Some jazz-improv hawks demonise opera as the robber baron of music funding, but Håkon Kornstad, the Norwegian free-jazz saxophone virtuoso, went on a whim to the New York Met in 2009, wept, and came out determined to make the two forms sing together.
Tenor Battle situates Kornstad’s eloquent tenor sax and fine operatic tenor voice within a group. Harpsichordist Lars Henrik Johansen can sound like a Neapolitan mandolin-strummer, Sigbjorn Apeland’s harmonium can be orchestral or accordion-like, and there are two delectable instrumentals – Monteverdi’s lovely Lasciatemi Morire, delivered in high sax trills and lustrous low tones, and a slow, Jan Garbarek-like account of Rimsky Korsakov’s Song of India.
Kornstad’s ardent vocal and his warm sax tone often seem to segue into a single stream. But a Tenor Battle this ain’t, compared to this gifted artist’s edgier and less respectful solo gigs, since burnishing the famous arias is the priority, and the leader’s vocals and saxophone are almost always in gracefully sympathetic partnership.
