Taking Turns in Bloomington, MN

Danish guitarist
Jakob Bro
leads an all-star ensemble, including guitarist
Bill Frisell
and the late legendary alto saxophonist
Lee Konitz
, on
Taking Turns
. Recorded by
ECM
founder
Manfred Eicher
in 2014, the album was one of
Bro
's first sessions for the label, but it was set aside in favor of releasing his 2015 trio debut for
,
Gefion
. Here,
is joined by the aforementioned
Konitz
, who passed away in 2020, which marks this as one of his last recordings. Along with
Frisell
's band is rounded out by bassist
Thomas Morgan
, pianist
Jason Moran
, and drummer
Andrew Cyrille
. Conceptually, the record works as a continuation of the Nordic Council Music Prize-nominated trilogy of albums
recorded in the 2010s with
and
--
Balladeering
Time
, and
December Song
-- the latter of which also featured
Morgan
. Along with
, if there is a secondary connective thread running through the album it is the memory of
Paul Motian
, the daring and influential drummer who died in 2011. Each of the musicians on
either played with or had a creative connection to
Motian
; one of
's early appearances on record was as a member of
's band on 2006's
Garden of Eden
. In that sense, while
composed all of the songs on
, it is less of a solo showcase and more of a warm, deeply interactive group collaboration. These are spare, hypnotic songs, but ones that are punctuated by moments of bright harmonic colorations.
are particularly compatible, their lines often intertwining against each other like wind chimes in a soft breeze. Similarly,
Moran
Cyrille
offer their own textural undercurrents, as hushed piano chords shimmering against brushed cymbals and woody bass grooves. At the center of their sun-dappled interplay is
, whose dusky, bittersweet alto lines have, as with all of
, the quality of sunlight breaking through clouds after a storm. ~ Matt Collar