The Trondheim Jazz Orchestra has been a fertile breeding ground in establishing Norwegian jazz’s unique identity since the 1990s, with the likes of Sidsel Endresen and Mathias Eick among its many alumni.

Regular collaborations and recordings with international stars such as Chick Corea and Joshua Redman; as well as artists closer to home such as Marius Neset have played to the orchestra’s chameleonic spirit and the boundless energy and fun that’s an important part of their live shows (I’ve experienced a number of their gigs for myself on visits to Norway).

This new release features a commissioned piece written by the Bergen-based Swedish pianist-composer Johan Lindvall and was originally performed at the 2020 edition of the Molde International Jazz Festival.

Incorporating anything and everything from Nordic folk, alt-song and rootsy groove; through to post-Gil Evans, free ensemble jazz and inventively avant-garde Third-stream work, the orchestra's recorded projects are for the most part a more unusually introspective, subtle chamber work within its oeuvre.

Om Du Reser Mycket (translated as 'If You Travel a Lot') was originally commissioned as a ‘live’ score to a contemporary movie by filmmaker Jenny Berger Myhre, highlighting Lindvall’s interest in combining music and the moving image.

In it there’s the delicate brushstrokes of a type of contemporary soundtracking that eschews dramatic statements. Yet the general narrative arc shifts from looping of seductively mellifluous acoustic chamber-pop through to more tension-building avant-jazz ensemble work. It climaxes with a piano-grooving crescendo of free collective improv on ‘Inte Nu’ while outro ‘Slut’ slinks along with a groove that could be part of a 1980s David Bowie rock instrumental.