JazzKLUB / Wonderfully swinging / Kresten Osgood Quintet - NOSPR

It is difficult to overestimate Kresten Osgood’s significance for the Danish scene. There is nothing he would not play, no challenge he would not accept. And even when he wants to pay tribute to the jazz tradition in the iconic formula of a quintet with the trumpet and the saxophone, he does it on his own terms – alongside the immortal standards by Monk and Dolphy, he reaches for contemporary musicians (such as Kirk Knuffke), ones who have not found a wide recognition (such as Elmo Hope and Randy Weston) and those who have found some, but only in their own country (such as the Austrian Harry Pepl or the Danish Leo Mathisen). For reasons unknown, returns to jazz classics are best done by musicians who have tried their hand at numerous avant-garde ventures. Osgood’s quintet performs the wonderfully swinging pieces in a slightly frolicsome manner, as it would have been put years ago, or totally chilled out, as it would be put today. They smile, find joy in their playing and never miss any chance to have fun with the material to be performed. 

Tomasz Gregorczyk