Memories is the first solo album of young Danish, Oslo-based alto sax player Amalie Dahl, recorded by her at Springbrættet in Ringsted musik og kulturskole in Denmark in January 2023. Dahl finished her studies at the Jazz department at NTNU in Trondheim in 2021, and already leads her modern jazz quintet (Dafnie, Sonic Transmission, 2022), the hip-hop meets jazz and electronics SUPERSPREDER septet and plays in the free improvising trio with double bass player Henrik Sandstad Dalen and drummer Jomar Jeppsson Søvik and with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.
Memories features four pieces, all highlighting the distinct voice of Dahl as a sax player and an improviser who always seeks to expand her vocabulary and sonic vision with an array of personal extended techniques. The album plays on thoughts around our perception of time of «here and now», and of the memory that follows, as life consists of a series of moments, a series of here and now, some of which remain as important events and discoveries that help to shape what is to come. Our identity is a sum of memories. These memories and moments can set off chain reactions that inspire and interact with new people in a constant flow. The cover artwork is by Juliane Schütz. The release of this album coincides with the release of Amund Stenøien Quartet’s Coming to Pass, by the same label, which reflects on the same issues.
The opening piece meditates on the «Here and now» and suggests a whole spectrum of Dahl’s expressive sax vocabulary, from percussive to multiphonics to a breathy drone. The following, 15-minute «Soon will be» expands Dahl’s sonic palette with a free-associative meditation of abstract and suggestive sounds mixed with brief melodies that keep coming and going and being constructed and deconstructed in real time. The short «No more than» is a playful and clever free-jazz improvisation. The last piece «A memory» closes this intimate and thoughtful sonic journey with an impressive exploration of Dahl’s vocabulary, ranging from the most quiet and nuanced to the most loud and outspoken.
Eyal Hareuveni
Amalie Dahl (alto saxophone)
