Mechanical Fair Live - Ola Kvernberg (2019)
My original playlist had the 2014 Mechanical Fair album on it. In looking for a streamed version that won’t make you get a Spotify account, I found that Kvernberg seems to have completely replaced it with this updated 2016 live recording from the Molde Jazz Festival in Norway. So I switched to that one.
It’s been a while since I listened to the original so I don’t pick up what differences there are between the two recordings. But I really like the smooth interplay between jazz and modern composition that we get here. The group is a string quintet, plus drums and guitars, plus Kvernberg on viola and violin. The group plays with an exactness and coordination that you might not expect from something tagged “jazz,” but the sound is unmistakably jazzy.
There’s a wonderful lyricism to the playing; it feels like a conversation among the various instruments. The moods are sometimes light, sometimes spooky, but always beautiful.
