Fredrik Lundin Quintet featuring Paul Bley, recorded 1990 (Stunt records STUCD and STULP 19002)
1. Tropisms
2. Pieces Part 1
3. Pieces Part 2
4. Pieces Part 3
5. Duet No. 2 (parts 1-3)
6. El Sueño
7. Duet no. 1
8. Solo Introduction
9. Pieces Part 4
10. Pieces Part 5
Music composed and arranged by Lundin (lyrics to “El Sueño”by Væring)
Lundin - saxophones
Joakim Milder – tenor saxophone
Paul Bley – piano
Christian Spering – bass
Ole Rømer – drums
Trine-Lise Væring – vocal
Bent Clausen – vibraphone
In 1990 the JazzPar Prize were awarded for the first time (to Muhal Richard Abrams), and piano player Thomas Clausen and I were each asked to form a group with an international soloist of our own choice, to perform at the concerts alongside the Danish Radio Big Band with the prize winner.
I chose Paul Bley, whose playing I had admired for years (and still do) for it’s extraordinarily melodic qualities.
Joakim I had collaborated with on one other occasion, and his very personal playing were a great inspiration for me. We later formed a quartet with Rømer and Palle Danielsson.
For this recording I wrote a kind of suite, “Pieces”, not like the ones on my to former releases, but rather 5 songs in a row, one for each member of the band. As Paul Bley was in the band, and I was very influenced by the music of Ornette Coleman, its only natural, that the music sounds so Coleman-ish as it does. Solos are harmonically free.
I think that there’s a lot of good music on this album, but have a hard time disregarding my own playing, which I can hear is somewhat strained, due to the fact that the collaboration with Bley was anything but easy and relaxed. In fact I felt very close to developing an ulcer over this project. Bley turned out to be rather undependable, to put it mildly, and we never knew what to expect from him, musically or otherwise. This was on every level a very educational experience for me, and not only bad, though it felt like that at the time.