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| I have trouble
believing it, but the truth is this: in my
dozen encounters with the New Jungle Orchestra,
in Chicago (where I live) and in Copenhagen
(where they live), I have never actually seen
Pierre Dørge wearing a pith helmet.
Yet in my mind's eye, I never see him without
one. |
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| The same paradox
applies to the fair-haired Irene Becker, the
scholarly-looking Morten Carlsen, the beaming
friar Hugo Rasmussen in his bass embrace,
and the rest of this band of serious musical
pranksters. The pith helmet is a universal
symbol for restless search and seasoned exploration
- the perfect image to accompany the wild,
wooly, effervescent hybrids these players
bring back from their artistic safaris. (The
fact that seeing a pith helmet almost always
evokes a smile - after all, they do look pretty
silly - makes it all the more appropriate
for the New Jungle Orchestra, which counts
wit among its musical virtues.) |
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| There's certainly
no doubting the sense of discovery and adventure
that characterizes the NJO. It seems you just
can't satisfy these geo-musical explorers.
In the early 80s, they found vines and veldts,
tigers and elephants, in the heart of Scandinavia:
until Dørge started recording his music
from "the Danish Jungle," the closest
you'd come to such a contradictory concept
would have been the tidy enclaves at the Copenhagen
Zoo. Dørge used the music of West Africa,
which he loved and later studied in the Gambia,
as his inspiration. Then, by weaving in the
music of his heroes (Duke Ellington and Thelonious
Monk), he created a sturdy lanyard that has
supported a dozen albums, each of them more
accomplished and colorful than the last. |
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| But Dørge
has also embraced other inspirations, layering
them into a band whose core has remained relatively
intact in its 20-year history. The combination
of the NJO's stability and his own invention
has allowed Dørge to expand the band's
scope - and at the same time sharpen its focus.
Thus, in 1997, following a successful tour
of the People Republic of China, the NJO recorded
China Jungle, and the infusion of Sinological
influences (as well as the addition of guest
soloists on Chinese instruments) unloosed
a waterfall of newly energized music. Then
came Giraf, which returned to Africa for its
primary setting; but Dørge again stretched
the music and challenged the band, finding
common ground between the sounds of the Dark
Continent and the music of New World giants
from Coleman Hawkins to Sun Ra. |
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| And now, on
Zig Zag Zimfoni, the NJO goes gallivanting
once more, this time to the Middle East, where
Africa meets Asia, desert replaces jungle,
and exotic melodies perfume the air. "Arab
Klap" may start in the southern tip;
but by the time Josefine Cronholm offers up
her sirocco voice against the insistent beat,
the NJO has transported us to one of a hundred
bazaars in the lands east of the Red Sea.
So too with "Bahrain": Dørge's
guitar, which often captures the sound and
attack of the African kora, here approximates
the Middle Eastern oud in introducing a melody
that would make Aladdin proud. |
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| And if you
don't hear the muezzins pray during the introduction
of "In Aquis," you're just not listening. |
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| Africa still
provides the scrim against which the NJO arranges
its new furnishings: listen to "Zig Zag
Zalza" or "Kwandu Wedding"
for a reminder of the band's evocative, irresistable
roots. But if Dørge had strictly adhered
to the original blueprint of the NJO, we'd
still be listening to only the simplified
big-band settings and loping high-life rhythms
that characterized his first albums. Instead,
he understands that the long-term success
of his achievement depends on more than its
initial creative vision; it also requires
an adaptability to, even a hunger for, new
influences. Zig Zag Zimfoni brims with evidence
Dørge's ability to incorporate these
influences while growing as a composer - his
writing becomes more nuanced and evocative
with each passing year - and of the band's
ability to invest even Dørge's older
music with new emotional depth. One of the
world's great jazz bands has now produced
perhaps its finest album to date. |
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| And the more
he explores musical exotica, the more Dørge
embodies the spirit of his band's namesake
- the Jungle Orchestra that Ellington led
at the Cotton Club in the late 1920s. In that
band, Ellington established himself as a master
musician, popular entertainer, and a pioneer
in the utilization of world-music rhythms,
a tradition that Pierre Dørge has helped
extend into the 21st century. |
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| Of course,
I never saw Ellington wear a pith helmet,
either. |
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Neil
Tesser
www.WordsOnMusic.com
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| Pressrelease |
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| One the international
scene Pierre Dørge's New Jungle Orchestra
is one of the most well-reputed Danish orchestras,
irrespective of genre. It has existed since
1980, and it now celebrates its 20-year anniversary
with a new and sensational release on a new
record label. The band has toured most of
the world and recorded numerous records and
cd, and for a three-year period it was the
official Danish "State Ensemble". |
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| This time the
adventurous geo-musical explorers in the Jungle
Orchestra have reached the Middle East, where
Africa meets Asia and where desert takes the
place of jungle, where exotic melodies perfume
the air and unfamiliar grooves lay the foundation.
New inspiration, new experiences have been
transformed into the Jungle Orchestra's life-giving
music. Africa is never far away, nor is jazz.
Humour and infectious joy of playing are important
ingredients, which are mixed well with both
the unexpected and the familiar, anarchy,
mysticism, madness and something quite indefinably
Danish. Aladdin conjures up magical music
from his lamp. ZIG ZAG ZIMFONI proves that
after 20 years the Jungle Orchestra is still
developing, without in any way losing its
identity. |
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| And this brings
us to one of the secrets about the Jungle
Orchestra. The band leader, guitarist and
composer Pierre Dørge, has never rested
on his laurels (and God knows there have been
many), since he became interested in modern
jazz early on in his career in the 1960s.
But jazz music was not enough for him. His
curiosity and interest in other cultures and
musical genres turned him into a true cosmopolitan
and into the highly individual musician and
composer that we know today. And it seems
that he can go on finding new ways to go.
Elements from Europe, Asia, African and, of
course, black American music blend happily
and naturally in Dørge's flourishing
universe. He has been playing jazz-rock, gathered
impressions and inspiration from Bali, Balkan,
Gambia and the Arab countries, and this can
all be heard on the anniversary cd. Dørge
is a true artist of the world, and his music
is insistently extrovert and never strained.
Pierre Dørge and New Jungle Orchestra
have succeeded in being sophisticated and
popular all at once, and live as well as on
cd they are entertaining, challenging and
engaging. A deeply original band which is
able to play colours on a grey day. |
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| Even after
20 years in the business the line-up is practically
intact. The orchestra's 16th cd, ZIG ZAG ZIMFONI,
is now available. One of the "greatest"
jazz bands in the world has produced what
may be its finest cd so far. Yet another exuberant
and surprising work created by the jungle
people. |
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