Mads la Cour's Almugi: Hule
WhyPlayJazz

A few preliminary facts about Mads la Cour and his Almugi outfit: all four members—the leader (cornet, flugelhorn), Lars Greve (clarinets, tenor sax), Mariusz Prasniewski (double bass), and Kasper Tom Christiansen (drums)—hail from the Danish island of Fünen, all are in their late thirties, and all since 2015 have made Almugi—an ancient Scandinavian word meaning “free men of the Kingdom who possess the quality of goodnes—their focal point. Recorded in May 2017, Hule features nine pieces composed by the leader, three of them numeric variations of “Immer Schön” (in English, “Always Nice” or “Always Good”).

One of the major things distancing Almugi from other jazz quartets is the front-line of cornet and clarinet, which makes for a distinctive group identity. No muddiness is present in the mix, and consequently all four instruments are clearly defined. The music benefits greatly from such clarity, as shown during “Terminus” (its title refers to a jazz club in France), for example, which features Prasniewski and Greve grounding the composition with unison statements while la Cour and Christiansen play more freely.

The front-line instruments might be a little different—cornet and clarinet vs. pocket trumpet and alto sax—but on this release la Cour's music sometimes suggests parallels to the classic Ornette Coleman quartet featuring Cherry, Haden, and Blackwell. Like Ornette's, many of la Cour's tunes are both slippery and melodically enticing, and Almugi executes the material with an elasticity that, especially during the faster passages (see “Gammelton”), is remarkable. During “Immer Schön #2,” the combination of the free-floating rhythm backing and Greve's mournful wail even starts to sound a bit like “Lonely Woman.”

If “Støjland Møgland” seems especially aggressive, its tone might reflect la Cour's feelings about Inger Støjberg, the Danish Minister for Immigration, Integration, and Housing. Less wild by comparison, the title track stands out for both its funk-inflected swing and its trilling melodies, whereas the leader's cleverness as a composer is captured in a representative piece such as “Bølgebop, Bølgebop.”

Though Almugi is an all-acoustic quartet, it isn't a ‘60s throwback but most definitely a contemporary jazz outfit that draws from multiple traditions, free jazz, bop, and folk among them. The playing's sometimes rough-edged and fiery, but the group can also play with delicacy and nuance when necessary. An effective balance is struck between formal composition and improvisation in these oft-episodic pieces, with the members effecting transitions between notated sections and solos with agility. On Hule, Almugi repeatedly shows itself to be an exceptionaly nimble unit.

June 2018