Distilled emotion and multiple botanically benign Ginman absorptions from Monk, Miles and Bill - courtesy of long running Danish scene trio pianist Carsten Dahl, Danish-Finnish bassist Lennart Ginman and drummer Thomas Blachman who certainly know how to name a tune - how's this for size (track 4): 'Improvised Composition As a Goal for Human Behaviour'. How true. But wordy song titles that joust with the reader are OK by us - read these throughout as tongue-in-cheek. A bit of deadpan, harmless, humour goes a long way in a po-faced, harmful, world don't cha think? But the What's To Come music making deserves to be taken seriously beyond all that given its consummate sense of flow.
Dahl likes to tickle the keys as on the repeated trilling motif of 'A Troubleless Everyday'. Without being cheesy however much he skirts some licks are nevertheless something of a tease in hinting at a mannerism. Elsewhere Ginman does walking bass on a head bobbing tune called 'The Rock and Roll Swing Experience' where he sounds a bit like Milt Hinton. Judge for yourself (pun intended - to crosscheck such a claim wrap your ears around Branford Marsalis classic Trio Jeepy).
Again isn't it paradoxical when the Ginman 3 go even a little Ellingtonian but the tune is anything but - called 'Avantgarde Muzak in the Lush Palm Garden' it represents Ginman's best work anywhere on the album, his presence even hinted at in the tune title pun. Is he a NHØP for our times - and why not, the welcome thought intrudes. Certainly an enjoyable romp of modal ruminations - factoring in a Danish lilt now and then hints at an insider local angle - and semantic swishing around.
The What's To Come 3, l-r: Thomas Blachman, Carsten Dahl, Lennart Ginman. Photo: cover art detail