Marius Neset & London Sinfonietta - Viaduct (CD)

Release Date: 09/22/23

Gripping orchestral score with jazz core: A dramatically varied and visionary cross genre journey

On 'Viaduct' tenor/soprano saxophonist-composer Marius Neset organically integrates a wide-ranging, colourful kaleidoscope of influences with his compelling compositions/arrangements for a pair of extended suites. Originally commissioned for the opening concert of the Kongsberg Jazz Festival in 2018, Viaduct offered Neset a fantastic opportunity to reunite his regular top-notch Brit-Scandi jazz quintet with world-class 19-piece London Sinfonietta.

Viaduct Part one explodes with a scintillating fireworks display of twentieth-century art music and spiky jazz rhythms: bursts of Stravinsky-like motor rhythms interlace with Leonard Bernstein-esque urban symphonic jazz faintly echoing West Side Story. Later passages exude the romantic aspects and calmness of Neset's Nordic sensibilities filtered through his intuitive symphonic writing skillset. 'The way the piece is shaped,' he says, 'is it starts with these atonal lines played very aggressively on the strings and it continues for quite a long time before it finally resolves getting more and more harmonies into it. And that's where I feel it gives the music meaning.'

Viaduct part 2 sees Neset and his quintet play a more central role. It opens with a high-spirited bluesy fanfare reminiscent of Gershwin before the quintet bolster the excitement levels, spurred by Eger's characteristically mega-propulsive drums. Wondrous Mahler-like string passages counter acclaimed pianist Neame's imaginatively enigmatic piano that draws from the haunting exoticness of Olivier Messiaen and Bartok. There's never a dull moment as Neset draws on the inspiration of Joe Zawinul with Hart's African-inspired vibes and his sax launching into free-funk overdrive for a truly volcanic grand finale.

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