No pun Intended. The Rune of the Norwegian Rune Your Day quartet is bass player Rune Nergaard, known from the groups Bushman’s Revenge and Team Hegdal (as well as the graphic designer of the Gigafon label). Rune Your Day is Nergaard debut project under his leadership. It intends no harm to the American legacy of modern and free jazz, certainly not to ruin this legacy, just to play and twist it to current Scandinavian needs. Accommodate this legacy in a strict profane fashion, as part of Nergaard eccentric perspective and mundane, sometimes hyper-realist, daily experiences.
Rune Your Day features tenor and baritone sax player André Roligheten, who also plays in Team Hegdal and in drummer Gard Nilssen’s Acoustic Unity and in the Albatrosh duo; tenor and soprano sax player and clarinetist Jørgen Mathisen, who plays in the trio Krokofant and Zanussi 5 and drummer Axel Skalstad, who also plays in Krokofant.
Nergaard compositions for Rune Your Day offer loose, fast-shifting frameworks that leave enough room for individual, spontaneous improvised contributions. The titles themselves – «Living In The Pink Bubble Of Hubba Bubba», «I’ll Dance When Everybody Leaves» or «Crazy ‘Bout Oatmeal» – already characterize the quartet informal yet opinionated approach. Nergaard and Skalstad set an open, tough and massive rhythmic basis for Mathisen and Roligheten soulful, sometimes heated and even searching sax battles. Together all sound as a tight collective that already found its own voice. In this steaming pot of passionate music you can find many tasty, hot ingredients, not only from jazz, but also from more experimental approaches, as well as rock.
Rune Your Day navigates freely between opposite poles. «A Glimpse Of Hope (in the eye of a squirrel)» and «0500», with Mathisen on clarinet, surprise with its reserved, lyrical tone. Both feature Mathisen and Roligheten intertwining, nuanced melodic solos. «Go Ahead Punk!» follows the sixties, fiery free jazz mode, including the charismatic, intense sax solos and the driving, infectious pulse.
Impressive debut.
Eyal Hareuveni
Jørgen Mathisen (ts, ss, cl), André Roligheten (ts, bs), Rune Nergaard (b), Axel Skalstad (dr)
