Stefan Pasborg/Carsten Dahl: Live at SMK

Like many of his European contemporaries, Danish drummer Stefan Pasborg refuses to confine himself to any one part of the musical forest. His day job with the rabble-rousing Ibrahim Electric trio is all about the grooves, while his own horns and drums ensemble Odessa 5 bridges nearly a century of jazz – from traditional New Orleans to downtown New York.

Here Pasborg is in a spontaneous duo with pianist Carsten Dahl, recorded live at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. Dahl's forcefully rhythmic playing make it, at times, almost a percussion duet, veering between improvised grooves and semi-abstraction. But there are moments of lyricism, not least the concluding standard, Blame It On My Youth, which gives this hard-edged set the softest of landings.

[ ilkmusic.com ]