When I Return: The Weight of Bloom

In an ample, John Coltrane-like gesture, the primordial song takes flight, ultimately culminating in the sublime "Part III: Rise." At this point, the sounds are capable of drawing us back to the beginning of the album.

But let us rewind. When I Return is a septet whose singular voices met in the early 2020s in the legendary jazz bachelor programme of the University of Trondheim under the guidance of the revered Erling Aksdal. Driven by shared sensibilities and musical affinities, the septet quickly took shape. A concert program was established, then honed over several years on the Norwegian stages, with a concern not to record prematurely.

The compositions are jointly signed by Brede Sørum (alto saxophone) and Jørgen Bjelkerud (trombone). The musicians started to jam on the ideas, and various approaches were tested and refined as the concerts went on. Until this 2025 studio session: a recording like just one more concert.

The compositions are open melodic lines over which improvised counterpoints of remarkable precision support the lead voices. Åsne Fossmark (tenor saxophone) and Ola Lømo Ellingsen (trumpet) are backed by a rhythm section that is none other than pianist Sondre Moshagen's Lightning Trio, with Kertu Aer (double bass) and Steinar Heide Bø (drums).

The influence of the contemporary New York City scene is acknowledged (Joel Ross, The Parable Of The Poet on Blue Note Records, 2022). It quickly fades under the Trondheim effect: that evident quality of musicians so close and focused on the moment that they are as one.

Without concern for this contradiction, it is a quartet that blossoms into a septet, in the image of buds blooming into flowers in the meadow of the back cover photo that echoes the floral painting of an earlier single, "The Former" (Jazzland Recordings, 2025).

The allegory operates on yet another level. The septet developed of its own accord over time. Nostalgia has flowered from those years spent together in Trondheim, which will not return but which were. This nostalgia invades the ears, from beginning to end.

Sørum's poem, printed on the cover, is all about this change of era. The young musician in training in the emotionally charged Trondheim environment has become the established artist now preoccupied with a world growing darker. "Peace Song" echoes the olive branch on the cover, a linoprint by bassist friend Nicolas Leirtrø, whose visual artistry we discover here.

"flower boy, / as the sun shines on you, / remember the rain, / and cherish what it made of you": more than an album, this object is a life project!

Radiant. In addition to the single "The Former," two tracks were left in the drawer for lack of space. Let us hope for a second album soon.