A part of my mind I just cannot switch off keeps thinking that the woman projected onto herself on the cover of Hedvig Mollestad's new solo double album isn't her, but late saxophone legend Barbara Thompson. Which actually isn't too far off musically, since the rich big band Jazz Rock arrangements here can sound as tight and proggy as Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia and as luscious and broad as The New Jazz Orchestra.
HEDVIG MOLLESTAD & TRONDHEIM JAZZ ORCHESTRA - Maternity Beat (2LP) (2022)
With the constantly great output and performances of the Hedvig Mollestad Trio and already two sensational commissioned solo albums of her helming a bigger ensemble, it should be common knowledge by now, that the Norwegian guitarist / composer plays in the uppermost league of Fusion. The natural ease with which she lets her music transition from Heavy Rock to Psychedelic Prog to Jazz Rock and back is hardly matched anywhere.
And with the tools of the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra at her disposal Mollestad's vocabulary gets even wider. Both "Ekhidna" (2020) and "Tempest Revisited" (2021) had already been masterpieces.
"Maternity Beat" now crowns this trilogy (or is there even more to come?) and proves that the previous releases weren't random lucky shots. She even widens the scope with parts that move closer to Classical composition than ever and breaking out of the instrumental cage by using female lead vocals and narration here and there.
Somehow this album not only stays on a par with its predecessors, but even ramps up all of their ingredients. So where the general kinship of her rock side already often outmotorpsyched Motorpsycho before, it's hard to even find words for what "Maternity Beat" does.
Speaking of the Trondheim band it's worth noticing that their regular collaborator Ståle Storløkken is also onbard here, playing synths, Rhodes piano and Hammond organ. Another name I registered with glad approval is Kanaan drummer Ingvald André Vassbø providing percussions, which means that the Trio and those guys are definitely on each other's radar and I can dream of a Hedvig Kanaan tour, right?
Ellen Brekken plays the double bass, so the DNA of Mollestad's regular band is not only present in compositional form and the reprise of the banger "All Flights Cancelled" from "Ding Dong. You're Dead." right halfway through the album.
Besides the mentioned instruments and two singers "Maternity Beat" also features returning drummer Torstein Lofthus as well as saxophones, trumpet, flute and violin, all contributing on a stellar level to a mature yet never rusty album that always manages to pull off the split between profound depth and adventurous playfulness, between pulling you in and rocking you out - and doing all that free from any genre constrains.
The potential list of references past (mostly within the 1970's) and present between Ayler and Zawinul seems endless here, so I guess I will better not even attempt to open that Can here. What band or player comes to mind at minute x of song y doesn't really matter anyway. It's all fresh yet familiar timeless class.
Once again the album came to me too late to be considered for my albums of the year list, and I don't have the heart to decide who I would kick out of my TOP 22 favorites of 2022 for her - but again Hedvig Mollestad definitely and rightfully belongs in that company.
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