The Mighty Mouse: Live at Glenn Miller Café (Barefoot Records)

I want to start off by saying that I’m sorry for all the  weird associations in the text beneath, but perhaps this is what happens when the music is so imaginative.

The Danish/ Norwegian trio with piano player Morten Pedersen up front recorded their debut album five years ago in the studio. Since then they have toured the smaller, obscure free jazz venues in Germany and Poland. And among the compositions on this live album we actually find some tunes which were made for the debut.

It is kind of funny that Mister-Smooth Swing-King Glen Miller’s name is used for a venue in Stockholm in which the free jazz really thrives, but it is the place where The Mighty Mouse recorded this album in November 2012.

Suddenly I think about (how grotesque this must sound) the legendary recording of Jazz at the Pawnshop with some of the bigwig of Swedish jazz, recorded at another venue in Stockholm, Stampen. This record is very famous for its sound. The sound has so many details that you can hear the cash register and things like that. On The Mighty Mouse record you also get more than the music. The noise in the room and the talking of the audience have also found their way down to the turntable (yes, it’s available on vinyl). It suits the music in a way you’re not familiar with in a piano-trio-recording. 
I experience the music as a bicycle crash without a bicycle. I guess that is the closet you get to far away from The Keith Jarret Trio. Noise and commotion within and around the music. Adam Pultz Melbyes sensitive brutal bass playing. Haakon Berres rattling on the drums and the exploding piano playing from Morten Pederser are striking and obsessive experiences. Live at Glenn Miller Café is one very recommendable album!

Review by Niels Overgaard