Daniel Herskedal: Movements of Air

Quick—when you think of instruments that sound airy, what comes to mind? Piccolo, mandolin, some kind of synthesizer or possibly the theremin? Most of us would take quite some time before guessing the tuba. It takes some imagination to look past its conventional low lines and thumps, but Daniel Herskedal is just that kind of thinker. Even if the tuba's role in jazz commonly involves features or solos, it is rare to hear any player handle it with such gentleness and finesse.

Amidst travel-themed works like the sweeping Voyage (Edition, 2019) Herskedal's catalogue has also had a more ambient and minimalist side, all the way down to the quiet solo-with-overdubs of his Call for Winter diptych (Edition, 2020, 2024). This session lands somewhere in between. The trio format is a simple one that often leans to the soft side, but Eyolf Dale's piano and Helge Norbakken's percussion have a good amount of space to shake things up. Movements of Air starts out on the mild side with an opener as wispy as the tendrils of steam on the cover, but the energy meter ends up drifting well up and down the scale before the album is over.

From cinematic naturescape to simple love song, the flowing low-end lines and quiet rhythms quickly bloom across a series of evocative pieces, each crafting an immersive vista of their own. By the near-midpoint of "Mountain of Companions," Dale is figuratively clambering up the walls while Herskedal turns the sinuous middle-Eastern vamp into an almost-spooky march. "The White Flag" and "Change" likewise groove at a brisk clip, while "Elements of Harmony" has Dale's piano churning up waves like water and soon subsiding in much the same way.

Themes of nature and unity are prevalent throughout, as it often is through this whole catalogue, whirling into an outing of vast scope and vivid emotion before the trio leave the beats behind and float into the clouds. If Herskedal's travels sometimes center more around inner space than the outside world, they are still just as expansive and illuminating.