Her name has been buzzing within the European jazz world for some time. In the process, Finnish saxophonist Linda Fredriksson stood out with such high-profile Finnish bands as
Mopo and
Superposition. Juniper is the first album to appear under her own name. Rightly so, because despite the extended band she uses on this, Juniper is an album that always sounds intimate and close to herself. Almost like
… the singer-songwriter record of a jazz artist. The rhythms are sometimes pulsating and driving, but never really come off. There was audibly no live playing, but the tracks were built up layer by layer. Fredriksson plays, in addition to the alto sax, baritone sax and bass clarinet. She doubles her wind instruments, sometimes sings wordlessly and musingly, and (less conspicuously) touches a piano or guitar. In this way she creates a world of her own, in which things can be whimsical and boundaries are explored, but as a listener it is always a pleasant place to be. (MR)more