Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Arild Andersen Quartet: Affirmation

17

Arild Andersen Quartet: Affirmation

By

View read count
Arild Andersen Quartet: Affirmation
Arild Andersen began his association with ECM Records in 1975, with the release of his album Clouds In My Head. He has released over 20 more recordings in a leadership role for the label, and has participated in even more albums—for ECM and other labels—in a sideman role, joining artists as diverse as pianists Bobo Stenson, Ketil Bjornstad and Yelena Eckemoff, saxophonists Jan Garbarek and Tommy Smith. trombonist Roswell Rudd and singer Sheila Jordan. He has proved himself a prolific and versatile artist over a 45- year career, with a style which is hard to tag—not mainstream, not avant-garde, but rather an approachable, off-center full embrace of beauty in a personal, off-the-beaten-path way. Call it Nordic Cool, which is not afraid to heat things to a steady high flame at times.

The bassist's 2022 offering Affirmation, veered away from its original plan of playing some of Andersen's distinctive compositions. In the course of trying out those tunes, he and his quartet-mates somehow shifted into a full improvisation mode. They created a compelling 37-minute suite—" Affirmation Part 1" and Affirmation Part 2" that wraps up with a non-suite piece, "Short Story—listening to each other, reacting, and conversing, all with no pre-planning, while articulating a collective vision of what a saxophone-and-a-rhythm-section quartet can do.

Spacious, at times serene, at other times exuding a menacing ferocity, the openness of the music allows the savoring of the individual virtuosities—the leader's powerful bass lines and the oftimes eerie arco work along with added pedal-generated electronic embellishments, pianist Helge Lien's deft glissandos and inward searchings, drummer Håkon Mjaset Johansen's flurries juxtaposed with his whisperings, and saxophonist Marius Neset's prayers rising into rants which taper down to ruminations.

Aspiration sounds leaderless; equality of input reigns. And it sounds cool—or even cold—and beautiful, like a calving glacier, its cover art looking like a good fit as an illustration for Kim Stanley Robinson's 1998 novel Antarctica (Bantam Books), the music serving as a soundtrack to a four-man sled journey to the South Pole.

Track Listing

Affirmation Part I: One; Two; Three; Four; Affirmation Part II: Five; Six; Seven; Short Story.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Affirmation | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: ECM Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.