Danish, Copenhagen-based guitarist-composer Mikkel Ploug is known for the avant chamber-jazz trio Equilibrium, which he co-leads with Norwegian vocalist-sax player Sissel Vera Pettersen, and Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst, his solo acoustic guitar albums. Hope is the album of Ploug’s very first band, the trio which was formed in 2006 with Danish bassist Jeppe Skovbakke and Irish drummer Sean Carpio. It was recorded in the studio after a European tour,
Hope, with a title that fits Ploug the person and the musician who always looks for hope in life and music, is the fourth album of the trio, following the trio’s collaborations with American sax player Mark Turner (Nocturnes, Stunt, 2022), a close collaborator since the trio’s earliest days. It faithfully captures the finesse of three longtime friends who enjoy playing with each other and still spark each other’s creativity and the trio’s profound camaraderie and uplifting energy. It features eight original pieces of Ploug, two «Danish Standards» by Denmark’s most prominent classical composer Carl Nielsen, and an arrangement of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington’s «The Star-Crossed Lovers».
As on his previous albums, Ploug is a multifaceted guitarist and composer who keeps searching for sonic territories outside his comfort zone. The complex, opening piece «Daybreak» demonstrates his compositional skills. The first part is a a study of extreme tension, with piercing melody notes outside the key, the second part is based on a transcription of Ploug playing solo in an odd-numbered structure, and the third part was composed on an old Martin acoustic that a luthier lent him while fixing his guitar. The touching ballad «Winter Lullaby», originally performed by Equilibrium (Lento, Klein, 2024), was written on Ploug’s father’s old acoustic guitar that can produce only two notes and corresponds with the famed winter lullabies Ploug serenaded his Copenhagen neighbors from his apartment balcony during the COVID-19 lockdowns (and later recorded in Balcony Lullabies, Stunt, 2020).
The title piece came out of transcribing a performance of American pianist Craig Taborn and it is the most straightforward jazz piece but ends with a Messiaen’s 9-tone scale. Nielsen’s «Tunge morke natteskyer» and «Tit er jeg glad» highlight the strong melodic, and song-like aesthetics of the trio. «The Star-Crossed Lovers» receives a gentle, sparse arrangement that distills its delicate melodic outlines. The upbeat and energetic «Danilo» is a homage to Panamanian pianist Danilo Pérez. The album ends with the shiny «Summer Song» that cements the hopeful thread of all of Ploug’s compositions.
Eyal Hareuveni
Mikkel Ploug (electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Jeppe Skovbakke (double bass), Sean Carpio (drums)
