It may have seemed that recruiting American saxophonist m: Joshua Redman for the live premiere of Liarbird–a joint commission by the Trondheim and Molde Jazz Festivals in Norway–was the musical equivalent of a ringer in sports. But it wasn’t long into Ola Kvernberg’s ambitious Molde Jazz 2010 performance, as the violinist launched into the first of many staggeringly fine solos, that Redman’s appreciation for the players around him became clear–his expression, for most of the show, one of sheer amazement. And why wouldn’t it be? With a group of exceptional young Norwegians whose collective rA(C)sumA(C) includes m: Jaga Jazzist , m: Shining , m: Atomic and m: Motif –in addition to most, like trumpeter m: Mathias Eick and saxophonist HA kon Kornstad , being leaders in their own right–Kvernberg clearly assembled a group with the broad scope necessary to realize a suite of original material, running the gamut from folkloric lyricism to jaggedly organized chaos, and from unfettered freedom to detailed through-composition…

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Ola Kvernberg: Liarbird