Keeping an all-star collective ensemble going is a steep challenge in the best of times. I.P.A., a quintet that brings together some of Scandinavia’s most esteemed improvisers, has created a striking new album in the worst of times. The group’s sixth release overall and third for Cuneiform, Grimsta is an emphatic statement about the ineluctable power of musical communion; it’s a project bristling with energy sparked by shaping new works together in real time.

Featuring Oslo’s Atle Nymo on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Buddy Prize-winning Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Trondheim drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen, Swedish trumpeter Magnus Broo and Stockholm vibraphonist/soprano saxophonist Mattias Ståhl, I.P.A. sounds energized and fearless on Grimsta, a program that explores a wide array of kinetic jazz idioms. In many ways, Broo’s title track sets the agenda, with his pulsing trumpet riding high and low-register currents powered by Ståhl’s riotous vibes and Nymo’s insistently rumbling contra bass clarinet line. Named after an ancient forest near Broo’s house in Stockholm, it’s an expansive blast of acoustic metal jazz that quickly gathers momentum.

The album opens with Broo’s “Ballet,” a vividly jagged tune that feels like an alternate track from Eric Dolphy’s seminal Blue Note album Out to Lunch (with Ståhl’s vibes mapping the sonic terrain). Relatively concise at four minutes, the piece moves from a compressed drum solo to a round of statements, with each player elaborating on the previous commentary, punctuated by pregnant pauses building tension that’s never quite released. “Magnus has his own character as a composer, very distinct, and clear,” says Ståhl. “His best one’s are like a sharp knife, and this is one of them.”

Ståhl contributes two pieces to the session, starting with his woozy jazz ballad “Stray,” a lovely late-night theme in honor of Billy Strayhorn that unfolds twice without opening up for solos. With its unusual odd-length phrases it’s a sing-song melody that seems destined for a lyric. His other tune, “Empathy Fog,” rides a unison horn like that brings Thelonious Monk to mind, particularly his shuffle dance when the band was cooking.

Nymo brought three pieces to the session, starting with “Epic,” a raw, multi-section piece marked by deep contrasts. Arranged in the studio, it’s a quintessential I.P.A. performance in the way it plays with space and density, keying on a duo vibes/tenor sax passage. “Flow For Feste” reveals yet another instrumental palette for the quintet, with Ståhl taking up soprano sax to create riffing three-horn lines inspired by the Ethiojazz Nymo has been engaged with in recent years. The album closes with “Pop,” another brief piece suspended on a gentle two-note bass and contra bass clarinet drone.

After so many months not playing together, Grimsta captures the quintet’s excitement at getting back to work. “The album came about out of the urge to make some new music,” Atle says, noting that almost every piece was a fresh addition to the repertoire. “We don’t know what the others will write, what they’ll bring in,” Ståhl adds. “In spite of us meeting us for a few gigs before the recording, it felt like a fresh beginning.”

I.P.A.’s origins go back to 2007 when Nymo, Flaten and Johansen released their electrifying interpretation of Don Cherry's 1966 album Complete Communion. When Broo joined forces with the triumvirate the following year, I.P.A. was born. The quartet introduced itself on Norway’s Bolage label with two critically hailed albums, 2009’s Lorena and 2011’s It’s A Delicate Thing. By 2014’s Bubble, which came out on the top-shelf Swedish indie Moserobie, vibes master Mattias Ståhl had expanded the band to a quintet and All About Jazz proclaimed the ensemble “one of the best kept secrets in the fertile Nordic musical scenery.” With I.P.A.’s 2016 Cuneiform debut I Just Did Say Something the quintet raised its profile in North America, earning widespread praise and due respect.

While all the players are committed to an array of bands and projects, the five musicians in I.P.A. have found kindred exploratory spirits in the group. With Grimsta, the players have taken another step into the void, bringing new sounds into the world informed by their multiplicity of connections, influences and relationships. “Everyone is contributing,” Ståhl says. “There’s not an obvious leader in the band. We all bring something different into the band and out of each other. That’s what I find so cool.”

Grimsta press release

After a dozen years as one of Europe’s most acclaimed jazz ensembles, I.P.A. is still discovering mesmerizing new sonic territory. Born out of a deep dive into the music of pioneering trumpeter/composer Don Cherry, the group has firmly established its own sound and identity, and Bashing Mushrooms reveals a striking new side of the quintet. A sumptuous aural feast marked by extended, circuitous melodies and spacious, finely etched textures, it is the group’s fifth album and second release for Cuneiform.

Featuring Oslo’s Atle Nymo on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Norwegian-born, Austin, Texas-based bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Trondheim drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen, Swedish trumpet player Magnus Broo and Stockholm vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl, I.P.A. has never sounded so poised and self-possessed. While the title might suggest psychedelic journeys, Bashing Mushrooms is a work of riveting clarity, with all of the thoughtful interaction and knife-edge balance between improvisation and composition that has long distinguished the group.

“The melodies are quite clear,” Nymo says. “We feel we’re a jazz band now. Maybe we spent some time trying to figure out what direction to go, with more improvisational or freer material. On this session the tunes might be loose is some areas, but are mostly quite structured. We started as a Don Cherry project and our sound still traces back to that, but we’ve developed and changed, and there are a lot of different inputs coming through as well.”

The album opens with Nymo’s kinetic, almost woozy theme “Kudeta,” a piece that builds off an edgy, telegraphic vibraphone riff. With its gentle gleem and soft edge, Broo’s trumpet offers a winning contrast to the shimmering vibes, while Nymo’s tenor solo evokes a man pondering profound questions. Broo’s lullaby-like “Bamse” (which means teddy bear in Swedish and is dedicated to the trumpeter’s older brother), amplifies the tranquil mood with a lovely, lulling sing-song theme.

Broo is also responsible for the title track, an antic steeplechase with a bopping opening line delivered by the band in unison. Before long the horns diverge and the trumpet takes the lead, dancing over Johansen’s clattery tactile drum work. Just as it seems the center can’t hold, the quintet swoops back into formation, restoring uneasy order. In an effective bit of programming, Nymo’s mysterious “Horus Øye” follows, an atmospheric sojourn that suggests a moonlit view of the Nile. A very different aqueous feel pervades “Fem Skator” (Five Mantas), a Broo piece that swoop and glides into a furious trumpet/drum duet that features some wondrously slippery brush work. 

One of the album’s most immediately arresting tunes is Ståhl’s buoyant anthem for Swedish teenager climate activist Greta Thunberg “Go Greta”, a tune as forthright and spunky as its titular inspiration. On the vibraphonist’s “Barnen” the horns ooze over the gently churning rhythm section as the composer hovers above the action, strategically dropping in from above. Pluming the tenor’s lower register, Nymo’s burry solo offers a master class is gathering force without pushing the tempo. The album closes with his ballad “Farmor,” a tender, oddly shaped melody that seems to expand and contract, eventually subsiding with a sigh. It’s an immensely satisfying conclusion to an album captures a masterly ensemble at the peak of their expressive powers.

Bashing Mushrooms press release

Atle Nymo – tenor sax, bass clarinet
Magnus Broo ­– trumpet
Mattias Ståhl – vibes
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – double bass
Håkon Mjåset Johansen – drums

For a number of reasons, Scandinavia is currently one of the epicenters of vivid, forward-looking jazz, often marked by a tantalizing balance of form and freedom. Over the past decade, the quintet I.P.A. has come to embody the best of this volatile sensibility, which makes sense as the band draws its players from definitive Nordic ensembles such as Atomic, Motif, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and The Thing. I Just Did Say Something is I.P.A.’s fourth release and is the quintet’s most exhilarating statement yet; it’s the work of a band fully alive to its own power, while eagerly investigating new directions.

I.P.A. is strongly influenced by the seminal 1960s work of Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman. Harmonically unfettered, rhythmically unpredictable, and melodically unvarnished, the quintet thrives on live-wire interaction, with rapidly intersecting lines that swoop and collide, disentangle, divide and swing!

“We have melodies, but not really structured melodies,” says Nymo, one of the band’s primary composers. “We’re definitely influenced by Don Cherry. I see us as part of this Scandinavian jazz scene, but we’re open to influences from all over. We really cover a lot of ground.”

I.P.A.’s origins go back to 2007 when Nymo, Flaten and Johansen released their electrifying interpretation of Don Cherry's 1966 album Complete Communion. When Broo joined forces with the triumvirate the following year, I.P.A. was born. The quartet introduced itself with two albums released in 2009 and 2011. By their 3rd release in 2014, Ståhl had expanded the band to a quintet and All About Jazz proclaimed the ensemble, “one of the best kept secrets in the fertile Nordic musical scenery.” With I Just Did Say Something the combo has staked a larger claim, capturing the full creative breadth of this all-star ensemble.