Karin Krog - Don't Just Sing: An Anthology 1963-1999 (2015)

The work of Karin Krog may be unfamiliar to much of the world, but in her native Norway and Scandinavia at large, she’s practically a household name. This says much about the local enthusiasm for post-bop jazz but also about the tyranny of distribution: until 1994, Krog’s albums weren’t available in the USA or UK, meaning three decades of recordings were waiting to be discovered. In theory, until now, she hasn’t had any regularly distributed albums in the US or the UK–this is certainly the first one even marketed/promoted in here and in England. With this anthology of her best recordings from 1963 to 1999–curated with Krog’s own input–we hope to set the record straight.

To listen to opening track “As A Wife Has A Cow” is to jump into the deep end. It’s 54 seconds of words, voice, and technology, a looped, echoing reading of a Gertrude Stein poem. The effect is disquieting and alien but deeply rhythmic, too–and that’s Krog’s USP. Don’t Just Sing takes in these spoken experiments along with free jazz, improvisation, standards, contemporary covers, and electronic manipulation. It features some of the best regarded jazz players in Europe, not least her partner, John Surman, the English saxophonist/multi- instrumentalist and composer. Like Annette Peacock, Krog experiments with solo vocals run through electronics and performs with progressive electric jazz combos and traditional acoustic groups as well.

Curated with Krog’s own input, this anthology showcases her best recordings from 1963 to 1999, including songs from 1968’s groundbreaking Joy, her 1970 Dexter Gordon collaboration Some Other Spring, her pop-jazz masterwork 1974’s We Could Be Flying, tracks from the Japanese only Different Days, Different Ways which focus on 1970-72 experimental vocal works, and previously unreleased tracks.