Marius Neset – ‘Cabaret’

Anyone who knows Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset for his jazz-classical crossovers is in for a surprise with Cabaret – a joyous, often boisterous album that sounds deeply inspired by eighties fusion music such as Weather Report and Michael Brecker-era Steps Ahead.

Happy (2022) hinted at this direction in having pop/soul/funk influences, and even has the same line-up of Elliot Galvin on keyboards, Magnus Hjorth piano, Conor Chaplin electric bass, and Anton Eger drums and percussion. But Cabaret goes even further, partly due to Neset playing not only soprano and tenor saxophone but also an “EWI” (electronic wind instrument), a synth controller with a saxophone-like body and keys, and a mouthpiece that’s sensitive to both breath and bite pressure.

In the right hands – and mouth – an EWI can combine the unlimited sound possibilities of a synthesiser with the expressivity of a saxophone. One of its finest exponents was Michael Brecker, as exemplified by his EWI performance of “In a Sentimental Mood” on the Steps Ahead album Magnetic (1986). The EWI fell out of fashion after the eighties, but I for one welcome its return – and Neset is a worthy successor to Brecker thanks to his virtuosity, muscular tone and musical taste.

But Cabaret has much more going on than a simple homage to earlier acts. Yes, the album has its Brecker / Steps Ahead moments such as Neset’s tenor solo on “Hyp3rsonic Cabar3t” (which starts with a Steve Reich-ish riff of overdubbed saxophones and piano); and the spirit of Weather Report, with a tungsten hardness of edge, permeates “Cabaret” and “Quantum Dance”. There’s a feel of the Pat Metheny Group when “Lizarb” starts with strummed acoustic guitar and a mouth-organ synth patch, and a moment when “Wedding in Geiranger” sounds a bit like Jan Garbarek. But then the music will race off in new directions, tossing out new ideas like quotes in a bebop solo.

But it’s not all frenetic showmanship. “Forgotten Ballet” has melancholic piano backed by keyboard synth washes (having two keyboard players really expands the tonal palette), tinkling keyboard textures and soft drumming, even hints of birdsong, before a tender soprano/piano duet backed by barely discernable cymbal splashes; and “The Ocean” starts with a deep bass synth line and long tenor-sax notes, creating a mood as mysterious as the view from a bathyscaphe’s porthole, before picking up pace with fat-toned electric bass and drumming that starts with the metronomic drive of a drum machine, building to a beseeching tenor solo, dropping back to sequencer synth and drum-and-bass style drumming, then introducing a delicately expressive soprano solo that builds towards a euphoric finish.

The closer “Wedding in Geiranger” offers another build from a quiet start (piano, cymbal splashes, drum rolls) to a triumphal ending, the procession of ideas including the sounds of church organ and chiming bells. The wedding of the title is Neset’s own, last summer. Perhaps Neset’s recent marriage goes some way to explaining the sheer joyfulness of this exhilarating album.

Release date is 28 February 2025

from https://ukjazznews.com