# CD review: Helge Iberg – The Black on White Album 2022: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2022/05/07/cd-review-helge-iberg-the-black-on-white-album-2022-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2022-05-07T15:21:06+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**I’m going to come clean, I’ve never been a fan of that 1960s’ phenomenon known
as the Beatles. I found most of their lyrics either amateurish or so profound that
only they knew what they meant!**

However, after dispensing with the words, the vocals, the inept drumming and the
basically average instrumentalists what do we have left?

The music! It is no surprise that many of their tunes have, over the years with 
varying degrees of success, been picked up by symphony orchestras, big bands, jazz
singers and anyone who wanted to hitch their wagon to a star – most of whom should
have known better.

An exception is Norwegian pianist/composer Helge Iberg who brings a new dimension
to some of the old chart-toppers as well as introducing me to one or two of those
that had flown under my radar.

It may be difficult to describe this as an out and out jazz album but, despite the
occasional classical flourishes, there is no other genre that it is closer to.

If you were having a candlelit supper with ‘that certain someone’ you wouldn’t want
to have Yellow Submarine providing the mood music – at least not by the four lads
from Liverpool! However, Iberg’s reflective interpretation of the same tune might
just help to put breakfast for two on the menu…

Helge Iberg writes: “Listening to the Beatles in my childhood and early youth left
lasting impressions. Their style of melody and harmony were as fresh and challenging
as their attitude and concepts. No doubt they revealed groundbreaking ideas in the
field of popular music. But whereas (for example) Stevie Wonder’s ingenious song
treasure is strongly woven into his advanced harmonies and iconic grooves, The Beatles’
song portfolio is more accessible to artistic intervention and stylistic challenges.
My re-creation of some iconic songs has jazz- and classical inspired ideas, but 
relies upon the melodic “naïveté” needed to safeguard the music’s deep human appeal.
The songs themselves are evergreen and alive, but can in this context only be justified
by musical measures that should surprise and delight – preferably without being “
artful”.

Beatles and no end. The Norwegian pianist Helge Iberg has also taken a liking to
the catalog of songs by the eternally young pop gods from Liverpool. He tries to
approach the fascination of their music on the piano alone. In doing so, he gets
to the bottom of the immortal melodies primarily through an extreme reduction in
tempo. This is obvious with ballads like “Blackbird” or “Michelle”, but surprisingly
it also works with hits like “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” or “Yellow Submarine”, whose melodies
are suddenly extremely touching. “Mother Nature’s Son” becomes a pastoral hymn through
daring reharmonization, songs like “Come Together” or “Lady Madonna” get a new perspective
by focusing on their irresistible rhythmic drive forward. Iberg has also managed
a visual highlight: the black and white piano keys on the back of the cover are 
transformed into the world-famous Abbey Road zebra crossing.

01.Blackbird
 02.Yellow Submarine 03.Eleanor Rigby 04.Lady Madonna 05.Michelle 06.
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 07.And I Love Her 08.Mother Nature´s Son 09.Come Together 10.
Here Comes The Sun 11.She’s Leaving Home 12.Nowhere Man

![Image](https://i0.wp.com/i.ndcd.net/2/Item/200/576782.jpg?resize=452%2C452&ssl
=1)

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