Kjetil Mulelid Trio – Traverse Bar

Returning from a trip to Oslo a few years back someone excitedly described Norway as ‘the new Scotland’; oil, fish, love of conversation fuelled, dare one admit, by a glass or two. Music was in there too and in 2025, let’s, specifically, add Jazz, though with a distinct folk/cultural bent. Just as Fergus McCreadie spirits one to the glens and lochs, this trio quickly has us gliding through the cool, clear air of the fjords. Jazz as a genre easily attracts derision from those unwilling to devote the required attention or application. There are ready-made phrases and cliches coined by a certain (brilliant!) sketch show a few moons ago but tonight’s performance, despite running things close, stayed just the right side of these. Improvisational it was, at points difficult to discern who was leading who, but this was the magic, a trip where you didn’t know what was round the next corner.

Kjetil himself played an upright piano with the lid off, the revealed hammers reminding all and sundry that, above all, the instrument is a percussive one. Speaking of which, Andreas Winther played a classic 4-piece kit, supporting the music with deft brushwork and sensitive sticks, making good use of under-employed parts of the kit, later with beaters and even hands. Despite being busy they were unobtrusive, propelling things along intricately and effortlessly. Centre stage, and could-have-been-slightly-higher-in-the mix, was Rune Nergaard on double bass, exploring every nook & cranny between Kjetil and Andreas.

The majority of the tracks performed were from the new (4^th) album, ‘And Now’, opening with ‘The Greatest Love’. ‘And Then We Turn Away’, ‘Age Of Enlightenment/Parasite’ were given outings before Kjetil prefaced ‘Singing Sands’ with an amusing anecdote about a trip to Islay where the title of an unfinished piece presented itself on the east coast, a (standing) stone’s throw from the distilleries of Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin. ‘Waltz For Agoja’ represented the prodigious output of Kjetil’s son, there were a couple of tracks from the previous album before ‘Any Day Now’ brought together every element of the performance, of particular note a drum solo of rare mesmeric precision involving nothing else than the hi-hat, snare and a pair of brushes.

There are three previous albums: ‘Not Nearly Enough To Buy A House’ (2017), ‘What You Thought Was Home’ (2019), ‘Who Do You Love The Most?’ (2022) available through all the usual channels, but why not get yourself down to one of the dates left on this tour before they leave the UK? Click here https://kjetilmulelid.com/

Reviewer: Roger Jacobs

Reviewed: 19th February 2025

North West End UK Rating: