This weekend one Scandinavia’s best jazz combos, Atomic, rolls into town for Friday and Saturday shows at Constellation. I wrote about the quintet’s latest album in my concert preview, but its members all play in many other contexts—and recently bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and pianist Håvard Wiik released strong new records of their own.
I’m excited to hear Wiik’s erudite playing with Atomic this weekend, but I hope this trio eventually turns up in Chicago. Below you can hear the opening track, “Calligrams,” which sounds like Paul Bley tackling an Ornette Coleman tune, albeit with more buoyant energy than you might expect from that description. Today’s playlist:
