Lage Lund and his quartet are a musical force to be reckoned with and there is plenty to savour on this recording.

Criss Cross Jazz 1412

Lage Lund (guitar); Sullivan Fortner (piano); Matt Brewer (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

Recorded Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, New York, June 2022

What would you do if you were stuck at home and having to educate a couple of young children? Like millions of others, guitarist Lage Lund found himself in this situation during the Covid-19 pandemic, but unlike most of us, it inspired him to compose music which has ultimately led to this very fine album.

During the home schooling of his daughters (then aged five and seven), Lund and his wife explored different themes with the children (trees, elephants, horses etcetera) and this motivated Lund to compose pieces based on these themes, which were then combined with short video clips and posted online.

When Lund finally went back into the studio with a band to record this album, six of the ten songs were developed from his home school music compositions. Lund is a Norwegian musician, who was born in Bergen, raised in Skien, and since 1997, has lived in the United States (he has resided in New York since 2002). He is one of the most talented of the upcoming generation of jazz guitarists (he’s now in his mid-forties) and was educated at Berklee College of Music and Julliard. In 2005, he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition (now known as the Herbie Hancock International Jazz Competition).

Lage’s influences include Jim Hall, John Scofield and Pat Metheny (who has praised Lage’s playing), and on this album he plays with three types of guitars: a custom designed model made by German guitar manufacturer Stefan Schotmüeller, which is described as a cross between a Gibson ES-335 (a semi-hollow body, semi-acoustic guitar, played by BB King, Larry Carlton and John McLaughlin, to name but three) and a Gibson L5 (a hollow body guitar played by Wes Montgomery and Lee Ritenour). Lage also uses a semi-hollow Schotmüeller guitar and a nylon string acoustic). He also deploys some post-production electronic effects, as well as double-tracking some guitar parts.

Lund has played with David Sanchez and Maria Schneider, as well as recording half a dozen albums as leader. On this album, his quartet comprises of Sullivan Fortner on piano, Matt Brewer, bass, and Tyshawn Sorey, drums. Fortner and Sorey also played on Lund’s previous album, Terrible Animals, released in 2019, and Brewer has recorded with Lund before, so the musical bond was there before the band entered the studio and it shows – most of the recordings were first or second takes.

This is a relatively young band – all members are aged around the late thirties to mid-forties. Fortner has played with Ray Hargrove, Paul Simon and Donald Harrison; Brewer with Greg Osby, Lee Konitz and Terence Blanchard, while Sorey’s musical cv include Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn and Joe Lovano.

The opening number, ‘Cigarettes’ (which was not a theme on the home school curriculum) is a straight-ahead piece featuring guitar, piano and bass solos, with Lund over-dubbing a second guitar and effects in post-production. The playing is loose and supple, and there’s no doubt that this is a unit that gels (no wonder Lund praises the band members on the liner notes).

Lund is a terrific guitarist and you can understand why he has been making noises on the jazz scene. On the track, ‘Trees’ he starts soloing around the 50-second mark, highlighting his clean sound, sweet tone and exquisite phrasing. ‘Circus Island’ is a quirky number with Fortner playing a machine-like rhythm on piano and Sorey laying down a military-style drum pattern with accompanying rim shots.

‘Warsaw’ is well-titled, because its uplifting theme brought to mind a tour around this vibrant city. The music ranges from ‘Elephants,’ with its jaunty theme to ‘Lost In Your Home Town,’ which crackles with energy, from Fortner’s solo intro with its pounding high keys to Brewer’s nimble bass solo. ‘Antarctica’ highlights Lund’s playing on a nylon string guitar – it’s a delightful performance. Anyone with an interest in fine jazz guitar playing should listen to this album – Lage Lund and his quartet are a musical force to be reckoned with and there is plenty to savour on this recording.