Jazzland 25 years: Harald Lassen: Human Samling

Harald Lassen's colorful presence in Norwegian jazz in recent years has definitely not gone unnoticed. The latest album "Human Collection" has topped several of this year's best lists and has been described as "a relaxed and cool masterpiece!". Live, the music is full of energy, passion and character that gives the audience the feeling of something spontaneous and real.

Lassen doesn't defy convention, however. Instead he makes the smarter play, and bends convention to his will. This is jazz, but jazz of a different shape and colour, and a jazz that travels down a multitude of cultural roads. You can hear hints of a legion of musical legacies from across the ages, so much so that you begin to wonder if they're really there or if you're dreaming them. Was that a nod to Steve Reich? Or Frank Zappa? Was that a whisper of Pink Floyd? A quote from Weather Report? Or was it John Coltrane? The answer to all such questions can only be "maybe", but throughout one thing is certain: it's absolutely Lassen.