Live Review: Reykjavík Jazz Festival 2024 (Part Two)

The Icelandic jazz saga continues. If this first three nights of this fabulous festival featured mostly local names, the final two evenings  of the 34^th edition of the annual festival held in the Icelandic capital turned the spotlight on more international names.

The first of these was pianist Sunnu Gunnlaugsdóttir, perhaps the best-known Icelandic jazz musician, and more familiar to international listeners as Sunna Gunnlaugs. Originally she was billed as performing with German trumpeter Heidi Bayer, who was sadly unable to attend; a last minute  revamp of the set was called for, and Bayer was replaced by singer Marína Osk, who’d performed so beautifully a couple of nights before with the ES Sextett. The enforced change of direction didn’t affect Gunnlaugs (or her rhythm section, bassist Nico Moreaux and husband/drummer Scott McLemore) – or indeed Ms Osk. The pianist presented material from her forthcoming album, and again demonstrated her fine sense of melody – she’s undoubtedly one of the finest jazz pianist-composers performing today. Moreaux is a gloriously sensuous bassist and Osk’s charisma, stagecraft and ability to communicate demonstrated that singing in Icelandic need not be a barrier to comprehension or enjoyment.

A remarkable solo performance by Greek pianist Tania Giannouli followed.  A largely improvised piece – drawing from her previous work and adding in new elements – clocking in at just under an hour, it was as visually arresting as it was musically mesmerising. Playing inside her piano almost as much as she did on its keys, she flirted with the avant-garde and serial music, but also weaving in references to her classical training and Greek folklore. She (literally) plays inside her instrument rather than just on it, seemingly testing the limits of what it – and she – could do. Alternately dreamlike and strident, her show was a highlight of a festival full of highlights, and her forthcoming concert at the Wigmore Hall as part of the EJF London Jazz Festival will surely be one of the highlights of the UK jazz year.

Silva & Steini (singer Silva Þóðardóttir and keyboardist-vocalist Steingrímur Teague) are a popular Icelandic duo who, backed by drummer Magnús Trygvason Eliasson, bassist Andri Ólafsson and Jóel Pálsson on tenor sax and bass clarinet, woved the crowd with a set of breathy standards, including cutely-arranged versions of ‘You Only Live Twice’ and ‘Inchworm’.

This year is the centenary of Sarah Vaughan’s birth, and the great singer’s legacy was well-served by the team of renowned Icelandic vocalist Kristjana Stefáns and the Jakob Frandsen Trio (led by Danish guitarist Frandsen, and including Jens Loh on bass and saxophonist Michael Erian). The audience loved this smoothly shimmering performance, with its displays of crowd-pleasing instrumental virtuosity and some outstandingly sensitive singing, nowhere more so than on a heart-stopping ‘Misty’. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to enjoy it.

And so to the final night. Following a hard-hitting daytime set by local jazz-rockers Gammar, the proceedings at the Harpa concert hall kicked off with tenor saxophonist-composer Túmi Árnasson and ‘Sólverk’, his piece for 15 improvising musicians. A jagged, fierce and thunderous piece full of rhythmic intensity, ‘Sólverk’ reminded me a little of the late, much-missed composer Steve Martland at his most strident. As much  performance art or  sound sculpture as a piece of music, it was a compelling audio-visual experience, with musicians playing all manner of strange instruments and positioning themselves away from the stage to create an immersive, 360-degree sound. This was serious music with a sense of fun, possibly the kind of thing only an Icelander could come up with.

The Arnold Ludvig Quintet, led by the Faroese bassist, provided meaty, high-octane groove-jazz, Ludvig’s electric bass providing drive and momentum and Kjartan Valdemarsson’s piano adding a mixture of swing and angularity to proceedings. Bassist and bandleader Sigmar Þór Matthíasson used the festival to launch his new album Uneven Equator (available now via Bandcamp), a compelling mix of jazz and Near/Mid-Eastern textures (most notably from Ásgeir Ásgeirsson’s oud).

Earlier in the year, Reykjavík festival director Pétur Oddbergur Heimisson saw the Shuteen Erdenebataar Quartet’s showcase gig at Jazzahead! in Germany. On the strength of that performance, he booked the group as headliners for this festival. His faith was amply repaid with a stunning performance from the band: Mongolian-born pianist and composer Shuteen Erdenebataar; bassist Nils Kugelmann; drummer Sebastien Wolfgruber; and new member (he joined in June), the alto sax and recorder virtuoso Jakob Manz.  

What’s so striking and attractive about Shuteen’s group is their incredible energy, they’re a jazz force of nature; but the energy is like a controlled nuclear chain reaction, never falling into chaos or empty virtuosity. Her compositions demonstrate an acute sense of melody and structure, and are elevated by the clarity and assertiveness of her playing. Full of youthful vigour and intensity, as exemplified by the versions of  ‘In A Time Warp’ and ‘Rising Sun’ played tonight, they sound quite unlike anyone else. On ‘An Answer From the Distant Hill’  Shuteen unselfishly stepped back to allow her band to shine, with a drum-bass battle royal and a stunning recorder solo from Manz. On new tune ‘Page Number 7671’ she marshalled flurries of notes to tell a compelling musical story and the closing ‘I’m Glad I Got To Know You’  was a beautiful, tender ballad leavened with crystalline energy: beauty without sentiment. At the end of their allotted hour, the band received a standing ovation – and it was well-deserved.

And with that, it was over for another year: great music, new discoveries, and a warm welcome. What could be better? See you next year, Reykjavík!

Part One of this review is at: https://www.jazzwise.com/review/article/live-review-reykjavik-jazz-festival-2024-part-one