Hakon Graf, Sveinung Hovensjo, Jon Eberson, Jon Christensen

Hakon Graf, Sveinung Hovensjo, Jon Eberson, Jon Christensen 

1977

Blow Out

01. Watching Everybody Else 3:27

02. Flandyke 6:09

03. Paper Flowers 5:46

04. Blow Out 5:42

05. Alive Again 8:19

06. Tømmerløken 6:17

07. Electric Bird 7:55

Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Jon Eberson

Bass [4 & 6 String] – Sveinung Hovensjø

Congas – Miki N'Doye (tracks: A1, A4, B1)

Drums, Perussion – Jon Christensen

Electric Piano, Keyboards, Synthesizer – Håkon Graf

Basically the 3rd Moose Loose album, Blow Out is an excellent example of the late 70's all-things fusion era. Typical with no surprises, but superbly executed and is worth seeking out. Highlights include some fuzz bass and exquisite electric lead guitar.

The really quite adorable melody of ‘Watching Everybody Else’ introduces us politely to each member of this quartet as a soft ‘n’ sweet synth holds hands with a gruff bass to deliver a sound that fifteen years earlier would have been completely off the cards. Nobly pacing themselves from note one, there’s an inviting quality to this short number that has me tempted to put ‘Watching Everybody Else’ in a playlist titled ‘I know you said you hate Jazz Rock but…’ The Norwegian foursome of Håkon Graf, Sveinun Hovensjø, Jon Eberson and Jon Christensen are so keen to slip their fusion ethos past us that the folk melody whistles over a gentle yet decidedly jangly acoustic guitar. Even the raucous jazz drum set that’s so feared by mothers and landlords all over is comfortably swapped for a bed of handheld percussion! This is beautiful writing. If you find yourself won over by the sing-ability of the lead lines then prepare to embrace the dark side and tell the world exactly what you are – a jazz fusioneer. There is no shame.

As the Spring sunlight of the opening piece fades away the album’s second track ‘Flandyke’ stomps its rock foot onto firmer, less meadow-y ground. With electric guitar in hand, Jon Eberson unites the band in his composition with a riff pulled straight from the Led Zeppelin handbook while drums flutter all loosey-goosey like something straight from New Orleans. Referencing other rock alumni, ‘Flandyke’s lead lines cut through the politeness with a vein of harmonised guitar and synth pairing that was a staple of the celebrated Jeff Beck/Jan Hammer bands. With the badass riff still keeping it real, some of that jazz dexterity starts bubbling to the surface as Håkon Graf jets to dizzying heights over a bed of airy pseudo-strings that paint a colder, more glacial image of Scandinavia than previously shown. The quartet’s guitarist stands stubborn in wanting to lean into the blues of this riff and I welcome the dirt of his solo just as much as I do the stanky face that it inspires. The push and pull between guitar and synth continues for the rest of this hard edged number with Graf introducing twisting guitar bends to his keyboards as if a polite yet stern look was exchanged between him and Flandyke’s rocky composer.

Narrowly avoiding being typecast as the ‘rock’ in this jazz-rock outfit, Eberson pulls out his acoustic guitar to lead a ballad moment in ‘Paper Flowers’ over a serene bed of misty keyboards. With everyone onboard for hushed supporting roles it’s worth acknowledging the ‘Blow Out’ quartet’s clear reverence of the textures crafted by the American group Weather Report. This is no bad thing. We have ditched the term ‘Jazz Fusion’ when chatting about the enormously synth-riddled improvisers that are so popular in London right now but they represent a lineage of switched on jazz that had its stars back in the day; perhaps Weather Report the brightest of them all.

From its opening, a sheer attack of drums and congas fiercely bubble into being while clutching on to a frantic pace that sets up the ‘Blow Out’ title track to be an intense halfway point. The pressure steaming from the percussion builds to an unsustainable level and after only a split second’s breathing time we gloriously touch down in anthem central with rising chords written for an awards ceremony that never was. Bursting with an uplifting simplicity that needs no melody, this is a spectacular jam that puts us 

face to face with Scandinavian royalty Jon Christensen’s bombastic stream of kicks and snares which invite us to dance to jazz while snippets of soloing dip and dive in the wings. Stacking smile upon smile, our rising chords make way for unashamed handclaps with the arrival of a melody that once again invites comparisons to the most upbeat moments in Weather Report’s catalogue. Ask me what I think Jazz is and I’ll gladly tell you I have no real idea but I know the jazz I enjoy always has momentum and has movement. With that in mind, this Pop-ready number is jazz to its core and it’s a real joy to notch up one more track that bridges that gap between armchair beard scratchers and carefree dancers.

Cobweb free, I’m completely ready to pull shapes as we drop into ‘Alive Again’. The ethos of the Fusion world is supremely beautiful to me ’cause its funk/rock elements take pride in giving the people what they want. It can really bring some balance. I guess it’s that celebration of songwriting and repetition that takes us at this point to the bouncy embrace of Jon Christenen’s drums and Miki N’Doye’s percussion for what is a hypnotising venture into cyclical African rhythm. ‘Alive Again’ feels like the quartet really hitting their stride. The pensive melody chimes out from the now familiar pairing of guitar and synth but they have arrived at a texture less firmly borrowed from the Weather Report, Jeff Beck or George Duke groups. Christensen’s light, bouncing touch behind the kit may very well be an album highlight for me in this spot and as is so often the case the solos thrive above his guidance before the arching notes of the outro melody are framed excitingly by this master.

With us movers in need of a breather, ‘Tømmerløken’ ushers in a love scene that offers great pause with its lulling pace and the tried and tested formula of giving the bass a chance to speak the melody over the new whispered dynamic. Perhaps a bit too much of a lighters-in-the-air moment for some, this penultimate track does know exactly what it is and you will come to be grateful once you hear what the final track has in store.

‘Electric Bird’ bares a frown straight out of the prog photo books as its ancient chords fizz underneath a pretty satanic guitar line. With a relentless ticking on the hihats, you could make the mistake of waiting for ‘Electric Bird’ to release into a Jazz Disco stomper but for now we’re forced to play the long game while the darkness is increasingly concentrated with every cycle through the unresolved riff. Positioned in a colder cave of studio reverbs than before, the drums chatter away in fluent syncopation as the sinister tones remain. After we’ve almost come to embrace these sinister depths the call to straighten is answered and the blinds open to a freshly upbeat scene. The newfound funk brings with it some serious smiles and both new and old Fusion fans will be pleased with the nod-worthy keyboard punctuations that accompany the now quacking basslines they’ve perhaps kept an eye out for during this album. With the wax running out on this record, we are juxtaposed one final time as the Blow Out quartet snap into their mystical lashings of heavy rock guitar and suck us into the black again.

With broad use of colour, Blow Out is an album that pools the iconic recordings from the funkier side of 70’s jazz fusion and reassembles them into scenes that are confidently European in their tone and surroundings. The writing combination of Jon Eberson with Håkon Graf have brought folk, rock and pop sensibilities to the jazz table in a way that showcases a thirst to find a playful way forward and these experiments do absolutely bare fruit. Blow Out is a jazz rock record that should be heard by fans on either sides of the Jazz vs Rock fence, if not least of all so we can be reminded that funk and electricity had a much further reach than the iconic cities of the United States.