The Swedish, Stockholm-based Ståhls Trio – master vibes player (and also soprano sax player) Mattias Ståhl, Canadian double bass player Joe Williamson and drummer Cristopher Cantillo, celebrates 15 years of activity with its fourth album that has a fitting title, Brain Drain, for a rebirth phase for the trio. The album was recorded directly to tape at Kungsten Studios in Gothenburg in the summer of 2023. Cantillo produced and released the album via his new label, Hxng Jazz Records.

Ståhl, Williamson and Cantillo are prolific figures in the Nordic scene, masterful improvisers with distinct sounds of their own. The repertoire of Ståhls Trio in its previous albums mixed classic jazz gems by Duke Ellington and Sun Ra, with Swedish classics by Jan Johansson and Georg Riedel or new ones by Per ‘Texas’ Johansson, iconic song of John Lennon («Jealous Guy»), with original compositions of the trio. The compositions on Brain Drain are credited to Ståhls Trio, except the beautiful “Revirado” composed by Argentinian nuevo-tango master Astor Piazzolla.

But Ståhls Trio, one of the very few vibraphone trios, is still a unique and unruly teenager phenomenon, still refers to jazz to the late sixties and early seventies, from the more mainstream compositions of Ellington to the more adventurous pieces of Sun Ra. The seductive, hard-swinging pulses drive the sonic adventures of the trio, spiced with uncanny love for sweet gospel flavors.

The brilliant Ståhls Trio will make you move your limbs -involuntary but quite happily – with its deep and layered yet always playful rhythmic sensibility but it will also draw a witty smile on your face when you realize its intriguing ideas («Fröken Paula», «De oanvändbara» and «Näsan»). Ståhls Trio offers great music, free of guilt, just like the last piece on Brain Drain is titled.

Eyal Hareuveni

Mattias Ståhl (vibraphone, soprano saxophone), Joe Williamson (double bass), Cristopher Cantillo (drums)