Album review: Kathrine Windfeld - Salt Sea Atlas (Stunt Records)

Kathrine Windfeld (piano, leader, composer); André Bak, Tomasz Dąbrowski, Rolf Thofte, Jakob Sørenson (trumpet, flugel); Peter Dahlgren, Anders Larson, Tobias Stavhgaard (trombone); Annette Saxe (bass trombone); Kasper Wagner, Magnus Thuelund (alto sax, flute); Karl Martin Almquist (tenor sax, clarinet); Hans Bennich (soprano sax); Casper Hejlesen (guitar); Johannes Vaht (double bass); Henrik Holst Hansen (drums)

Windfeld has been leading various sized bands for 15 years and BSH has reviewed two of her albums in the past nine years: Latency in June 2017 and Orca in November 2020  Both went down favourably with this reviewer and this one looks promising too.

Eight Windfeld compositions spread over different line-ups: 17 piece big band, 11 piece ensemble, septet and quintet making for a wide range of possibilities.

Svendborg Silhouette: A richly textured opus that could be as much at home on Classic FM as on Jazz FM. Jakob Sørenson plays a will o' the wisp flugel solo that adds to the fragility of the piece.

Lakeside Lament: Another cerebral exploration, this time by the quintet. Windfeld's piano is delicately featured. Almquist's tenor and Hejlesen's guitar can be distantly heard. 

Going Feral: A dissonant opening leads into the jazziest moments so far with a gripping trumpet solo, some alto before the eleventette (my word) build up to a powerful, complex ensemble. Superb scoring - just as those other Danes did against Portugal last night!   

River of Haikus: The septet explore another harmonic gem with Bennich's soprano sax swooping and soaring like a River Warbler singing for its supper.

Concrete Ballerina: An atmospheric orchestral piece for the big band. Dąbrowski's wistful trumpet captures the motionless dancer with his plaintive sound.

Secrets of the Permafrost: Described as 'sparse and unsettling' it certainly is that. The septet meander around the landscape - it's cold rather than cool. It's chilling.

Immortal Horseman: A three-piece suite that, at times, touches on contemporary big band music as I know it - at times.

Time and Tide: Back to the quintet. Almquist's gentle and relaxed tenor, Windfeld's piano, romantic and reflective, Hejlesen adding to ethereal mood and all held together by Vaht's bass bring this interesting and absorbing album to a close.

Windfeld's compositions and her arrangements are works of the highest order and yet, for me, it doesn't quite have the pizazz that I look for in bands large or small. Nevertheless, others will, I know, disagree. Check it out in time for its Nov. 27 release. Lance