Misha Alperin - Night

Debut of a new trio with Ukrainian pianist Alperin, German cellist Lechner, and Norwegian percussionist Kjos Sørensen. "Night" is a recording of the group's very first performance, at the VossaJazz Festival in Norway in 1998. Misha Alperin, commissioned to write for VossaJazz, determined to go against the prevailing bombastic trends at the festivals. The music of "Night" is a suite composed by Alperin and is often of an intense quietude, with silences used tellingly. But the writing also leaves space for striking improvisation, mostly of a "non-jazz" variety: Alperin puts the 'classical' backgrounds of Lechner and Kjos Sørensen to good use. He is himself a musician between the genres, who came to jazz only after a long history of playing classical and folk musics.