Daniel Karlsson Trio - Sorry Boss - Pressestimmen

Jazz Journal, 25.11.2023
von Fred Grand

Jazz Journal

The Swedish trio show a more sanguine side of Nordic jazz, their funk-oriented material recalling not only E.S.T. but also Hancock and Zappa

In the 10 years since their debut recording Das Taxibåt, Daniel Karlsson’s trio has carved out a singular niche in contemporary jazz. Neither purely European nor American in outlook, its influences range from Hancock and The Three Sounds to E.S.T. and Zappa.

Rather like Neil Cowley or Bill Laurance, Karlsson is a gifted composer with pop sensibilities, understanding the value of a good ear-worm. With Spering and Rundqvist as wingmen the music can move in almost any direction, and the overriding sensation is usually one of fun.

Sorry Boss is the DKT’s seventh full-length album, and like most of its predecessors it was recorded at Karlsson’s home studio in the Stockholm archipelago. All of the pieces take some form of inspiration from the mundanities of daily life, and the disc’s quirky title was the stock phrase of a group of hapless workmen who created daily mayhem outside the trio’s rented Birmingham apartment during a recent UK tour.

Opening with the funky Bus Stop Story, the trio hurtle forwards at speed until Runqvist sounds the bell and the music alights somewhere altogether more tranquil. Karlsson channels both acoustic and electric Herbie on the slick title track, and you can almost hear the phrase "sorry boss" in its rueful melodic refrain. The complex interweaving lines of Heaven Or Elsewhere is perhaps the compositional highlight, though in truth there’s not a weak link anywhere.

The deep grooves of Happy Hour, the Satie-esque elegance of Pigeons On The Wire and the playful twists of Check Out are particularly strong too, while the gravitas of Karlsson’s improvised miniature Confidential Document reveals a more serious side.

Brimming with creative energy and with more melodic hooks than the average Eurovision, Sorry Boss is another triumph for Karlsson’s incomparable trio.

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Jazz Views, 06.10.2023
von Tim Larsen

Jazz Views

There have been a handful of piano trio releases in 2023. SORRY BOSS gets my vote for the best of the bunch

SORRY BOSS is The Daniel Karlsson Trio’s seventh album release. This delightful piano trio recording is an homage to daily life. Karlsson said the album’s for people who are still happy to have a normal work week even though it might be dull, boring, or, sometimes stressful.

The song titles are as tongue-in-cheek as the album title. ‘Bus Stop Story ’could be a story in song. Bassist Christian Spring’s thumping bass is a bus lumbering down the road with a low tire. Drummer Fredrik Rundqvist’s cymbals mimic the dinging bell when that cord is pulled for a bus stop.

Daniel Karlsson’s piano sounds stately, maybe there’s a touch of dissonance. Looking out the window, things are rolling along nicely except for that empty bottle someone in back let roll down the aisle.

Half of the piano tracks on SORRY BOSS were left untouched. Karlsson told me he added "lots of weird stuff" to the rest, including electronic effects, a detuned piano, and a prepared Fender Rhodes. The first time I listened to SORRY BOSS I thought Karlsson had a piano sound all his own. I asked if he had any influences. He said he spent a big part of his life trying to sound like Keith Jarrett. He still listens to Jarrett and to Bobo Stenson but I think Daniel Karlsson is happy playing the way he does.

‘Confidential Document ’is a lovely piano piece. It’s quiet, melancholy. Others have used the "Nordic" label for The Daniel Karlsson Trio. I hesitate. Yes, SORRY BOSS was recorded in Karlsson’s studio on the Swedish Island of Runmaro, surrounded by the Baltic sea. There are minimalist repetitive patterns and folk influences. There aren’t a lot of long dark and atmospheric melodic lines. There are so many other influences I hear in the Trio’s music. ‘Clock Out ’is intense. The piano’s mechanical…it’s a machine. Like the title suggests it’s a mad rush to get out of the office! Karlsson’s jagged piano lines make it easy for Christian Spering to hang his nimble bass lines on.

When the song quiets it’s easy to hear how wonderful Fredrik Rundqvist is on drums. Bass and drums get a funk groove going on ‘Happy Hour.’ It sounds like someone’s playing a Fender Rhodes down the hall. Karlsson wheels out the acoustic piano to demonstrate how mainstream bop should be played. The Fender Rhodes keeps trying to butt in, but it all works. There have been a handful of piano trio releases in 2023. SORRY BOSS gets my vote for the best of the bunch. In one of Daniel Karlsson Trio’s YouTube videos they said that they were a "small musical collective." I like that.

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Kind of Jazz, 07.10.2023

Kind of Jazz

Seven albums in, Swedish trio keeps on delivering magical jazz.

I spoke with keyboardist Daniel Karlsson at Ronnie Scott’s earlier this year when he was playing keyboards in the Magnus Öström Band and asked him about plans for a new trio album. To paraphrase, he wanted to build on their established sound but take more risks and introduce new elements to their playing.

With his seventh album - Sorry Boss - Daniel Karlsson has been true to his word.

The benefits of the tight musical bond he’s developed with bassist Christian Spering and drummer Fredrik Rundqvist over many long Swedish winter evenings in his home studio on the small island of Runmarö in the Stockholm archipelago are richly displayed on this album which is probably their strongest output since 2014’s Fusion for Fish....

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Bluebird Reviews, 23.10.2023
von Giovanni "Gio" Pilato

Bluebird Reviews

Contemporary Jazz, especially in the last ten years, has seen numerous exciting artists worldwide bringing to "the game" fresh ideas and hugely entertaining new sonic combustions, enriching and expanding, in this way, the definition of Contemporary Jazz to a more cosmopolitan level.

A collective that has certainly made a solid contribution to the growth of Contemporary Jazz, since their 2013's debut album Das Taxibat, is the Swedish group called Daniel Karlsson Trio, a hugely talented ensemble of musicians whose artistic path has been followed closely by our website, through the last few years and that includes the band leader Daniel Karlsson on piano, Fredrik Rundqvist on drums and Christian Spering on double bass...

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The Jazz Mann 26.10.2023

The Jazzman

Strong melodies, infectious and powerful grooves, an effective mix of acoustic and electronic sounds and a sense of humour that is reflected both in the tune titles and in the playing itself.

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Soul Train 10.11.2023
von Holger S. Jansen

Soul Train

Dass neue Album des im SOUL TRAIN @ soultrainonline.de bereits wiederholte male thematisierten Daniel Karlsson Trios zeigt bereits im eigenen Namen sowie im dazu passend aufgestellten Cover-Artwork deutlich die eigene Tendenz zur Ironie und zum Schmunzeln; eine erfrischende Attitüde, die gerade in zeitgenössischem Jazz immer wieder schmerzlich vernachlässigt wird.

"Sorry Boss", so der Titel des Longplayers, ist kurzweilig und lebt und bebt vom engen Zusammenspiel von Pianist Daniel Karlsson, Bassist Christian Spering und Schlagzeuger Fredrik Rundqvist, die hier vor allen Dingen darauf setzen, eben nicht die Pfade ausgetretenen Mainstream Jazz-Daseins abzuarbeiten, sondern ihrem Sound Frische, Unvorhersehbarkeit und eine eher gefühlte Nähe zur Leichtigkeit des Pop zu geben.

So klingt das Werk mit seinen acht Titeln durchaus auch beseelt und sorgt immer wieder dafür, dass auch Groove und sogar angedachte Soul-Harmonie-Strukturen mit in den Musikfluss einbezogen werden: "Sorry Boss" vom Daniel Karlsson Trio, die eingangs erwähnte Zusammenwirkung von Albumtitel und Cover-Artwork sprechen eine eindeutige Sprache, kann richtig was…

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