Thrilled to release this recording of a pairing which is truly one of a kind. Recorded at a Kammer Klang event at OTO in December 2017, the duo of Swedish singer and composer Sofia Jernberg and Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen give a performance of astonishing breadth and variety, which at times seems scarcely believable that it could have come from just two sets of lungs.
Running the gamut from full throated euphoria to skittering, stuttering, delicate textures, the interplay between Rasmussen and Jernberg never settles for a moment; swooping and circling and briefly coalescing in long, ragged exhalations which blur the lines between saxophone and voice, before spinning off in different directions again. Clocking in at just over 23 minutes, the pair nevertheless leave nothing on the table, crafting the kind of intuitive, improvised reciprocity that seems as if it must have been honed over several years. Don't hesitate!
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Mette Rasmussen / saxophone
Sofia Jernberg / voice
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Mastered by Oliver Barrett
Cover photo by Dimitri Djuric
Available as 320k MP3 or 24bit FLAC
Tracklisting:
1. Part 1 - 4.53
2. Part 2 - 11.38
3. Part 3 - 3.30
4. Part 4 - 3.05
Singer and composer, born in Ethiopia in 1983 and currently based in two cities: Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden. As a singer she is developing the “instrumental” possibilities of the voice. Sofia’s singing vocabulary includes sounds and techniques that often contradict a natural singing style. She has dug deep into split tone singing, pitchless singing and distorted singing.
“...it is the singing that is most impressive. Jernberg's vocal agility is sweeping, analogous, conceivably, to the range of sounds that Wadada Leo Smith can generate with the trumpet. She is a phenomenon that merits attention.” – Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz
Mette Rasmussen is a Danish saxophone player based in Trondheim, Norway. She works in the field of improvised music, drawing from a wide range of influences, spanning free jazz to textural soundwork. Rasmussen works on exploring the natural rawness of her instrument - experimenting on what the saxophone is capable of in sound and expression, with and without preparations. Much in demand, she has performed with the likes of Alan Silva, Chris Corsano, Ståle Liavik Solberg, and with her Trio Riot group with Sam Andreae and David Meier.
"Mette Rasmussen has a remarkably fluid and expressive tone on the alto saxophone. Her playing at times evokes the rich, heavenward clarity of Albert Ayler, at others the throaty roar of Mats Gustafsson. Equally, though, she’s able to sidestep these influences and assert her own individual sound in piercingly high tones and controlled outbursts of free playing." - Viennese Waltz
