Home » Jazz Musicians » The Plunge Trio

The Plunge Trio

Swedish trio Plunge has been in existence since 2001. The Malmö-based trio deals with collectively improvised, acoustic music. Their music is based on interplay, presence, spontaneity and a far-reaching sense of form. Plunge has toured in Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland and the UK and has also released two trio albums on the Swedish indie-label Kopasetic Productions, "Plunge" (2004) and "Refreshingly Addictive" (2007).

Besides working as a trio, Plunge also has an ongoing collaboration with renowned Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson. The rewarding collaboration between the trio and Stenson started in the fall of 2002, and has so far resulted in numerous tours of Sweden, several national and European radio broadcasts and two CD's on Kopasetic, "Plunge with Bobo Stenson" (2005) and "Origo" (2009).

PLUNGE is:

Andreas Andersson - Saxophones

Andreas has, with his powerful sound and lyrical playing, established himself as one of Sweden's most personal saxophonists. He is active on the Swedish improv scene, as well as in the jazz community. He plays in duos with pianist Ola Hedén and renowned organ improviser Markus Wargh, and has also performed with Bobo Stenson, Marilyn Mazur and Sten Sandell among others.

Andreas has composed music for improvising big band, amateur theatre, documentary movies, and numerous tunes for smaller ensembles.

Mattias Hjorth - Double bass

Mattias's melodic and sensitive playing is featured in several groups, such as Cennet Jönsson Quartet, Loïc Dequidt Trio/Quartet and Footloose. Mattias has worked with many renowned musicians, such as Bobo Stenson, Dave Liebman, Tommy Smith, Lotte Anker, Lennart Åberg, Fredrik Ljungkvist, Lina Nyberg and Peter Danemo.

Mattias is also a highly regarded improvisation and ensemble teacher at the Malmö Music Conservatory and at Fridhem's Folkhögskola in Svalöv.

Peter Nilsson - Drums

Peter has established himself as one of the most in-demand drummers in Sweden. His varied and organic playing can be heard in many constellations, including Cennet Jönsson Quartet, Anders Nilsson's Aorta, Loïc Dequidt Trio/Quartet, lim, The Opposite, Double Standards, Ola Hedén Trio and 15,5.

He has also worked with Paul Bley, Miroslav Vituos, David Liebman, Marc Ducret, Bobo Stenson, Tony Malaby, Raoul Björkenheim, Eugene Chadbourne, Marilyn Mazur, Palle Danielsson, Lotte Anker, Sten Sandell and many others, and has toured in many European countries, as well as in Azerbajdzjan, Mexico and the US.

The Plunge Trio with Bobo Stenson: Origo

by Eyal Hareuveni
September 26, 2009

Origo is the Malmö, Sweden-based Plunge Trio's second collaboration with acclaimed fellow countryman/pianist Bobo Stenson, following Plunge with Bobo Stenson (Kopasetic Productions, 2005). This excellent trio's fourth release presents them at their best. The core group--Andreas Andersson on alto and baritone saxophones, bassist Mattias Hjorth and drummer Peter Nilsson on drums--always opts for patient, spontaneous improvisation that highlights slow development of form and structure upon fiery bursts of free playing. The collaboration with Stenson enriches both sides, and enables this ...

470

Album Review

The Plunge Trio: Origo

by Budd Kopman
April 16, 2009

Origo, a wondrous album not to be missed, is the fourth release from the Swedish trio Plunge, and the second that extends it to quartet, including the pianist and Swedish jazz elder statesmen,Bobo Stenson. While Origo stands on its own as engrossing music that captivates from its first notes, those who follow Plunge will immediately recognize it as both a document of the group's development and a synthesis of their last two albums, Refreshingly Addictive (Kopasetic, 2007) ...

307

Album Review

The Plunge Trio: Refreshingly Addictive

Read "Refreshingly Addictive" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
January 23, 2008

Recorded live in the studio in front of an audience, Refreshingly Addictive is the third release by this exceedingly intuitive group, following Plunge (Kopasetic, 2004) and Plunge With Bobo Stenson (Kopasetic, 2005). The sequence of albums shows the trio gaining confidence in themselves and each other, as they gradually strip away the extraneous, unearthing and burnishing the core of their musical personalities. The resulting music is very exciting, introducing drama into the cerebral and keeping the listener ...

232

Album Review

The Plunge Trio: Refreshingly Addictive

Read "Refreshingly Addictive" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
January 18, 2008

The third release by the Malmo, Sweded-based improv trio Plunge present a departure from the debut self-titled (2004) and Plunge with Bobo Stenson (2005), for the label and musicians collective Kopasetic Productions. This release features the trio--Andreas Andersson on baritone sax, Mattias Hjorth on bass and Peter Nilsson on drums--improvising live in front of an audience at Gula Studion in Malmö during two dates in January, 2007

The opening “Refreshingly Addictive" demonstrates the spirit of the ...

398

Album Review

Plunge: Plunge with Bobo Stenson

Read "Plunge with Bobo Stenson" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
December 30, 2005

The members of the young Swedish group Plunge scored a real coup when they got a musician of Bobo Stenson's stature to play on their second album. The collaboration began in the fall of 2002 when Plunge invited Stenson to join the band for a few concerts in Sweden, which were very successful and marked the beginning of an ongoing relationship. Since that first tour as a quartet, they have done several tours of Sweden together; one of the concerts ...

254

Album Review

The Plunge Trio: Plunge

by John Kelman
August 4, 2004

Plunge is a young Swedish trio that has been together for three years, exploring a combination of composed music and completely free improvisation. On their self-titled d'but, saxophonist Andreas Andersson, double-bassist Mattias Hjorth and drummer Peter Nilsson have chosen to expose their more extemporaneous side with a programme of nine purely spontaneous compositions. The term spontaneous composition is used with intent, because while Plunge may improvise freely, there are plenty of structural reference points that they create to give the ...

“Less reckless abandon and more considered interaction, Plunge’s nine pieces traverse a breadth of stylistic territory, yet remain for the most part lyrical and in search of common ground where the three musicians can meet.” “Plunge is truly a collective concept, with each member keenly intent on responding to the musical ideas around them.”

- John Kelman/All About Jazz (on ”Plunge”)

"This urgency is what is ultimately satisfying. The ever-present forward movement and direction end up inviting the listener, along with a hint of tonality that hovers over the proceedings. Based on this highly recommended release, we can look forward to Plunge’s continued recordings, with or without Bobo Stenson."

- John Kelman/All About Jazz (on ”Plunge”)

- Budd Kopman/All About Jazz (on ”Plunge with Bobo Stenson”)

"Malmö based Plunge has made a name for themselves on the Swedish improvisation scene over the last few years and this, their third release, is a good testimony of why. With Andreas Anderson’s near plastic baritone sax in focus, the trio springs into the unknown in seven improvisations that sound more like lyrical, minimalist compositions than traditional free jazz. Mattias Hjorth (bass) and Peter Nilsson (drums) do not make up a rhythm section in the traditional sense either. Rather, organically fused parts conspire from all three players and not only is the group's music unusually succinct and passionate, but also demonstrates that you actually can find new paths within the paradoxically rather narrow frames of free jazz."

- Magnus Nilsson/Smålandsposten (on “Refreshingly Addictive”)

“The music's attraction lies in how freedom, structure and development are balanced. While not being tonal in terms of key, or even modal, each piece does have a center of gravity defined by its phrase kernel, which is fleshed out by Stenson's pithy chordal clusters. Development feels logical while being unpredictable, as each player's contributions (both pro- and re- active) move the piece forward. Furthermore, each piece has a mood, the sum total of which puts the album on the introspective and meditative side, combined however, with an underlying intensity borne of concentration and the lack of anything extraneous. Origo seems to simply unfurl before the ears in a timeless way, paradoxically demanding attention while simultaneously ignoring it. Origo is multilayered music for immersion, creating a perfect excuse for the repeat button and hours of becoming lost in its spell. Marvelous.”

- Budd Kopman/All About Jazz (on "Origo")

Show less