Nordic jazz is quiet, they say. Sometimes that's true, sometimes not. And if Nordic consists of three Danish musicians who represent three generations of Danish jazz art? It depends.

If one of these three is called Palle Mikkelborg, then calm can become the programme. Not the kind of sleepy, lift-stop music tranquillity, however, but the more meditative, decelerating and abductive tranquillity that decouples from everyday life. In addition, Marilyn Mazur plays the drums, accentuating and illustrating far more than pulling a rhythmic carpet under everything. And Jakob Bro, whose guitar sometimes warmly sets the mood with chords, sometimes flanks Mikkelborg with distorted interjections when he picks up the dynamics and increases the tension.

Strands is an album whose sound is sometimes reminiscent of freer jazz recordings from earlier times, of Enrico Rava and Jack DeJohnette for example, percussive and plucked. And sometimes reminiscent of a recording of a jam session in the practice room, where musicians let their souls run free because nobody is watching. Although - someone was watching here. An entire orchestra audience filled the auditorium of the DR Koncerthuset, the concert hall of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. This is where the album was recorded by ECM in February 2023.

The pieces performed by Palle Mikkelborg's trio were not written by him, but by Jakob Bro. For their concert at the Konzerthaus, the musicians drew on the two albums Returnings and Gefion, preserving their floating substance and yet immersing them in completely different sound colours with ever new ideas.

Strands (Live at the Danish Radio Concert Hall) is certainly one of the quietest and at the same time most exciting albums that this year will offer and embodies a sound journey that should not be missed. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Palle Mikkelborg, trumpet, flugelhorn

Jakob Bro, guitar

Marilyn Mazur, percussion