Nordic Connect's Ingrid Jensen, Maggi Olin and Christine Jensen

Last night, Nordic Connect played a set of originals from their 2007 release, Flurry (ArtistShare)—a collection of compositions inspired by a common heritage.

A reminder of the ability of jazz music to cross borders, Nordic Connect is comprised of sisters Ingrid (trumpet) and Christine Jensen (saxophone)—who are of Danish descent, pianist/composer Maggi Olin and bassist Mattias Welin—both from Sweden and New York-based drummer Jon Wikan—who is of Norwegian heritage (and Ingrid’s husband). Finding time to rehearse is a difficult task, but they came prepared.

The first thing that struck me compared to the other shows at Gesù, was the tight setup on stage. It’s not clear to me whether the proximity of musicians significantly changes the quality of music, but in this case it certainly reflected a sense of intimacy that extended to the audience.

The compositions dabbled in atmospherics, grooves, folklore and cerebral solos infused with emotion.

From the first composition of the set, Olin’s “Flurry,” the contrasting sensibilities of the Jensen sisters was hard to ignore. Christine came out of the gate a little hesitant, a little too quiet, listening carefully to the surrounding sounds while Ingrid’s trumpet sound was strong, confident and a little too loud, but it didn’t take long for Christine to get comfortable and for the sisters to reach a state of equilibrium. They complemented each other nicely.

The rhythm section (including Olin) was an undercurrent of subtlety: solid and unobtrusive. It was nice to hear an old-fashioned, fat (or, if you prefer, ‘phat’), woody sound coming from the bass. Welin’s bass solo combined with Wikan’s imaginative cymbal work on the doleful “Ballad North,” was a nice addition to a predominantly high-energy set.

Highlights included the odd-metered groove laid down on Christine’s “Castle Mountain”—great vibe and energy; and the final tune of the set, “At Sea,” composed by Ingrid—a composition full of surprises, satisfying changes in direction and a wicked solo by Christine.

When Nordic Connect walked out on stage, I wasn’t sure what to make of Ingrid’s bare feet. Maybe she’s more comfortable, I thought, maybe she feels grounded…it is hot outside. Then it all made sense. At least four of the six compositions featured live sound processing, from trumpet echoes and drones that functioned as a pedal note to the sampled loops of Ingrid’s breath sounds. Ingrid’s nimble toes darted from gadget to gadget creating a key ingredient to the sound of Nordic Connect.

In his observations of the show over at the Words & Music blog, Montreal Gazette reporter, Irwin Block, mentions that Ingrid “…spent a little too much time fiddling with a sampler.” Maybe a little distracting, but the same can be said of an expressive drummer cranking out rhythms (Brian Blade comes to mind) or the fiddling required to coax the desired sound from a Hammond B-3 or a Rhodes piano. Besides, without the fiddling, the music wouldn’t “… [recall] the sea and the silences and the big skies of West-Coast Canada and Scandinavia, with its positive outlook, muted joys” as well as it did.