Angles

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photo by Francesca Patella

Magnus Broo – trumpet
Eirik Hegdal – baritone + sopranino sax
Mats Äleklint – trombone
Martin Küchen – altsax, leader
Johan Berthling – bass
Alexander Zethson – piano
Mattias Ståhl – vibraphone
Konrad Agnas– drums

Slowly growing from Angles 6 in 2007 to Angles 9 in 2012, and culminating in a 12-piece ensemble in 2022, the Swedish band is now simply called Angles
The line-up can be flexible, depending on occasion and availability.
Whatever the size, the concerts of the group are always very exciting, moving and powerful.  “A punch in the stomach”, as Guy Peters put it.
The music is strong, cohesive and simple, performed by sophisticated players who can make any table turn. Any musical idea can come into full force in a fraction of a second. Everything is there: pathos, playfulness, energy and a certain kind of bliss, strong and emotional, that hits the audience every time. 
 
The compositions by Martin Küchen are drawn from all kinds of influences: a memory of a certain instrument played during childhood; modern, lively jazz like Chris McGregor’s “Brotherhood of Breath”, Carla Bley, Charles Mingus and Lars Gullin; Balkan party music; Swedish folk music; watching female dancers in West Africa turning the world upside down. The compositions, however, are very distinctive throughout.

 

In 2022 Angles recorded an opera, written by Martin Küchen.
The Death of Kalypso is a jazz opera for our times — an archaic pantheon reflecting a self-indulgent hyper modern humanity. Roles and sides change constantly, in a condensed and atmospheric libretto. The music vibrates through past and present, through brass and reeds, piano and vibraphone, strings, percussion and a solitary voice. The crystal clear vocals of Elle-Kari Sander are the obvious centre of the opera. Together with the jazz octet Angles and four brilliant string musicians, they evoke pure magic. An electrified presence pervades the opera as a bulwark against the future.

Voice: Elle-Kari Sander
Strings: Anna Lindal violin, Eva Lindal violin/viola, My Hellgren cello, Brusk Zanganeh violin
Angles: Magnus Broo trumpet, Mats Äleklint trombone, Johan Berthling double bass, Konrad Agnas drums, Mattias Ståhl vibraphone, Alexander Zethson piano and synt, Fredrik Ljungkvist/Eirik Hegdal baritone sax/clarinet, Martin Küchen tenor sax /soprano sax.

Composition & arrangements:  Martin Küchen
Libretto: Martin Küchen
String- and wind arrangements/composition: Alexander Zethson

Listen 

“Martin Küchen and his cohorts present us with big band music that frames grand and expansive moments within minimalist and quite improvisational borders. It is exhilarating, shiver-inducing music, but with a contemplative and spiritual thread passing through it.” – Antonio Poscic, Freejazzblog (Injuries)

“Angles 9 come at you as a boisterous, mini big band, with poignant melodies, similarly captivating rhythms and deceptively unruly music that mines the tension between sorrow and joy, with winning results.” (NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll)

“This was no less then a triumph. An exciting party of exaltation and color, an emotional roller coaster, a punch in the stomach. You don’t get them often as complete as this. Angles is the band of the moment that cannot be beaten.” (Guy Peters)

Discography:
Every woman is a tree (2008) Clean Feed Records 
Epileptical West (2010) Clean Feed Records 
By Way of Deception (2012) Clean Feed Records 
Injuries (2014) Clean Feed Records 
Equality & Death (vinyl single) (2016) Omlott Records 
Disappeared Behind the Sun (2017) Clean Feed Records 
Beyond Us (2019) Clean Feed Records 
Today is Better than Tomorrow (2020) Underflow Records 
A Muted Reality (2022) Clean Feed Records

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