Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Daniel Herskedal: Movements of Air

6

Daniel Herskedal: Movements of Air

By

View read count
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.

Track Listing

The Olive Branch; Peace River Crossing; We Belong to Each Other; Mountain of Companions; Elements of Harmony; The White Flag; Change; Civilian Casualties; Who Are You?; Harmonic Allusions.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Movements of Air | Year Released: 2025 | Record Label: Edition Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Daniel Herskedal Concerts


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

Hold On
Mark Winkler
The Hat with the Grin and the Chuckle
Ben Thomas Tango Project
Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
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.