Ingar Zach - Ivar Grydeland: Visiting Ants

Glenn Astarita

Senior Contributor since 1997

Longtime contributor to AAJ and Downbeat, Jazz Review, EjazzNews, Radio DirectX.

Recent articles (1,629 total)

Published: December 1, 2001

Norwegian improvising musicians drummer Ingar Zach and electric guitarist Ivar Grydeland engage in some acerbic, scrappy dialogue throughout these free-style exchanges. Here, the music expands and contracts amid the duo's abundance of abbreviated motifs. With "Sofamiliar," the drummer conjures up steely-edged sounds via his arsenal of cymbals, while on "First Visit," the guitarist's discordant phraseology complements Zach's polyrhythmic blitz. Grydeland also pursues a series of diametrically opposed angles, largely due to intermittent injections of succinctly stated chord developments, windswept EFX sounds, and clipped themes.

Overall this team explores a variety of abstract concepts as they manage to drift off into separately devised excursions while also delving into odd-metered rhythmic structures and atonal diatribes. However, the duo frequently executes a few steamy, bump and grind type episodes atop some of the controlled chaos and subliminal complexities. Essentially, the musicians generate a good deal of interest on this compactly organized set.

SOFA

Track Listing: 1.sofamiliar 2.first visit 3.sofasticated lady 4.fiskum drisk 5.hakavik loek 6.think happy sofanatic 7

Personnel: Ingar Zach: drums, percussion

Record Label: SOFA
Style: Modern Jazz