Marilyn Crispell / Thommy Andersson / Michala Østergaard-Nielsen

By Eyal Hareuveni

Danish drummer-composer Michala Østergaard-Nielsen has a new trio with
legendary American pianist Marilyn Crispell and Swedish double bass player
Thommy Andersson (who has played with Yusef Lateef, Paul Bley, and Kenny
Werner). The trio’s debut album, The Cave, was recorded during its first
Scandinavian tour in 2022. Østergaard-Nielsen has led the Scandinavian
supergroup Østergaard Art Quartet with Norwegian trumpeter Per Jørgensen,
Danish trumpeter Kasper Tranberg, French guitarist Marc Ducret (who was born
in Denmark), but is known for the jazz meets free-pop vocal ensembles Nuaia
and David’s Angels.

Østergaard-Nielsen found deep affinity with Crispell’s lyricism, which, in
its turn, was deeply influenced by her work with Swedish double bass player
Anders Jormin (a collaborator of Østergaard-Nielsen). Crispell described the
meeting with Jormin as a “life-changing, music-changing experience” and
recorded two albums with him (the trio album Spring Tour, with drummer
Raymond Strid, Alice Musik Produktion, 1995, and Jormin’s In Winds, In
Light (ECM, 2004). Andersson, like Jormin, has a warm, rich sound that owes
much to Swedish folk music. Østergaard-Nielsen completes the trio’s sonic
palette with poetic, serene percussive touches.

Østergaard-Nielsen cleverly employs the “lyrical quality” that Crispell
found in her meeting with Jormin and composed a set of six melodic
compositions that allow generous degrees of freedom and two free
improvisations. The Cave begins with the title piece, a hymn-like piece that
Østergaard-Nielsen describes as “a quiet tribute to life, peace, and the
silence that surrounds us”. It captures the poetic essence of the album and
suggests a delicate balance between well-crafted, contemplative, and lyrical
melody and spontaneous improvisation that evokes a rich, dream-like
landscape.

On the following pieces, Crispell, Andersson Østergaard-Nielsen continue to
weave poetic, collective sound, open and intuitive dynamics, and silence
into an organic flow, always playing with the subtle tension between
structure and freedom, and allowing a space where both can enrich each
other, and often expand into uncharted territories. Pieces like “My Spirit
Heart”, “Into the Light”, and “A Smile of a Butterfly” testify to the
profound, immersive beauty of The Cave.