Paal Nilssen-Love
Drummer Paal Nilssen-Love stormed the Norwegian jazz scene in the early '90s and has been working relentlessly ever since in both traditional and avant-garde jazz. It wasn't long before he jumped on the metaphorical freight train Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustaffson had established between Scandinavia and Chicago; the drummer appeared on Ken Vandermark's School Days and has enjoyed growing exposure in the U.S. since 2000. His other engagements and collaborations include trios with Frode Gjerstad, Sten Sandell, and Raoul Björkenheim, plus the group Atomic. He released his first solo CD, Sticks & Stones, in 2001.
Drummer Paal Nilssen-Love stormed the Norwegian jazz scene in the early '90s and has been working relentlessly ever since in both traditional and avant-garde jazz. It wasn't long before he jumped on the metaphorical freight train Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustaffson had established between Scandinavia and Chicago; the drummer appeared on Ken Vandermark's School Days and has enjoyed growing exposure in the U.S. since 2000. His other engagements and collaborations include trios with Frode Gjerstad, Sten Sandell, and Raoul Björkenheim, plus the group Atomic. He released his first solo CD, Sticks & Stones, in 2001.
Member of: The Quintet
Gored Gored
Terrie of The Ex collaborated with numerous people over the years to get inspiration from and absorbing all elements of all music, but continuing to being raw and unpolished. In meetings with the Norwegian hard-hitting avant-garde drummer, Paal Nilssen-Love, two souls of similar attitude meet, although from very different background. Being a jazz drummer, Nilssen-Love holds his sticks well in the improvised area of music, much more than the average jazz musicians do today.
This CD is hard …
Con-gas
Of course we know Bocian since their earliest releases, which was all on 7". Now, an impressive catalogue further, they suddenly return to this format, and make two of them. On one hand Bocian is a label for strictly improvised music and on the other hand for radical experiments in electronic music. This 7" is clearly a product of the first interest. These four pieces were recorded earlier this year in Vienna and has Nilssen-Love on congas and Gustafsson on slide and brass saxophones. This is th…
Kampen
"Sometimes there are weird coincidences. When we got new albums on our review list recently, many of them included reminiscences of the golden jazz eras in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Rob Mazurek's Pulsar Quartet sometimes sounds like the seminal Miles Davis Quintet, Sam Rivers' trio with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul brings back memories of his RivBea studio days, Michael Blake taps the great jazz-rock bands of the 70s, Joe McPhee's plays "Naima" and "Round Midnight" on two new reissues, and even…
Second Breath
Vinyl. Ken Vandermark, tenor sax, Paal Nilssen-Love, drums, Lasse Marhaug, electronics. Recorded live November 23rd 2011 at the Vortex, London UK by Mick Ritchie. Mixed by Lasse Marhaug. Fire Room, a collaborative international effort featuring wildly prolific Chicago-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Ken Vandermark. This unconventional trio features Norwegians Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Lasse Marhaug (electronics), inceptive members of Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound. Exploring similar…
Boneshaker
"Boneshaker are Mars Williams (reeds, toy instruments), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums & percussion) and Kent Kessler (bass), three prolific powerhouse musicians, carrying among them a Grammy nomination and decades of experience with the top ensembles in the world.Norwegian phenomenon Paal Nilssen-Love has established himself over the last decade as one of the most important voices in improvised music from his generation. A powerful drummer of unbounded energy, he shows an ongoing ability to br…
Chiapaneca
A great, vivid recording of some wild playing, using the entire kit, rolling about on the various skins and cymbals. Recorded at Festival El Nicho Aural by Daniel Goldaracena at Centro Cultural España Mexico D.F 12 mayo 2012Mastering and cover design by Lasse Marhaug
You're Next
I am not sure if I ever heard of Massimo Pupillo, who plays 'low end bowel chainsaw' on this record, but since a lot seems tongue in cheek here, it might also be a guitar with effects. Everything here says: we poke fun at those who play with the stereotypes of the world of industrial music. One side is called 'First Offence' and has titles as 'Necrophiliac Cunnilingus', 'Rope For The Undead' and 'Vomit Buffet', while 'Second Coming' has 'Rib Cage Of Rotting Horror', 'Broken Spine Crushed Cranium…
Letter To A Stranger
Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love are back with another amazing album. This time a studio recording, recorded in Chicago's Strobe Recording in January 2011. The album contains 10 new compositions of their characteristic soulfully groovy free jazz. Vandermark & Nilssen-Love use free improvisation as a means to explore all levels of dynamics, density, rhythm, timbre, form and tonality. The results of their work are experienced as intense, exhilarating, and boundary breaking. Raw music with brut…
Seven
Third album from Oslo's PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE & Chicago's KEN VANDERMARK who have previously worked together in SCHOOL DAYS & FME follows their 2 "Dual Pleasure" releases. While it seems barely possible, the duo have become even more groovy on this third album. Free Jazz w/roots in both the American & European traditions: warm, groovy, melodic & funky at the same time as it is raw, wild & energetic. The pure art of spontaneous music. Independent underground jazz at its very best & a free jazz master…
The Fat Is Gone
Recorded live at Molde International Jazz Festival in 2006. The meeting between the godfather of free-jazz & the innovators of the modern free-jazz scene in Scandinavia, Mats Gustafsson & Paal Nilssen-Love, resulted in this mastodon of an album. This is the European free-jazz underground at its best. A devastating, blasting, raw, ferocious sonic assault on all senses. And beautiful, painfully beautiful.
Dual Pleasure 2
Their first duo album “Dual Pleasure” was hailed as a masterpiece, and among others nominated for Norway`s Alarm Award. The sequel, Dual Pleasure 2 was recorded in the studio over two days in Oslo, while CD 2 was recorded live 2 days after the studio session at Kampen Jazz in Oslo. The result is “Dual Pleasure 2” , a complex and grroving piece of independent underground jazz. A clash between the highly influential and innovative Chicago and Scandinavian jazz scenes that started in 2000 when the …
Tomorrow Came Today
Tenor saxophonist (and occasional trumpeter) Joe McPhee has been a firebrand presence on the American and European avant-garde jazz scenes since the 1970's, while Paal Nilssen-Love is a free jazz drummer from Norway, about half McPhee's age. Yet each is perfectly in tune with the other on Tomorrow Came Today, a high-energy session of freely improvised jazz. Tomorrow Came Today is less about theme-solos-theme, and more about spontaneity, unfettered freedom, and collective interplay. It's likely t…
Sweetsweat
EXCLUSIVE! Recorded live at Sting Jazzklubb in Norway during the Maijazz Festival in 2006. The godfather of European free-jazz, Peter Brotzmann, is joined by respected Scandinavian percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love to form a musical partnership of rare & beautiful balance.