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Kristoffer Berre Alberts
Cortex: Legal Tender
by Mark Corroto
The Norwegian quartet Cortex answers the question, what would have happened if the Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis, had advanced the jazz canon instead of looking backwards for inspiration. Remember when the two young lions burst onto the scene in the 1980s with their self-righteous mission to save jazz? They did so by stuffing it, much like a taxidermist, to preserve an endangered species. Their neocon approach actually can make us grateful for bands like Cortex with their inclinations to ...
read moreSteve Noble / Kristoffer Berre Alberts: Coldest Second Yesterday
by John Sharpe
Saxophone/drum duets tend to bring out the devil in people. Norwegian reedman Kristoffer Berre Alberts' approach might come as a surprise for those familiar with him only through his work with bands such as Snik and Cortex. Here he explores the edges to the exclusion of almost all else, with barely a conventional pitch among the false fingering and overblowing. But his companion Steve Noble is one of the most rhythmic of European free drummers and his presence ensures that ...
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