High Res Audio
*****
What happens when you move to a quiet landscape like Mols in Denmark, sit in an old circus wagon, have a handwritten booklet of old melodies by a local folk musician in front of you, look out the window, and start playing the melodies on the flugelhorn? If your name is Jakob Buchanan, this scenario evolves into an album simply titled *Mols*.
The full title of the album is Mols: The Mols Booklet of Melodies, and the inspiring folk musician is the fiddler Peter Madsen. As mentioned, Buchanan began playing Madsen’s melodies on the flugelhorn, and then it happened—
The impression of the landscape, the sound of the melodies, and perhaps the trumpeter’s jazz genes began to transform the music, which is why Buchanan captured it—as a symphonic composition and homage to the landscape and folk music of Mols.
The world premiere took place just under a year ago, in the church at Tved, less than 2 km from the circus wagon. To accompany him, Buchanan enlisted tenor saxophonist Chris Speed, bassist Anders Jormin, pianist Simon Toldam, and the Atrus Quartet, consisting of Tue Lautrup and Sarah Lucy Folgadar (violin), Sanna Ripatti (viola), and Brian Friisholm (cello). The audience heard evocative music:
Suite Dark Ness, which brings to life the dark season in the barren landscape and the comfort provided by the lights of neighboring houses full of friends. The Yellow Cottage House, a pure string quartet that imagines the atmosphere inside a house in the neighborhood. The Young Goode Maiden, a character piece that is partly playful, partly moving. Isles Head, a landscape portrait in varied weather. The album is a journey of discovery.
Some melodies are pure jazz, some are bluesy, while others momentarily evoke composers like Eisler and Weill. There are delicate string quartet passages, echoes of folk music, and repeated moments of contemplation and silence.
The result is a very sensitive, gentle album, whose music is only partly based on melodies by Peter Madsen that Buchanan drew upon as inspiration, alongside locations around Tved.
All 13 tracks are unhurried, elegant compositions whose voices intertwine—sometimes in unison, sometimes in dialogue—leaving plenty of room for the virtuosity of the various soloists.
A delightful sonic journey to Denmark. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)
Jakob Buchanan, flugelhorn, Chris Speed, tenor saxophone, clarinet, Anders Jormin, double bass
Simon Toldam, piano

https://www.highresaudio.com/en/content/jakob-buchanan-mols-the-mols-booklet-of-melodies