Cosmic Ear

Giving so called World Music a good name Sweden’s Cosmic Ear has produced a decisive album where some instruments’ exotic textures don’t diminish the tunes improvisational core. Overall the rhythmic core of the disc’s six tracks is decided by the use at points of donso n’goni, karignan, congas, berimbau and percussion. But those non-European textures are cleverly integrated with squalls and squeaks from Christer Bothén’s clarinets; stains and snorts from Mats Gustafsson’s saxophones and flutes; and Goran Kajfeš’ trumpet.

There are times when the combination of the gritty tenor saxophone spurts from Gustafsson, known for the Fire! Orchestra and pinched flutters from Kajfeš, member of the Nacka Forum, are reminiscent of some of Pharoah Sanders’ Africanized disc of the 1970s. However octogenarian Bothén’s affiliation with Don Cherry’s organic sounds during this same period, means the traces on Traces are of extension not emulation.

Throughout the narratives depend on sequences such as those which knit melodic clarinet trills, idiophone metal scratches and indigenous instruments’ multi-string plucks developing in counterpoint, or those where hand drumming pulses underline horn expositions.

Cosmic Ear expands this basic paradigm as well. “Love Train” is introduced with Bothén’s variant on Blues piano, accompanied by Argentinean Juan Romero’s conga pops as well as muted trumpet obbligatos and flute swills, until all are superseded by hard overblowing by Gustafsson’s tenor saxophone. Electronics processing is hinted at throughout and is most prominent as an ostinato on “Right Here Right Now”. Those wave form shakes share space with Gustafsson’s tremolo organ slides,  thick string stopping from local Kansan Zetterberg’s double bass and donso n’goni, as trumpet harmonies and reed gargles squirt over the exposition, adumbrating speedy cadence from hand percussion, berimbau and other strings.

Removing the curio affiliations from this association of improvised and world music, Cosmic Ear moves the concept into the 21^st Century with a distinctive program.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Father and Son 2. TRACES of Brown Rice 3. Love Train 4. Right Here Right Now 5. Do It (Again) – For Sofia Jernberg 6. TRACES of Codona and Mali

Personnel: Goran Kajfeš (trumpet, pocket trumpet, synth, electronics, percussion); Christer Bothén (donso n’goni, bass and contra bass clarinet, piano); Mats Gustafsson (tenor saxophone, flute, slide flute, Ab clarinet, live electronics, organ, harmonica); Kansan Zetterberg (bass, donso n’goni); Juan Romero (congas, berimbau, percussion); Marianne N´Lemwo (karignan)