Fusions of jazz and classical music go back to the advent of jazz and perhaps beyond, and efforts to mix these two genres, which proceed from entirely different cultural roots, continue with this unusual 2024 release from jazz saxophonist
Marius Neset
and classical pianist
Leif Ove Andsnes
. There are also contributions from flutist
Ingrid Neset
(sister to
Marius
) and cellist
Louisa Tuck
. The compositions are all by
Neset
. "Apart from a few improvised sax solos," state
and
Andsnes
, "all the music on
Who We Are
has been composed and is played as written. What you think is improvised is mostly written notation. What you swear is improvisation is probably also written." They say further that
is neither jazz nor classical music; it is just who they are. This is plausible, but one might equally say it is both. Jazz that is partly or entirely notated has a long history, with the elegant jazz works of the late Russian composer
Nikolai Kapustin
being just a recent example, and the players are correct in saying that whether this is jazz or classical music ultimately resides in the mind of the individual listener. Along the way are many signposts of one kind or another, such as the flexible treatments to which quotations from
Beethoven
are subjected, the varied tonal language (sample the edgy
Chaconne
(Part 1), whose time signature is an impressive 33/16, and a truly gorgeous cello melody in the
Introduction to Prague's Ballet
. The latter work was an earlier collaboration between
, who clearly have struck an interesting stand where jazz seems to bump up against classical control and, from time to time, breaks out from it. This is an album that is worth hearing multiple times, for the performers do not say exactly where the improvised passages are. The
Simax
label contributes excellent sound in Oslo that puts the focus squarely on the playing. ~ James Manheim