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Review: Atomic at Victory Grill
Wednesday night, the Scandinvaian quartet Atomic managed to fill the Victory Grill, another of my favorite Austin venues and easily one of the best sounding, thanks to plenty of cloth on the walls and carpeted floors to provide a nice, dampening baffle.
Atomic played a mix of improvised jazz and the sort of tight, hard swinging bop Art Blakey all but perfected. AS trumpeter Magnus Broo and saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist traded off fluttering lines or teamed up on sharp, blocky riffs, double bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love drove the beat in directions alternately straight-forward and circuitous. Pianist Håvard Wiik filled in the gaps with quick runs and melodic chordings.
They showed the tight chops and solid communication of a working road band, something that’s too often missing from project avant garde jazz groups whose sloppy interplay too often betrays their ad hoc gigging. Working best when groove won out over abstraction, Atomic gave the packed house the best of both worlds, indulging in both freedom and discipline.
Nice job.
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