Scandinavian Boom: Atomic

IF FOR NOTHING ELSE, INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN should be honored for having the best name, like, ever.

But the Norwegian bassist is also a member of one of Scandinavia's best jazz bands, Atomic, which has been gathering accolades since it started in 1999.

The name Atomic might indicate a band that plays explosive free jazz, and that was once the case, but it's not entirely accurate now. The quintet's "not a reaction against 'mountain jazz' anymore," Flaten said, referring to the stark, floating sound made famous in the 1970s by Norwegian legends like Jan Garbarek and the ECM label.

Atomic's new CD, "Happy New Ears!," shows a band that loves to work on smart, tricky compositions in addition to rolling out fierce improvisations. The CD is filled with tunes that groove and swing at sharp angles, and its appeal should extend from European avant-garde aficionados to fans of the more progressive 1960s Blue Note and Impulse recordings. "The material goes in more directions," Flaten said. "The compositions, they get more and more specific, in a way, and that points the direction of the group."

Flaten spoke on the phone from Chicago, where he now lives, getting ready to fly into New York City for an Atomic concert later that evening. His Norwegian bandmates, Havard Wiik (piano) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), as well as Magnus Broo (trumpet) and Fredrik Ljungkvist (saxophone), both Swedes, were flying to the United States that afternoon — and the whole group would be onstage by 9 p.m.

While Flaten said the amount of travel it takes to get Atomic together — and to be a working jazz musician, period — is "hard, a little too much. That's the dark side of it," he accepts the crazy schedule as part of the job.

"We meet just before the tour, maybe rehearse some new material and then go on tour," Flaten said of Atomic, though he could be describing any of the numerous groups he plays in. "That's how we do it all the time."

» Twins Jazz, 1344 U St. NW; Thu., 8 p.m., $15 (plus one drink); 202-234-0072. (U St.-Cardozo)

Photo courtesy Atomic