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Linus + Skarbø / Leroux: Linus + Skarbø / Leroux
ByOn Linus + Skarbø / Leroux, Linusthe Machtelinckx / Jillings duoworks with a pair of familiar and like-minded musicians: Frederik Leroux and Oyvind Skarbo. Like Machtelinckx, Leroux plays banjo and baritone guitar in addition to guitar. He's responsible for the electric end of the guitar spectrum on this disk. Skarbø is a drummer and keyboardist. Here, he mostly sticks to drums and percussion, though he contributes striking Hammond B-3 textures to three haunting but brief group improvisations: "Vaag," "Vlaag," and "Vraag." Jillings, the other half of the Linus duo, is a really interesting jazz-based reed player who, like Machtelinckx, is totally at ease in a perplexingly wide variety of musical settings. Together, these musicians make some truly distinctive sounds which, as stated earlier, fuse folk, modern jazz, Medieval music, and experimental rock into something new and quite appealing; something cinematic, atmospheric, tuneful and soulful. What's really amazing about Linus + Skarbø / Leroux is that this music is authentic unto itself. Despite the array of disparate influences, there's not a breath of pastiche or eclecticism.
Both Jillings and Machtelinckx contribute compositions to Linus + Skarbø / Leroux. Jillings' "Woodstock" is a pleasant ramble; a mournful bass clarinet melody framed by kitchen sink percussion over a repeating, overdubbed banjo / baritone guitar figure. "Sketch" is a formal, almost Asian-sounding, banjo duet. Machtelinckx' pieces are similarly diverse. The haunting "Down" utilizes a hypnotic minor key banjo ostinato to create a doomy, foreboding atmosphere; multiplied by relentless malleted toms and an overtone-laden bass clarinet solo. "Laboeuf" is almost the complete opposite: a warm and gentle ballad with Jillings' husky tenor out front. Skarbø's drums cut in at the two-minute mark as the tune takes on the bucolic feel of a great lost Bill Frisell composition from his ECM days. A baritone guitar / guitar duet forms the core of "Finco," as Skarbø's brushes push the pace ever so slightly for Jillings' lush tenor. Is he improvising or playing a written melody? It's so beautiful that it hardly matters. And really, that's what this album is all about. Yet there's more to this tune; a cathartic electric guitar cuts across like a comet and eventually revisits the tenor saxophone melody, bringing some resolution.
If jazz is truly the "sound of surprise," then Linus + Skarbø / Leroux is the very definition of jazz. Surprises abound here. There's lots of improvisation, too. Yet, so much of this attractive, vibrant music seems rooted in the "other." This is not jazz-as-we-know-it. But it is profoundly fascinating.
Track Listing
Vaag; Down; Finco; Porch; Vlaag; Woodstock; LaBoeuf; Sketch; Vraag.
Personnel
Ruben Machtelinckx: banjo, guitar, acoustic baritone guitar; Thomas Jillings: tenor & C-melody saxophone, alto clarinet, synthesizers: Frederik Leroux: banjo, guitar, baritone guitar; Øyvind Skarbø: drums, percussion, Hammond organ.
Album information
Title: Linus + Skarbø / Leroux | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: El Negocito Records
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