture to an already rich pallet, but what is more interesting is how the album as a whole can be seen as an investigation into some of the basic ideas surrounding improvisation and creativity. That improvisation is at stake should come as no big surprise. In a time when "jazz" is perhaps a no longer adequate term to describe much creative music, this supposedly DNA of jazz music is still of importance. On this recording the idea of improvisation is put under scrutiny, by being set in contrast to other organizing principles in creative music. The interaction between the musicians are found on different levels, between something structured and something loose, something composed in advance and something composed on the spot.

Understanding improvisation as an instant composition might bridge different dimensions of the music on this album, where the odd fellow out, so to speak, is the piece called "Bergen Open", a piece growing out of a sound check, but where the results demonstrates an interactive form of composition. Building on traditions, "jazz" in so many of its different forms, the musicians co-work and co-create. The tape was 70 minutes, and is shortened, thus demonstrating that creating in the studio heightens the awareness of the different dimensions of a music seemingly spontaneously created. Spontaneity is not the measure stick. Rather, the demonstration of musicians creating together contributes a fresh take on this record. Bergen Open is named after a tennis tournament in Bergen, Norway. In one perspective, of course, the point of a tennis match is to find a winner. But the aesthetics of the match is found in the interaction of the two players, in how they exchange the ball, how they respond to the opponent's playing. Without wanting to take such a comparison too far, some of the same dimensions are at stake in the interaction of the musicians. They are, obviously, not out to win any game, but they are into a game of responding to each other's playing. And this is nowhere easier to hear than on "Bergen Open". Ideas grow out of the playing, moving between the musicians and inspires new ideas, in a collective endeavor of what can best be called "on-the-spot composition".

Improvisation as real-time composition gets another twist with the other pieces on this album, all composed by Njål Ølnes. Here the musicians takes place differently. Where the open improvisation is an instant compositional practice, here the musicians negotiate with an already existing framework. But as improvisational practices show, having some rules don't necessarily limit the musicians' creativity, it might rather open up for challenges in a confrontation with the rules. This album then, demonstrates these different ways of musical performance, where the continuum between improvisation and composition all the time is at stake.

-Erik Steinskog



"Paul Motian's trio may be at the root of BMX, but its greater energy, more defined rhythms—groove, at times, even—and largely less ethereal nature make Bergen Open another late 2010 release that deserves not be overlooked." ALL ABOUT JAZZ

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