FunkFreak75 A 21-year old Norwegian guitarist bursts onto the world scene with some highly experimental "future" jazz in which he fuses together multiple genres of jazz and rock (with shocking facility) into tightly-designed compositions that profess a maturity and musical understanding far beyond his years. Recorded in three days during early October, its release date is somewhat controversial: either late in 1968 or early 1969.

1. "Dead Man´s Tale" (7:03) Hawai'in guitar over Hammond organ and blues band (with loud kick drum) over which Terje sings in a very lovely emotional voice. Total blues. Beautiful interplay between the Hammond and Terje's voice, guitar, and flute. Christian Reim's Hammond play is actually good even if his instrument is recorded a little dirty. (14/15)

2. "Wes" (4:15) big band horns with Terje's chameleonic guitar. The rhythm section sets up a couple of excellent swing patterns that they smoothly from, back and forth, over the course of the album. Great song with great solo performances from Wes and saxophonist Jan Garbarek. At times Terje's guitar sounds Wes Montgomery-like, at others less so. (9.25/10)

3. "Winter Serenade" (6:04) imitation wolf sounds with delicate piano tinkling and percussives open this before the piano takes over. Guitar sneakily joins in during the first half of the second minute with a lot of wobbling sounds--single string and whole fretboard. Horns and drums add a variety of wind-like bursts and gusts as the storm arrives and its intensity increases, varies, and wavers. Ingenious orchestration of musical instruments to achieve such a mirroring "reproduction" of Mother Nature. (9/10): - a) Falling Snow - b) Snow Storm - c) Melting Snow

4. "Bleak House" (7:05) this one starts out soft and slow, sounding very Sixties, but then the loud big band horns join in and the song becomes something totally different--even transforming the guitarist right before our ears. It's part Larry CORYELL, part DON ELLIS ORCHESTRA! The bass, drums, guitar, and saxophone performances are all excellent but it's those horns that carry this one over the top! An excellent, lively, and very melodic song. (14.25/15)

5. "Sonority" (5:21) a song of stunning emotion and tenderness--even from the horns! Terje's electric guitar expresses a feeling of such depth, pain and beauty as to evoke tears. I've only heard Roy Buchanan do it as well! The best song on a great album and one of the prettiest jazz songs I've ever heard. (10/10)

6. "A Feeling Of Harmony" (2:29) acoustic guitar, flute, and wordless voice scatting from the artist alone. Feels sounds like an intimate moment from Maestro John Martyn. (9.5/10)

Total time 33:05

A/five stars; a shocking revelation of masterful jazz-rock fusion; a remarkable achievement of music for 1967-68--with some breathtakingly beautiful music. One of the finest and most unforgettable musical listening experiences I've ever had the privilege of experiencing.

Sean Trane Those of you who know Rypdal’s usual works will be in for quite surprise with this debut album, Bleak House released in early 69 on the Polydor label, and it is quite different to his later works with the ECM label. Indeed, this album’s line-up is mostly made from local Norwegian musicians (although I detect a few Danish or German names), of which only Garbarek and Terje are the familiar names to an international crowd. You’ll also find some excellent (and rather unusual for jazz) Hammond organ, some vocals, and a fairly large horn section, used somewhat sparingly. Rather strange when you know Terje’s late-70’s albums, right?

The opening 7-mins Dead Man Tale is a mid-tempo blues loaded with Hammond’s organ, Terje’s lungs both belting out a soft vocal and an enchanting flute. He 4-mins Wes is more of a big band affair, with some massive horn section sounds, a Reinhardt-ian guitar and some enthralling rhythms. The three-parts Winter Serenade is in contrast a very different affair, so quiet in its Falling Snow movement, with only Terje’s guitar and Reim’s piano. When Garbarek and Neumann’s saxophones enter the piece, chaos and mayhem appear, indeed hinting at the Snow Storm movement. The suite ends calmly as the Snow Melts gently with Reim’s piano. Great stuff.

On the flipside, the 7-mins title track is an absolutely amazing mid-tempo big band piece, starting gently with the horn section providing great answers to Rypdal wild but restrained electric guitar. It’s not long before the horns take up the whole back space, before Terje’s guitar goes for some heroics, never too strident, leaving some space for Garbrek’s dramatic sax solo, and then taking football all the way down the rest of the track to the end zone for an amazing touchdown. Fantastic stuff, even if you wished some slight chord changes in the brass arrangements. The soft big-band Sonority is a slow-paced gentle track, where Rypdal’s sleepy guitar weeps gently from you speakers. Closing the album, Terje scats gently A Feeling Of Harmony all alone, his acoustic guitar, his sole voice and his gentle flute.

A little short for an album, this generally overlooked effort is one of Terje’s less representative albums, but it doesn’t make it anyless essential a listen. If one day you datre your buddies with a “blind” test, you might just find Bleak House will probably fill your own house with plenty of laughter and surprise.