Tore Johansen - Earth Stills, album review

Not Bullshit But Full of Still

Inspired by the artwork of Norwegian Jannik Abel, this is a calming jazz set by trumpeter Tore Johansen, with the support of Andy Sheppard, Bugge Wesseltoft, Arild Andersen and Gard Nilssen. Much is quite languid musical portraiture, and Sheppard provides mirroring and chit-chat accompaniment on his sax. The ten minutes of Earth Stills III is quite sublime. There is also a lovely cover of Nature Boy.

Earth Stills VI - Jannik Abel

I didn’t know Abel until coming across this album, but a little research shows that he also works in words, and I rather like the Concrete Poetry of Bullshit where there is a visual crescendo of this.