European pianist/composer Lars Winther’s piano trio has been selected by the Danish Jazzfoundation for their "Young Jazz Comets" competition several times. The group has played throughout Denmark and at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. Winther himself received a Bachelor of Musicology degree from the University of Copenhagen. Recorded in December of 2006 at DKDM, Copenhagen, Nordic By Nature, a collection of all original music and the trios second CD, contains 14 selections along with a DVD of recordings from the recording session.
Winther’s trio incorporates elements of the introspective jazz currently popular on the European continent and best displayed on ECM recordings, along with free and traditional jazz. This recording by the ensemble is a bit uneven. At times the ensemble is very strong, but they seem to run up against themselves at other times. On the plus side is "Morgan," where Winther’s pianistic flourishes combine well with Jesper Thorn’s tranquil bass work. Victor Dybbroe’s set playing is loose yet intricately related to the music going on around him. The members’ interplay is fluid and their musical movement elegantly graceful. "Rise Of Fall," perhaps the best track on the CD, is a nice impressionistic jaunt. The group really clicks on all cylinders, with Thorn’s bass lines gently prodding Winther forward into a series of nicely phrased sequences and repetitions. Dybbroe’s set work nicely seeks to illuminate but not overshadow the proceedings.
This group also handles extra-musical elements well. On "Tusmorke" Winther’s prepared piano and synths contrast nicely with Thorn’s effects. The overall style is a complimentary meeting between the electronics of now and the jazz of then with the result being a wonderful symbiosis. Misses include "Out Of Nowhere."
The ensemble seems to lose their place with unintentionally different tonalities occurring simultaneously. As the piano solo progresses time, as a construct of meter, also gets blurred beyond the established concept as set out at the beginning of the piece, with the end result feeling more than incomplete. There is much to admire in this group, but they have a bit of developing yet to do.
