Jonas Johansen/Lars Møller/Ronan Guilfoyle: Divisions

The German philosopher Liebniz said that music is the pleasure the mind takes from counting without realising it, but even for the advanced listener Divisions will be exquisite torture. Danish drummer Jonas Johansen and his colleague, saxophonist Lars Møller, came to Dublin in 2008 to study with bassist/educator Ronan Guilfoyle, whose book on complex rhythms is a standard text among jazz musicians. Guilfoyle was so impressed with his students' progress that, two years later, he proposed a recording which, Johansen frankly admits in his liner notes, was conceived primarily as a test of their rhythmic mettle. It is a measure of their success that, though there's plenty here to keep the mind racing, there's heart as well – a gnarly alloy of groove and melody in the classic tradition of the "chordless" sax trio. jonasjohansen.dk