JAZZ PROG
Sid Smith rounds up the best releases from prog’s jazzier reaches.
Once described as a ‘prog-jazz super trio,’ Rymden more than live up to the hype on their second album, Space Sailors (Jazzlands) . Bassist Dan Berglund, drummer Magnus Öström - both formerly with EST - and Norwegian keyboard maestro Bugge Wesseltoft apply themselves to thoughtful compositions. Each track’s deep seam of melodicism brings it variously into post-jazz quietudes, with reflective, moving cadences and stirring ascending themes. There’s plenty of grit here as well. A Led Zep, Kashmir-style stomper saws and gnaws, while the explosive Arriving At Ramajay Part 2 is a fast-moving synth wig- out that could almost be paying homage to Keith Emerson’s windmilling stabs at the pitch bend control. Rymden’s instrumental command and surging momentum make this album irresistible.