Reviews of Liminal Field (Nottwo Records 2019)
TDE Promotions (English)
[...]beautiful interaction between the two players, with Narvesen’s drumming seeming to develop its own varied and distinctive patterns that nonetheless complement Schlippenbach’s playing perfectly. Likewise, Schlippenbach develops his own independent lines on the piano; the playing is an excellent example of what John Corbett (2016) has described as skiing down the slope in parallel, but arriving at the same place.
[...]
It is a brilliant album!
All About Jazz (English)
"Schlippenbach conjures shades of Cecil Taylor as well as twelve tone serialism and his touchstone Monk, while Narvesen assembles a crisp, precise procession of timbrally varied figures into a lurching impetus. Rather than explicitly relate, they often juxtapose different ideas, [...].
Even so, the connections remain readily apparent in terms of energy, dynamics and the overall grain of the performance. That is obvious in the way they execute the tandem transition in "Relay Extempore," from the initial breathless dash of tumbling clatter and piano motifs which continually veer between atonal and melodic, to a more open second part of reflective piano variations with gentle malleted underpinning.
Schlippenbach and Narvesen prove a productive amalgam which enchants as much as it challenges, and makes light of the 45-year age gap."
- John Sharpe
Jazzword (English)
"Swelling, crab-like movements across the keyboard characterize von Schlippenbach’s playing on all tracks, pulling out the narrative with kinetic cross pulses and a hard keyboard touch. When he speeds up his playing references relate to Cecil Taylor’s contrasting dynamics or the pounding rhythm of Jimmy Yancy’s boogie woogie. Meanwhile the drummer dynamically smacks and shudders where necessary, brining steady pulsations to back up delicate theme variations, or in response to more dissonant key-stopping and inner string vibrations, creates lug-loosening and cymbal scratching counterpoint.
[...]
The key to communication is that despite heavy bass chord banging from the pianist or drum rolls, pops and jitters, each section flows seamlessly. Relaxed and deliberate elaborations share spare with drum rumble and piano patterning without fracturing the narrative."
- Ken Waxman
Salt Peanuts (Norwegian)
"Along with the first release they did together, "Liminal Field" is a must for those who have a sense of good and exciting, free-ranging jazz music, and if you sometimes wonder how Thelonious Monk would have played today, maybe Schlippenbach's play here, is the closest you can get to the old champion."
- Jan Granlie
Reviews of Interweaving (Nottwo Records 2018)
Downtown Music Gallery (English)
"This is an LP only release and the sound, thick, warm vinyl pressing was done with immense care. The sound is superb, as is the playing by both musicians. The title of this disc is ‘Interweaving’ which is most appropriate since this duo is consistently weaving several layers of their playing together.
[...]
ExtraOrdinary on all levels!"
- Bruce Lee Gallanter
New York City Jazz Record (English)
"They say love is the international language; Schlippenbach and Narvesen prove it is actually free improvisation."
- Andrey Henkin
Salt Peanuts (English)
"The duo manages to keep an arresting tension even on minimalist and sparse pieces like «Banging the Barrel», where von Schlippenbach and Narvesen create a mysterious, profound sense of tension by focusing on a delicate cymbal work and gentle overtones produces by gentle touches of the piano keys. Both play masterfully with different elements of tension building on the following «Catch Up», now turning these elements into a fast and playful chasing game. Neither of them is shy from a more conflictual, more tensed dialogue as explored on the dynamic «Hard Nosed». «String Out» distills von Schlippenbach and Narvesen highly inventive vocabularies into an enigmatic poem of fascinating and otherworldly sounds. Both play brilliantly with phrases of Monk’s iconic «Evidence» on the last, title-piece that corresponds with Monk-ish expressions in another energetic, imaginative play of ideas, forms and dynamics.
The two pieces on the bandcamp page – The energetic «The Blues Morlocks» and the brief and cryptic «Single Bells» continue the multilayered, colorful dialog of these gifted and resourceful free-improvisers. Both have crafted their own language that blurs all differences.
Fantastic!"
-Eyal Hareuveni
Tor de Jazz (Norwegian)
"Here there are not a lot of generational contradictions to talk about - they are completely aligned. They bring what they have learned and who they are into this encounter and yet another unique meeting point is conceived."
- Tor Hammerø
Bauer/Bauer/Narvesen Trio
Reviews of The Gift (No Business Records 2020)
Die Tageszeitung TAZ.de (German)
"The crucial question of whether this is still free jazz can remain as open as this music is. Openness has its own order. Conny Bauer, who prefers to speak of improvised music rather than free jazz, says: "What scares people about free jazz is the mess they expect." The astonishing experiments of "The Gift" make a downright well-composed impression, yet it actually emerges spontaneously, as its percussionist emphasizes. When asked about any preparations, Dag Magnus Narvesen replies: "We start with the silence."
- Robert Miessner
All About Jazz (English)
"On the whole it is an gentle understated outing, nonetheless rich in drama, as the focus of attention shifts imperceptibly between the players.
[...]
That sums up the disc: extraordinary skill undemonstratively employed to create enjoyable and absorbing results."
- John Sharpe
Salt Peanuts (Norwegian)
"To do a concert with this instrumentation really requires that the three musicians must have planned something in advance. But I do not really know if they did this time. But there is a wholeness in what they deliver that may indicate that they have at least talked together about the music before they got on "stage". If not, the three are incredibly good listeners, who perceive the least "hint" from the other musicians that they can join and develop further.
[...]
Splendid!"
- Jan Granlie
Gjerstad/Narvesen Duo
Reviews of Live at Tou (FMR Records 2019)
Downtown Music Gallery (English)
"This is a colossal duo, playing quietly at first and taking their time to increase the level of intensity. This disc is recorded live and has splendid sound, warm, clean, all acoustic. [...]
Narvesen is an extraordinary drummer who often lays back for long stretches, playing with the utmost restraint at times. This brings out a more subtle side to Mr. Gjerstad’s playing. Once one calms down a bit, we hear quite a bit more going on, nuance and texture-wise."
- Bruce Lee Gallanter
Avant Scena (English)
"Live At Tou is filled with original ideas and inventive decisions. Dynamic, expressive and moody compositions are filled with innovations, sound experiments and expressive musical language."
[...]
They get on brave adventures, bright and passionate improvisations, flowing and dramatic culminations, furious, stitching and aggressive storms of sounds and tunes or totally wild improvisations. All that makes an effort to bright, expressive and original sound."
- Avant Scena
Salt Peanuts (Norwegian)
"Cool, exciting and creative.
[...] all you have to do is close your eyes and let the two take you on a journey to a landscape you have never been."
- Jan Granlie
The Balderin Sali
Reviews of Variations (Leo Records 2019)
Downtown Music Gallery (English)
"This is a historical meeting under the Helsinki skies; three generations of legendary European masters of Present Time Composition during a two-night celebration. Powerful, joyful, orchestral, seductive, poetic, free... Instant composing at its best!"
- Bruce Lee Gallanter
The Free Jazz Blog (English)
"It’s unnecessary at this point to sing the praises of many of these musicians, who together embody much of the collective genius of international improvised music.
[...]
The collected proceedings are frequently surprising, testifying to the vigor and range of contemporary improvised music, an inclusivist vision in which genre and tonal identities are old floor markings increasingly worn away in the persistent joy of the dance."
-Stuart Broomer
Reviews of Hyvinkää (UniSono 2017)
The Free Jazz Blog (English)
"It’s delicate, stripped-down and introspective with lots of fragile short noise intersperses. Very recommendable."
- Martin Schray
Jazzrytmit (Finnish)
"The quintet carries its play in a large sector multipurpose, generating a wealth of different voices on a common dynamic frequency.. [...] By spreading it, the astonishingly multifaceted abstract sound of the spectrum becomes more diverse and colourful like a rainbow."
- Jouko Kirstilä
Turun Sanomat (Finnish)
"The sound texture in the Soundtracks recorded transmit a high sensitivity with which the group takes common expression out for new, unknown searches."
- Matti Komulainen
Kathodik (Italian)
"[...] the sound flow of the quintet flows pleasantly in this interesting document of the current scene of European musical improvisation."
- A. G. Bertinetto
Sanz-sine - Sound and Silence (Italian)
"The approaches and releases of the five instrumentalists create a well-thought-out team game that leaves no room for moments of pain and can keep the attention during all of the 40 minutes of this collective improvisation."
- Filippo Piccoli
Jazzpodium (German)
"[...] the music is particularly appealing, when a pulse even without a clearly marked beat becomes noticeable."
- Günter Buhles
Reviews of The Expanding Circle (Hevhetia 2016)
Musikreviews.de (German)
"Almost bombastic resonance (missing only the strings) meets intimate jazz club - The DIDRIK Ingvaldsen ORCHESTRA is well worth a discovery ... not only or even last of all for classical music lovers."
- Andreas Schiffmann
Rock and All (Czech)
"Experiments and free jazz can have a surprisingly meaningful dimension for the attentive listener."
- Pavel Víšek
Jazzport (Czech)
"That's what I call an excellent jazz cut!"
-Jan Hocek
Longplay (Polish)
"The Expanding Circle" is a solid dose of music for lovers of large compositions, music full of expression and unexpected solutions."
- Robert Ratajczak
Reviews of Cornua Copiae (Clean Feed 2016)
The Free Jazz Blog (English):
"Cornua Copiae is an exciting, ever-surprising work, one that will undoubtedly appeal to listeners who not only want their jazz to entertain, but to astound."
- Derek Stone
All About Jazz (English):
"Narvesen, who wrote all the tunes, takes the big band tradition and gives it a smart contemporary twist. It's all done without irony or pastiche, and presents a coherent facade in spite of the stylistic diversity.
[...]
More please!"
- John Sharpe
Downtown Music Gallery (English):
"Each of the ten compositions features a number of surprises, from short, amazing
solos to complex writing and arranging which draws from third stream,
modern Euro jazz sources and other sophisticated influences. Yet another
jewel from the vast Clean Feed treasure chest of delights."
- Bruce Lee Gallanter
Jazz and Blues Blogspot - Music and More (English):
"The compositions on this album are fine and varied, offering a wide array of settings in which to express the band’s talent and they create music it is a uniformly interesting and moving experience."
- Tim Niland
Jazz i Norge (Norwegian)
"Damana combines intensity and elegance and offers healthy resistance."
-Arild R. Andersen
Klassekampen (Norwegian daily newspaper):
Two out of ten reviewers picked Cornua Copiae as the Norwegian Record Release Of The Year:
Eirik Blegeberg's review of Cornua Copiae (Norwegian)
Chris Monsen's review of Cornua Copiae (Norwegian)
Orkesterjournalen (Swedish)
"Clean Feed is consistently releasing interesteing records and this is another disc to glorify life with in the autumn darkness."
- Roger Bergner
The Multikulti Project (Polish)
"A great team and brilliant - in my opinion - recording!"
- Józef Paprocki
Salt Peanuts (Norwegian)
"I think it is all too rare that we hear well-arranged music for larger ensembles nowadays. [...] I hope that Narvesen gets the possibility to play numerous concerts with this ensemble, abundant with skilled, relatively young, Norwegian jazz musicians, who prove themselves yet again to be a part of the top shelf."
- Jan Granlie
Tor de Jazz (Norwegian)
"Dag Magnus Narvesen stands out as a new and very exciting name as a composer and bandleader."
- Tor Hammerø
Outward Bound Hatena Blog (Japanese)
Live concert review:
Salt Peanuts (Norwegian)
"It is a musical miracle we are being served."
- Johan Hauknes
Reviews of Kitchen Orchestra with Alexander von Schlippenbach
(What's Cooking Records - CCAP 2013)
All About Jazz (English)
"Under the leadership of von Schlippenbach the Kitchen Orchestra has matured as one of the most exciting European big bands. His sheer breadth of stylistic output, ranging from collective improvisation, contemporary music to jazz legacy created ideal structures for this fearless and playful orchestra.
[...]
The Kitchen Orchestra debut is a great masterpiece. An impressive testimony of both von Schlippenbach and the Kitchen Orchestra's creativity and immaculate and imaginary performances."
- Eyal Hareuveni
Sasquatch
Reviews of Enter The Sasquatch (CCAP Knirk 2010)
Jazznytt (Norwegian)
"In a musical landscape not very far away from Atomic, but with lots of originality and personality, we experience brilliant ensemble play, great soloists, intense tunes and hypnotising arrangements. Sasquatch appears as a band with enormous potential. With the sound of this debut still in the room and in mind, one has just to state that this is the surprise of the year so far.
It's wicked!"
- Tor Hammerø
Dagbladet (Norwegian)
"[…] a significant element in young Norwegian jazz, mainly a place in the stylistic landscape of expressionism, the quartets of Ornette Coleman and free jazz, played by musicians who combine solid formal education with apparent willingness to sound just as raw as the style of the given moment implies.
Modern quintet with guts and impact."
- Terje Mosnes
Downtown Music Gallery (English)
"The odd thing here is that if I didn't know that these lads were Norwegian, I would have no clue just by listening. The bassist & drummer sound as if they have been playing together for many years, constantly swinging together and playing tightly as one force. It is difficult to pick any one horn or reeds player since each one shines when it is his turn to solo as well as provide solid interaction with the other players. [...] It just goes to show that every week some unknown group of players will deliver to DMG another gem for us to grab & hold on to for dear life."
- Bruce Lee Gallanter
Irish Times (English)
"[Sasquatch] creates music that is progressive, and fairly timeless. This is a classy affair with plenty of riches worth experiencing."
- Laurence Mackin
