Vinyl Vault — Terje Rypdal, “Odyssey”

Vinyl Vault features some jazz from Norway. We’ll hear a couple tracks from Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal’s 1975 album on ECM Records entitled “Odyssey.” The album features his Norwegian touring band at the time including trombone, organ, bass and drums. Besides guitar, Rypdal also played string ensemble and soprano saxophone.

Vinyl Vault is sponsored by Vinyl Me, Please

It’s a double vinyl album and has been called the Norwegian “Bitch’s Brew.” The playing wasn’t quite that intense, but there are similarities with the band laid down a groove with improvisations, sometimes rather spacy, over the top. It also has a bit of a flavor of minimalist composers Steve Reich and Phillip Glass.

When the album was reissued on compact disc many years after its initial appearance, the track “Rolling Stone” was omitted. But even at nearly 24 minutes long, this is one of the highlights of the album and we’ll hear it (at least most of it) this week.

Join Geoff Anderson (of Norwegian descent) for Terje Rypdal’s “Odyssey” on the Vinyl Vault, Tuesday, December 13 at 8:30 pm on KUVO JAZZ.

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