| Jazz |
It’s very surprising that this excellent pianist and composer is not yet on the German label Act, which would bring some qualitative energy back to this label that is increasingly moving towards classical music that has little to do with jazz. Adam Forkelid, who evidently draws from classical music, rock, and jazz, offers captivating and modern compositions, with a level of detail in the arrangements that are discreetly elegant as we like them, spanning over two decades, interweaving with various groups and performing with renowned artists, including the Norrbotten Big Band, Pedro Martins, Louis Cole & Knower, Maria Schneider, and the Svante Söderqvist Trio. Following the release in 2021 of his album “1st Movement,” hailed by Swedish National Radio as one of the best of the year, he has also played and toured with most of Sweden’s renowned jazz musicians, including Magnus Öström, Dan Berglund, Nils Landgren, Peter Asplund, and Viktoria Tolstoy.
Suffice it to say that this album will be surprising for those of you who are not yet familiar with this artist; for others, it is a highly anticipated masterpiece. Indeed, throughout the tracks, one even comes to understand what each musician he has crossed paths with has managed to bring to him, allowing him to nourish his current work. “Turning Point” stems from Forkelid’s sonic exploration of the inevitable changes in life that make up each of our personal stories. Written over the course of a month and recorded in a single day, the album showcases a poignant fusion of piano and guitar – a collaborative interaction central to the album’s identity. Forkelid’s wide-ranging influences include flavors borrowed from classical composers Satie and Chopin, Brazilian and Cuban rhythms, and Bill Frisell and Chick Corea.
I could go even further by telling you that Adam Forkelid is the perfect musical synthesis between Joe Zawinul regarding his solo career as a pianist and Wayne Shorter; like them, he possesses an immense musical culture and stands as a visionary. That’s why I don’t want to talk about “new Nordic jazz” concerning this artist who, in any case, has an international scope. The composer believes that the role of his music is to “touch people and give them something to tell, without being specifically oriented towards the future or retrospective, but simply to be here and now.”
This is exactly what I’m talking about; Adam Forkelid’s jazz has no boundaries and does not see or will see a date. Once again, partly due to the choice of an acoustic configuration that brings a groove to each track, which generally is the work of American artists, what sets him apart is his way of writing music, of thinking about it, which makes him unique.
We receive a lot of very good albums from pianists and composers; as far as Europe is concerned, Adam Forkelid is well above his peers, offering us here an album as useful for our intellect as it is “indispensable.”
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, April 4th 2024
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Adam Forkelid-piano
Niklas Fernqvist – bass
Daniel Fredriksson – drums
Carl Mörner Ringström – guitar
Tracklisting:
1. Turning Point
2. Strive
3. The Space Between
4. No Man’s Land
5. Moving On
6. The Old House
7. No Worries
8. Fragments