Personnel:
Kevin Brow (d), Lotte Anker (ss, as), Jacob Anderskov (p), Jeppe Skovbakke (b)
Reference: FSNT-384
Bar code: 8427328423847
Fire Sink is the second album by Koptor. Koptor performs original music written by the young and on the rise Canadian/Denmark based drummer/composer Kevin Brow. The band is a coalition of four innovative and internationally acclaimed musicians from Canada and Denmark.
Koptors first self-titled album was released in 2008 and was welcomed with exceptional reviews in Canada, Europe and USA. With Fire Sink, Brow takes Koptors music one-step further, by diving deeper into different elements of long-composition, while maintaining certain elements of rawness.
Koptors music freshly unifies detailed compositions with free invention. The music balances and fluidly blends rawness with meticulousness, ugliness with beauty and simplicity with complexity. In other words, the music is structured by the attraction of opposites.
These original and internationally recognized musicians from Canada and Denmark form a unique musical collaboration that uncompromisingly explores and blends different cultural and musical backgrounds. This collaboration gives Koptors music depth and a mysterious edge that in turn, blurs the boundaries of jazz genres and gives the listener the sense of the known, the unknown and the unexpected.
"Koptor by Canadian drummer Kevin Brow is in some ways similar to film noir at times overcast, others times bursts of vividness, flowing in music that is stylistically intriguing. But there is plenty of substance here with clarity and definition, imprinting music that incorporates detailed compositions and free invention.
Convincingly hip, thoughtfully astute, the music is the sound of modern jazz without its constraintsswing with and without the typical time signatures, unexpected solos in and out of the pocket and interlocking themes such as the New Koptor suite based upon Brows geographical music influences from New York, Copenhagen, and Toronto.
With all original material Brows music is expressed by an exceptional band, names synonymous with leadership in improvisational music: bassist Eivind Opsvik, pianist Jacob Sacks, and Rob Mosher on saxophone and English horn. Each brings something special to the table and serves up impressive performancesSacks free flight spiral on How Does Water Flow, Moshers evocative alto sax in the dramatic Jeg Gjorde Det I Forgars, or Opsviks glutinous and sinewy bass throughout each piece.
An accomplished technician, yet one with heart and fire, Brows drumming is the recordings pulse, one that oscillates within various lively patterns. With deft scissoring he provides not only the backbeat but also complex rhythms in Maske I Overmorgen. On Outer Spokes Center Hole, he navigates dual movements between straight and oblique lines as the music reinvents itself. A spotlight shines on Brows trap work on the curtain call of Kobs Mejkr, an intricate and developing drum solo that is richly detailed with several qualities while the band gradually builds upon the tunes mysterious path.
A rhythmic sweet spot can be found in Underground, a tune girded by Opsviks uncomplicated bass and Brows stealthy cadence that gives Mosher and Sacks the freedom to explore new ideas. It is that fine qualitythe ability to become like elastic glue, stretching yet holding the musicthat makes Brow a noteworthy drummer."
Mark F. Turner -All About Jazz (New York Edition)
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"Koptor is the debut recording of Canadian-born, Copenhagen-based drummer Kevin Brow. Accompanied by a group of like-minded peers, including multi-reedist Rob Mosher, pianist Jacob Sacks and ubiquitous bassist Eivind Opsvik, Brow leads his quartet through a program of modern jazz originals that ripple with emotion.
Brows nuanced writing expands in scope beyond conventional time signatures and traditional harmonies to embrace inside/outside sonorities and popular music conventions. His unadorned melodies, direct harmonies and fluctuating rhythms draw similarities to the populist writing of fellow band mates Eivind Opsvik and Jacob Sacks. Eschewing edgy post-modern aesthetics, these pieces explore a variety of subtle angles with an easygoing demeanor that avoids extremes in dynamics and genre in favor of a nuanced, highly focused approach.
The albums dozen tunes drift effortlessly from one to another, unfolding like an extended suite. Unified by an overriding melodic sensibility, the compositions veer from spry post bop (Maske I Overmorgen and Outer Spokes Center Hole) and expansive tone poems (How Does Water Flow and Jeg Gjorde Det I Forgars) to pointillist balladry (Imaginary Lines). Understated does not preclude passion however. Underground reveals a visceral side; the tune escalates from a bittersweet theme riding a languorous groove into a furious collective improvisation that climaxes with caterwauling frenzy.
The session culminates in the three part New Koptor suite, which further reinforces the albums cohesive sensibility with an excursion into subtle melodic variations and unexpected detours in tempo. Moshers plangent horn cadences and Sacks spare piano flourishes glide over Opsviks resonant bass pulses as the leader unveils an array of percolating rhythms informed by simmering funk accents and soulful rock backbeats.
An impressive debut from an up and coming artist, Koptor is deceptive in its simplicity as it reveals myriad layers during repeated listens."
Troy Collins -All About Jazz (New York Edition)
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"Koptors music combines the experimental avant-gardists passion and crooked harmonies with welcoming lyrical melodicism and a sense of a good groove."
Jakob Bækgaard -Geiger (Denmark)
"Brows tunes call to mind both of Keith Jarretts quartets, which is in some ways a dream combination, benefiting from all the gentle lyricism of the European quartet while focusing on the more propulsive drive of the American band."
-Wilbur Mackenzie -All About Jazz (New York Edition)
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Its all outside but always accessible.
-Geoff Chapman -Coda Jazz Magazine, Canada (August, 2008)
