Om utgivelsen
Rolling Ball – med blikk mot Amerika
Siden oppstarten i 2006 har kammerjazz-trioen Ballrogg, som begynte som en duo med saksofonist og klarinettist Klaus Ellerhusen Holm (Honest John, Large Unit) og Roger Arntzen (In the Country, Chrome Hill), gitt ut fire plater og hatt omfattende turnevirksomhet i flerfoldige verdenshjørner. Nå er de aktuelle med sin femte utgivelse ”Rolling Ball” på plateselskapet Clean Feed. Dette er også deres første utgivelse med den svenske gitaristen David Stackenäs (Kim Myhr You|Me, Sol Sol), etter at han tok over gripebrettet for Ivar Grydeland, som var med i trioen frem til 2017. Musikken har tidligere blitt omtalt som “free chamber Americana” og låtmaterialet på den nyeste platen hinter tidvis tydelig mot amerikansk tradisjonsmusikk.
“Paradoxically, while the music on Rolling Ball registers as Ballrogg’s most compact and controlled endeavor thus far, it also feels its most liberated expression as well. The arrangements bring a contrapuntal splendor to these bucolic melodies, with each instrumental line woven into an exquisite lattice of meditative beauty. The astonishing fluidity is what makes the music of Ballrogg so special. The road ahead feels more open than ever, suggesting the titular notion of a ball moving forward according to gravity and landscape. Ballrogg create those conditions for momentum, but the magical quality is that it all feels like an act of nature.” Peter Margasak (liner notes, Rolling Ball 2020)
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At first, the Norwegian trio Ballrogg was a duo formed by reedist Klaus Ellerhusen Holm (Honest John, Large Unit) and double bassist Roger Arntzen (In the Country, Chrome Hill), then later expanded with guitarist Ivar Grydeland, who through two albums added a country & western flavor to the mix and placed Ballrogg’s music as “free chamber americana”. Now the sublimely versatile Swedish guitarist David Stackenäs (Kim Myhr You|Me, Sol Sol) has taken Grydeland’s place and sounds right at home on Rolling Ball.
As Peter Margasak says in the liner notes: It’s Stackenäs’s debut recording with Ballrogg, but he’s lived with the music well before joining in 2017. Over the years Stackenäs has gamely filled in, subtly incorporating his own lyric aesthetic within arrangements crafted without him. Paradoxically, while the music on Rolling Ball registers as Ballrogg’s most compact and controlled endeavour thus far, it also feels its most liberated expression as well. The arrangements bring a contrapuntal splendor to these bucolic melodies, with each instrumental line woven into an exquisite lattice of meditative beauty. The astonishing fluidity is what makes the music of Ballrogg so special. The road ahead feels more open than ever, suggesting the titular notion of a ball moving forward according to gravity and landscape. Ballrogg create those conditions for momentum, but the magical quality is that it all feels like an act of nature.”
Musikere
Klaus Ellerhusen Holm - Klarinett
David Stackenäs - Gitar
Roger Arntzen - Kontrabass
