MANU KATCHÉ - Touchstone for Manu (2014) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A specially-price limited edition compilation of the best of Manu Katché on ECM. Here the French drummer is joined in performances of his tunes by an outstanding cast of soloists including Jan Garbarek, Tomasz Stanko, Nils Petter Molvӕr, Trygve Seim, Mathias Eick, Marcin Wasilewski, Tore Brunborg, and Jacob Young. Recorded 2004 -2012 in Oslo, New York and Pernes-les-Fontaines, and drawn from his widely acclaimed albums “Neighbourhood”, “Playground”, “Third Round” and “Manu Katché”. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Song For Her 6'31
(Manu Katché)
2    Number One 6'13
(Manu Katché)
3    Take Off And Land 4'02
(Manu Katché)
4    So Groovy 5'52
(Manu Katché)
5    Morning Joy 5'29
(Manu Katché)
6    Keep On Trippin' 5'32
(Manu Katché)
7    Senses 4'12
(Manu Katché)
8    Swing Piece 4'50
(Manu Katché)
9    Running After Years 6'16
(Manu Katché)
10    Slowing The Tides 5'35
(Manu Katché)
11    Bliss 4'20
(Manu Katché)
Credits :
Manu Katché - Drums
Jan Garbarek - Tenor Saxophone
Tomasz Stanko - Trumpet
Marcin Wasilewski - Piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz - Double Bass
Trygve Seim - Tenor Saxophone
Mathias Eick - Trumpet
Jacob Young - Guitar
Pino Palladino - Bass
Jason Rebello - Piano
Jim Watson - Piano, Hammond B3 Organ
Tore Brunborg - Saxophones, Tenor Saxophone
Nils Petter Molvaer - Trumpet, Loops    

MANU KATCHÉ - Playground (2007) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Drummer Manu Katche's sophomore effort for ECM is, in some ways, an extension of his nearly brilliant debut Neighbourhood, issued by the label in 2004. The former recording listed such ECM standard bearers as trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and veteran saxophonist Jan Garbarek on the front line and a rhythm section comprised of pianist Marcin Wasilewski and bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz (from Stanko's group). Playground keeps the rhythm section intact, but Mathias Eick and Trygve Seim, on trumpet and saxophones respectively, make up the front line. While there can be no denying the lyrical power of the former unit, this one feels more like a band. Seim is a leader in his own right, having released three fine recordings under his own name and been part of numerous ECM ensembles. He and Eick played together in Iro Haarla's band for the wonderful Northbound recording. The trumpeter is also an integral part of guitarist Jacob Young's group whose ECM debut, Evening Falls, was one of 2002's best jazz releases. Manfred Eicher likes to keep it in the family when he's producing, and he hasn't been wrong for a long time. This set was recorded in New York, and though it retains the trademark ECM "sound" in some ways, it's warmer, too. Separation and space abound, but the dynamic reach of this group transcends that at times.

Guitarist David Torn helps out on the opener, "Lo," and third cut "Song for Her." Interestingly, they are two of the quieter cuts on the set, and Torn's support work is largely atmospheric. The symbiotic communication between Eick and Seim is something to behold. Drummer Manu Katche's sophomore effort for ECM is, in some ways, an extension of his nearly brilliant debut Neighbourhood, issued by the label in 2004. The former recording listed such ECM standard bearers as trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and veteran saxophonist Jan Garbarek on the front line and a rhythm section comprised of pianist Marcin Wasilewski and bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz (from Stanko's group). Playground keeps the rhythm section intact, but Mathias Eick and Trygve Seim, on trumpet and saxophones respectively, make up the front line. While there can be no denying the lyrical power of the former unit, this one feels more like a band. Seim is a leader in his own right, having released three fine recordings under his own name and been part of numerous ECM ensembles. He and Eick played together in Iro Haarla's band for the wonderful Northbound recording. The trumpeter is also an integral part of guitarist Jacob Young's group whose ECM debut, Evening Falls, was one of 2002's best jazz releases. Manfred Eicher likes to keep it in the family when he's producing, and he hasn't been wrong for a long time. This set was recorded in New York, and though it retains the trademark ECM "sound" in some ways, it's warmer, too. Separation and space abound, but the dynamic reach of this group transcends that at times.

Guitarist David Torn helps out on the opener, "Lo," and third cut "Song for Her." Interestingly, they are two of the quieter cuts on the set, and Torn's support work is largely atmospheric. The symbiotic communication between Eick and Seim is something to behold. The wonderfully tender ballad "Lo" contains the kind of restraint and reliance on gentleness that's difficult for two horn players -- these days anyway -- to hold together as a unit; one usually comes off sounding more dominant than the other. But Katche's pace, with so many subtle fills, and Wasilewski's bridge between the horns is sturdy and moves the melody forward allowing them to hold steady. There are numerous ballads on this set, which is unusual for a drummer, but Katche is nothing if not a lyrical composer. His subtlety is one of his great strengths -- check the quietly insistent brushed hi hat trills in triple time on "Emotions." "So Groovy" is nothing if not modern-day soul-jazz. A skeletal, funky backbeat with Katche playing breaks everywhere relies heavily on Kurkiewicz's bassline to not only keep the pulse, but also to keep it moving. The head in the tune is loping but stays tight. Eick's solo simmers as Katche's percussion and kit work quietly push him even as Wasilewski fills the space with some angular but in-the-cut chords. "Morning Joy" alternates between improvisational sketch and gently swinging mid-tempo ballad. One has to wonder if the solo drumming at the beginning of "Motion" is not a sort of homage to Paul Motian, it replicates his notion of pulse and swing nearly perfectly while keeping Katche's unique snare work his own. The post-bop head in the tune would also seem to suggest that, but the tune moves over a couple of times into other territory without ever straying from that theme too much, and becomes more harmonically complex as it goes. There is also a beautiful bluesy funk element here, that never leaves the realm of controlled tension, but is so seamless it's easy to initially miss the many changes it undergoes -- and there's a killer little solo by Wasilewski.

"Snapshot" is a modern-day glimpse of the classic Blue Note sound of the early to mid-'60s. The themes and solos (particularly by Seim) are modern, but the deep blues and even slightly bossa feel in the rhythms touch on that territory. Katche is at his very best here, dancing like Billy Higgins but deeper in the lower registers of his kit. Them other ballads here, such as "Project 58" and "Possible Thought" are all transformed, chameleon-like, into other things as these wonderfully airy but complex compositions shimmer, slip and slide through the ear. Katche's drumming is quiet but so knotty. He's everywhere, traveling around the band with Kurkiewicz as his foil, guiding this band through his tunes (check the terrain "Inside Games" covers from front to back). The sophisticated urban groove of "Clubbing" is one of the hippest songs Katche's written, with a rolling piano line in the lower register in the head, the drummer breaking and shifting grooves on the bell of his ride cymbal. The solos begin with Eick, and he moves form post-bop to slightly outside, never losing his sense of time or melody. Seim follows suit, but moves to the edges more quickly; his bop phrasing also goes into a kind of modalism around the blues before Wasilewski, becomes a machine, hitting arpeggios insistently and percussively as Katche answers breaking his beat all around him filling that center space. The interplay between the two men is never better than it is here and could have gone on far longer. The set closes with a variation of "Song for Her" that feels more like a reprise than anything else. The first version is so utterly beautiful it seems almost superfluous. In all, Playground is a step ahead of its predecessor; namely because Katche's compositions, while they are more complex, have lost none of their inherent lyricism. The two new front line players have brought with them the experience of playing together and this rhythm section has worked together for a while. They fold into the mix of the ensemble rather than simply standing out on their own. Playground is an exciting new chapter in Katche's evolution as a leader; but more than this, bodes well for the future of jazz: it never loses sight of itself, but moves the various threads of its subgenres further without stretching any of them to the breaking point.
>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<
Tracklist :
1    Lo 6'25
(Manu Katché)
2    Pieces Of Emotion 4'13
(Manu Katché)
3    Song For Her 6'24
(Manu Katché)
4    So Groovy 5'50
(Manu Katché)
5    Morning Joy 5'27
(Manu Katché)
6    Motion 5'14
(Manu Katché)
7    Project 58 6'13
(Manu Katché)
8    Snapshot 4'53
(Manu Katché)
9    Possible Thought 6'03
(Manu Katché)
10    Inside Game 5'06
(Manu Katché)
11    Clubbing 7'03
(Manu Katché)
12    Song For Her (Var) 6'22
(Manu Katché)
Credits :
Manu Katché - Drums
Mathias Eick - Trumpet
Trygve Seim - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
Marcin Wasilewski - Piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz - Double-Bass
David Torn - Guitar 

SINIKKA LANGELAND - Starflowers (2007) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Starflowers” is a fascinating ECM debut for Norwegian vocalist and kantele player Sinikka Langeland. A folk singer from the forest lands near the Swedish border, Langeland explores in her work the relationship between man and nature. On this disc she sets verse of lumberjack-poet Hans Børli (1918-89), with help from an outstanding ensemble including trumpeter Arve Henriksen, saxophonist Trygve Seim, bassist Anders Jormin and percussionist Markku Ounaskari. Altogether: a marvellous confluence of folk music, sung poetry and Nordic improvisation brilliantly marshalled in Manfred Eicher’s production. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Høstnatt på Fjellskogen 4'10
(Sinikka Langeland)
2    Den lill fløyten 4'37
(Sinikka Langeland)
3    Sølv 3'09
(Sinikka Langeland)
4    Treet som vekser opp-ned 6'30
(Sinikka Langeland)
5    Saltstein 3'42
(Sinikka Langeland)
6    Sus i myrull 5'14
(Sinikka Langeland)
7    Støv 2'53
(Sinikka Langeland)
8    Stjernestund 7'52
(Sinikka Langeland)
9    Langt innpå skoga 8'08
(Sinikka Langeland)
10    Det er ei slik natt 4'00
(Sinikka Langeland)
11    Vindtreet 6'00
(Sinikka Langeland)
12    Elghjertet 5'54
(Sinikka Langeland)
13    Har du lyttet til elvene om natta? 9'08
(Sinikka Langeland)
Credits :
Sinikka Langeland - Vocals, Kantele
Arve Henriksen - Trumpet
Trygve Seim - Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone
Anders Jormin - Double Bass
Markku Ounaskari - Drums           

SINIKKA LANGELAND - The Land That is Not (2011) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Further adventures at the interstices of folk music and jazz-rooted improvisation, as Sinikka Langeland takes the work begun on the much praised “Starflowers” to the next level. As the Irish Times’s Ray Comiskey noted of the earlier disc: “Sinikka Langeland is a gifted folk singer, but not one stifled by tradition. Her ability to work seamlessly with jazz musicians, as she does so memorably here, is part of the reason for the success of this marriage of folk, jazz and poetry. (…) Individually and collectively, the quintet is superb, Henriksen and Seim play brilliantly off the voice and each other, while the group catches a variety of moods persuasively; they can groove with understated power (…)” All of this applies with equal pertinence to “The Land That Is Not”. ecm
Tracklist
1    The Land That Is Not 7'56
(Sinikka Langeland)
2    What Is Tomorrow 4'49
(Sinikka Langeland)
3    A Strip Of Sea 2'27
(Anders Jormin, Sinikka Langeland)
4    Triumph Of Being 6'15
(Sinikka Langeland)
5    The River Murmurs 3'45
(Anders Jormin, Sinikka Langeland)
6    Lucky Cat 4'58
(Sinikka Langeland)
7    It's The Dream 4'17
(Sinikka Langeland)
8    The Day Cools 5'41
(Sinikka Langeland)
9    The Rose 3'14
(Sinikka Langeland)
10    Spring In The Mountain 3'26
(Sinikka Langeland)
11    Slowly The Truth Dawns 6'53
(Sinikka Langeland)
Credits :
Sinikka Langeland - Vocal, Kantele
Arve Henriksen - Trumpet
Trygve Seim - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
Anders Jormin - Double-Bass
Markku Ounaskari - Drums        

SINIKKA LANGELAND - The Half-Finished Heaven (2015) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Ever since Sinikka Langeland began recording in 1994, the composer, singer, kantele master, and musicologist has become almost inseparably identified with the music of the Finnskogen, folk music from "the forest of the Finns" in southeastern Norway. But she has also explored classical music both canonical and contemporary, as well as jazz. The kantele is a fingerpicked harp from the dulcimer and zither families with anywhere from 10 to 39 strings, and is played on a table. The Half-Finished Heaven is her fourth offering for ECM, and stands in marked contrast to her earlier albums. Its focus here is primarily on the sound of the kantele as a centering instrument in an instrumental ensemble -- there are only three vocal pieces among the 12 tracks. Her bandmembers are Lars Anders Tomter on viola, percussionist Markku Ounaskari, and saxophonist Trygve Seim. This music is "freer" than anything she's released previously. Two of the vocal songs contain the poems of Nobel prize winner Tomas Tranströmer, and one is an adapted Finnskogen polsdans (folk song). Langeland's intent with this recording was to explore the mysteries of nature, its hidden movements and grand gestures. "Hare Rune" commences the album solemnly, with gently played, cavernous tom-toms, smoky melodic tenor saxophone, and the sustained tones of the interwoven layers of plucked kanteles creating harmonic richness. Tranströmer's "Ljuset Strommar In" ("The Light Streams In") celebrates the emergence of the early spring from winter. Langeland's alto voice elliptically inhabits the lyric as Tomter's viola uses the low strings weight her vocal. The kantele adds color and the percussion creates a whispered pulse. "Caw of the Crane" is the album's heart. A dark, dissonant viola rumbles while glistening cymbals add contrast. The kantele adds a heartbeat, then a harmonic palette for the viola to shift and offer a lustrous if somewhat mournful melody. The interplay of kantele and viola is as beguiling as it is investigative. "The Magical Bird" is so sprightly, it's almost a dance. Seim's saxophone plays lyric rounds atop the snare as kanteles both plucked and strummed add a nearly exuberant force, urging the saxophonist to explore. He does so freely with a great range of expression; through all of the tune's interplay and improvisation, it contains an undeniable groove. "The Blue Tit’s Spring Song" may begin sparsely, with a call-and-response dialogue between kantele and viola, but Langeland asserts reel-like melody and the other players rally on tabla and tenor. By the middle, it's almost rocking as Langeland vigorously strums and plucks. While we may have become accustomed to Langeland's singing voice, The Half-Finished Heaven is so well-conceived and played, we don't really miss it. The album is breathtaking with quietly majestic interrogative beauty, and canny in its eloquence. It resists easy categorization and exceeds all expectations.
>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<
Tracklist
1    Hare rune 4'07
(Sinikka Langeland)
2    The light streams in 4'29
(Sinikka Langeland)
3    The white burden 3'55
(Sinikka Langeland)
4    The half-finished heaven 6'49
(Sinikka Langeland)
5    The woodcock's flight 5'53
(Sinikka Langeland)
6    Caw of the crane 5'39
(Sinikka Langeland)
7    The tree and the sky 3'51
(Sinikka Langeland)
8    The magical bird 3'44
(Sinikka Langeland)
9    Hymn to the fly 3'28
(Sinikka Langeland)
10    Animal miniatures 2'06
(Sinikka Langeland)
11    The blue tit's spring song 4'27
(Sinikka Langeland)
12    Animal moment 0'19
(Sinikka Langeland)
Credits :
Sinikka Langeland - Kantele, Vocals
Lars Anders Tomter - Viola
Trygve Seim - Tenor Saxophone
Markku Ounaskari - Percussion  

SINIKKA LANGELAND - The Magical Forest (2016) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

After the largely instrumental The Half-Finished Heaven was issued in 2015, composer, kantele player, and musicologist Sinikka Langeland returns with The Magical Forest, a vocal album. These songs continue her long study of Finnskogen (music from the "forest of the Finns") lore based on fragments and traces she discovered in texts, stories, and songs about the axis mundi or "world tree." For this date she reassembled her full Starflowers quintet (named for her 2006 ECM debut) of trumpeter Arve Henriksen, saxophonist Trygve Seim, bassist Anders Jormin, and percussionist Markku Ounaskari. The group also played on her 2010 offering This Land That Is Not and has backed her in concert settings for a decade. Langeland also enlisted the vocal ensemble Trio Medieval, setting this date apart from virtually everything else she's done while retaining her musical character. The source material digs deep into the sense of place that the world tree represents, a pillar that connects not only earth to sky -- literally and poetically -- but the spiritual in pagan and Christian traditions.

Opener "Puun Loitsu" ("Prayer to the Tree Goddess") is a 19th century rune song offered as a near tribal chant. Langeland's voice and kantele are accompanied only by the bassline until two-thirds of the way through, when Trio Medieval adds a stunning modern polyphony. "Sammas," one of several lyrics attributed to Finnskogen seeress Kaisa Vilhunen, weaves a spectral jazz interlude to a folk song, where the axis mundi is a pillar to heaven made of silver and invokes the Holy Trinity in its introduction. The engagement between the frontline improvisers and rhythm section creates a moody, spectral soundworld for the singers. After a spoken word intro, "Vargman" ("Wolfman") becomes a haunting improvisational interplay between the quintet and Trio Medieval; Langeland's contralto relates a sung narrative above it all. Perhaps the most endearing quality of The Magical Forest, its center, so to speak, is Langeland's kantele playing. Her Finnish table harp bridges jazz improvisation and folk song in "Beaver," and illustrates the reach of Finnskogen from Western Europe to its outlying connections in Siberia and even Japan in "Kamu," and underscores the inseparable relationship in this music between vocalists and instrumentalists on "Pillar to Heaven." Langeland takes chances on The Magical Forest. She allows improvisers a greater degree of freedom. In turn, they extend the reach of her songs from the historical past to the present without erasing their folklore. By involving Trio Medieval, she invites a more fluid yet constant relationship between the physical and metaphysical. Together they illustrate the universal aspects of Finnskogen culture in global symbolism and myth.
>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<
Tracklist
1    Puun Loitsu 5'58
(Sinikka Langeland)
2    Sammas 4'23
(Sinikka Langeland)
3    Jacob’s Dream 7'38
(Sinikka Langeland)
4    The Wolfman 5'05
(Sinikka Langeland)
5    The Magical Forest 5'34
(Sinikka Langeland)
6    Køyri 5'45
(Sinikka Langeland)
7    Kamui 6'09
(Sinikka Langeland)
8    Karsikko 4'34
(Sinikka Langeland)
9    Pillar to Heaven 4'58
(Sinikka Langeland)
Credits :
Sinikka Langeland - Kantele, Vocals
Arve Henriksen - Trumpet
Trygve Seim - Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone
Anders Jormin - Double Bass
Markku Ounaskari - Percussion
Trio Mediaeval   
Anna Maria Friman - Vocals
Berit Opheim - Vocals
Linn Andrea Fuglseth - Vocals  

TRYGVE SEIM - Different Rivers (2000) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Trygve Seim’s ECM debut instantly established his reputation, winning the German Record Critics Prize as Album of the Year (Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik). In the International Herald Tribune, Mike Zwerin observed that “Different Rivers is melancholy, lonely, hypnotizing music – harder to escape from than to listen to. Like a fireplace in an ice palace, you get hooked on it; it's almost physical. ... Seim's version of the ECM sound presents a wind-instrument chamber ensemble, a sort of slow-floating, pianissimo little-big band with occasional understated kicks. The shadow of Gil Evans hovers. The horn-blowers finesse their personal, breathy, non-symphonic textures from behind the beat.” Recorded 1998 and 1999. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Sorrows 6'27
(Trygve Seim)
2    Ulrikas Dans 7'49
(Trygve Seim)
3    Intangible Waltz 5'47
(Trygve Seim)
4    Different Rivers 5'51
(Trygve Seim)
5    Bhavana 4'23
(Trygve Seim)
6    The Aftermath: African Sunrise 6'16
(Trygve Seim)
7    Search Silence 0'50
(David Gald, Trygve Seim, Nils Jansen, Havard Lund, Bernt Simen Lund, Arve Henriksen, Hild Sofie Tafjord)
8    For Edward 5'33
(Trygve Seim, Arve Henriksen)
9    Breathe 9'19
(Trygve Seim)
10    Between 2'18
(Trygve Seim)
Credits :
Trygve Seim - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
Arve Henriksen - Trumpet, Vocal, Trumpophone
Havard Lund - Bass Clarinet, Clarinet
Nils Jansen - Bass Saxophone, Contrabass Clarinet, Sopranino Saxophone
Hild Sofie Tafjord - French Horn
Oyvind Braekke - Trombone
David Gald - Tuba
Stian Carstensen - Accordion
Bernt Simen Lund, Morten Hannisdal - Cello
Per Oddvar Johansen, Paal Nilssen-Love - Drums
Sidsel Endresen - Recitation

TRYGVE SEIM | ØYVIND BRAEKKE | PER ODDVAR JOHANSEN - The Source and Different Cikadas (2002) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Trygve Seim’s ECM debut instantly established his reputation, winning the German Record Critics Prize as Album of the Year (Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik). In the International Herald Tribune, Mike Zwerin observed that “Different Rivers is melancholy, lonely, hypnotizing music – harder to escape from than to listen to. Like a fireplace in an ice palace, you get hooked on it; it's almost physical. ... Seim's version of the ECM sound presents a wind-instrument chamber ensemble, a sort of slow-floating, pianissimo little-big band with occasional understated kicks. The shadow of Gil Evans hovers. The horn-blowers finesse their personal, breathy, non-symphonic textures from behind the beat.” Recorded 1998 and 1999. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Organismus Vitalis 5'21
(Trygve Seim)
2    Mmball 4'50
(Per Oddvar Johansen)
3    Funebre 2'07
(Witold Lutoslawski)
4    Deluxe 5'55
(Per Oddvar Johansen)
5    Bhavana 3'28
(Trygve Seim)
6    Saltpastill 4'38
(Øyvind Braekke)
7    Flipper 2'46
(Øyvind Braekke)
8    Plukk 4'33
(Øyvind Braekke)
9    Obecni Dum 2'23
(Trygve Seim)
10    Suppressions 4'12
(Øyvind Braekke)
11    Number Eleven 5'02
(Frode Haltli, Finn Guttormsen, Trygve Seim, Per Oddvar Johansen, Christian Wallumrød, Øyvind Braekke)
12    Fort-Jazz 5'36
(Trygve Seim)
13    Sen Kjellertango 6'02
(Øyvind Braekke)
14    Uten Forbindelse 5'13
(Per Oddvar Johansen)
15    Tutti Free 6'45
(Marek Konstantynowicz, Henrik Hannisdal, Arve Henriksen, Christian Wallumrød, Frode Haltli, Trygve Seim, Odd Hannisdal, Finn Guttormsen, Øyvind Braekke, Per Oddvar Johansen, Morten Hannisdal)
Credits :
Trygve Seim   Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarophone
Øyvind Braekke   Trombone
Per Oddvar Johansen   Drums
Finn Guttormsen   Double-Bass
Frode Haltli   Accordion, Bass Trombone
Arve Henriksen   Trumpet
Christian Wallumrød   Piano
Odd Hannisdal   Violin
Henrik Hannisdal   Violin
Marek Konstantynowicz   Viola
Morten Hannisdal   Violoncello

TRYGVE SEIM - Sangam (2004) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

“Sangam”, means “coming together”, in Sanskrit, sometimes taken to signify “the meeting point of three rivers”. Interpret that literally in Trygve Seim’s case and the different rivers might symbolize the cross-referencing of jazz, contemporary composition and diverse world folk traditions in his work. On the second ECM album issued under his name, the Norwegian saxophonist draws inspiration from musical and non-musical sources both local and far-flung, bringing these influences to bear on compositions and arrangements that are uniquely personal. Seim has been heard recently with The Source, the improvising group he co-leads with Øyvind Brække and Per Oddvar Johansen (both featured here), and has guested on Christian Wallumrød’s “Sofienberg Variations”, but “Sangam” is closer in spirit to “Different Rivers”, the ECM debut that overwhelmed international critics in 2001. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Sangam 6'26
(Trygve Seim)
2    Dansante 12'01
(Trygve Seim)
3    9'23
Beginning an Ending
(Trygve Seim)
Trygve Seim - Himmelrand i Tidevand
4    part I 8'17
5    part II 6'23
6    part III 9'01
7    part IV 5'12
8    Trio 6'57
(Trygve Seim)
9    Prayer 5'31
(Trygve Seim)
Credits :
Trygve Seim - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
Havard Lund - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Nils Jansen - Bass Saxophone, Contrabass Clarinet
Arve Henriksen - Trumpet
Tone Reichelt - French Horn
Lars Andreas Haug - Tuba
Frode Haltli - Accordion
Morten Hannisdal - Cello
Per Oddvar Johansen - Drums
Oyvind Braekke, Christian Eggen, Helge Sunde - Trombone

TRYGVE SEIM - The Source (2006) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The second ECM album by Norwegian cooperative group The Source gets back to basics. Since its formation in 1993, when founder-members Trygve Seim, Øyvind Brække and Per Oddvar Johansen were all students at the Trøndelag Conservatory of Music in Trondheim, The Source has been very much a moveable feast, its motto, “No two concerts alike!” The group has embraced the wildest stylistic collisions, working variously with poets and DJs, rai vocalists and rappers, ice hockey players, and conceptual and performance artists. Their collaborators have ranged from rock band Motorpsycho to classical musicians including the Cikada String Quartet (as on their 2000 ECM recording “The Source and Different Cikadas”).  Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of their performances have been as a quartet, most of their music was written for quartet, and this eponymously titled disc addresses a backlog of much-played material whose appearance on disc is overdue.
 
The elemental and unembellished Source is a revelation: a sax-trombone-bass-drums band whose collective playing stands up alongside the work of the best exponents of this unusual instrumentation (the New York Art Quartet, for instance, or the Archie Shepp/Roswell Rudd group, or Albert Mangelsdorff’s quartet with Heinz Sauer), while compositionally The Source is in a league of its own. “The Source” features exceptionally well-crafted material, played with wit and fire and flair, by a band that can be ‘free’ and precise simultaneously. “Not having a chordal instrument in the line-up gives us a lot of room to move, and makes the music much more open,” says Trygve Seim.
 
On “The Source and Different Cikadas” and on Trgyve Seim’s albums “Different Rivers” and “Sangam” the saxophonist and trombonist Øyvind Brække gave evidence of their growing interest in ‘eastern’ sonorities and sounds inspired by the bansuri flute, the shakuhachi and the duduk, and what Brække has described as “the search for a breathing, minimal, yet warm and spontaneous kind of music.” On the present disc such colours surface especially on drummer Per Oddvar Johansen’s two pieces, “Tamboura Rasa” and “Mmball”, the latter a reprise of a piece heard on “The Source and Different Cikadas”, rearranged and included at producer Manfred Eicher’s urging.   
 
Yet in total this feels more like a ‘jazz’ disc than its predecessors. Seim agrees: “Most of the material this time is Øyvind’s and, in some ways, he is more ‘jazz’ than I am. And when the group started out, we listened a lot to Ornette Coleman’s (late 60s/early 1970s) quartet with Dewey Redman, that was definitely one of our models, one of our main inspirations, we used to play their songs, and I think some of this recording has an energy related to that .” In the sequence of Brække pieces that comprises the second half of the programme, this feeling is underlined by Mat Eilertsen’s Haden-like bass drive. Eilertsen, a powerful player who has previously appeared on ECM recordings with Jacob Young (“Evening Falls”) and Thomas Strønen/Bobo Stenson (“Parish”), and whose own groups have at different times included Brække and Seim, joined the group shortly before the recording of “The Source”. He replaces Finn Guttormsen, who in turn replaced original bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.
 
Brække’s “Caballero” which opens the programme is as old as The Source. Now cunningly adapted for quartet, it was originally written in 1993 for a big band project. The “Caballero” of the title is Cervantes’ Quixote, tilting at windmills, and it has an indirect connection also to the Spanish bolero. Seim’s “Un Fingo Andalou” also goes back to the group’s beginnings, and has several inspirational sources, including the Salvador Dali/Luis Buñuel film “Un Chien Andalou”, The Source’s early success at a jazz competition in Bilbao, and Edward Vesala’s adaptations of Finnish tango. None of this explains why Seim’s solo and the melody itself seem to fall into the cadences of Albert Ayler: “I like Ayler, but have never studied him closely. But of course Garbarek loved Ayler and I was strongly influenced by Jan, so that’s likely where that’s coming from.”
 
Edward Vesala’s conception of the free ballad has also been important for the Source (and many other northern bands). Seim played with the drummer-composer’s last group, and learned the piece “Libanera” from him. He continues to play music from the Vesala camp in the group of Edward’s widow, Iro Haarla (refer to the album “Northbound”). Vesala is also one of several references embedded in the closing “A Surrender Tryptich”. Øyvind Brække: “We have lots of links to Edward Vesala, and the ‘Tryptich’ title, as well as being descriptive of the three-part form of the piece, also acknowledges the Garbarek/Andersen/Vesala group that played on ‘Triptykon’ – it relates to that musical area.” (The title also makes a philosophical point about ‘surrender’. In the modern world, Braekke says, the concept of “acceptance” gets aired too infrequently. “National and individual interest revolves so much around the idea of attack and defence. But it is possible to try to be happy with what you have in life.”)
 
The bracing “Life So Far” is described by Øyvind Brække as “a tribute to Keith Jarrett’s ‘Belonging’ band. It also reflects The Source’s ability to play in and out of a loose tempo with a lot of energy.” Brække’s “Østerled”, meanwhile, “is inspired by old Viking roots. It was motivated by a tour to Russia, to Siberia, in 1998. I wrote this piece for that journey and it sounds somehow ‘Russian’ to me. It has that minor tonality and sense of melancholy.” Well-known in the Oslo area as an arranger for big bands, Øyvind Braekke has toured with Chick Corea and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra as well as The Source and the group Pocket Corner and as freelancer performs in jazz, rock, Latin and free improvised settings. “Mail Me or Leave Me”, “a humorous piece” plays around with “pop bass lines and Latin grooves” derived from these freelance experiences.
 
Seim has played with a number of great drummers but values none more highly than Per Oddvar Johansen. “Per Oddvar was largely responsible for getting me to listen to the more free varieties of improvisation in the first place, and he’s amazingly responsive as a drummer. I can’t think of another player who works so purely with the music, with what is there, who is so consistently interactive, and who is so little concerned with self-display. He’s the most fascinating drummer I know.
 
“Øyvind has a similar character in some ways. Only in it for the music, not for his ego. He always makes these great pieces out of small ideas and somehow even the most simple of his compositions is also intricate – there are so many layers, and I always feel conscious thought behind his musical decisions. There’s nothing superfluous in his writing.”
 
Brække’s bell-clear sound bears little resemblance to that of the pioneering New Thing trombonists. He suggests that this may be because he has been “more inspired by trumpet players. And even in ‘free’ playing I’m probably more melodically oriented than George Lewis, say, or Roswell Rudd. But the biggest influence has been really this band and the way it has developed with the interplay between the two horns and the drums. Trygve and I are always taking our tonality and chords from each other, and that’s the characteristic quality of this group.” ecm
Tracklist :
1    Caballero 6'06
(Øyvind Braekke)
2    Un Fingo Andalou 7'28
(Trygve Seim)
3    Libanera 6'12
(Edward Vesala)
4    Prelude To A Boy 6'29
(Øyvind Braekke, Edward Vesala)
5    Tamboura Rasa 5'51
(Per Oddvar Johansen)
6    Mmball 5'31
(Per Oddvar Johansen)
7    Osterled 6'29
(Øyvind Braekke)
8    Life So Far 6'44
(Øyvind Braekke)
9    Tribute 6'31
(Øyvind Braekke)
10    Mail Me Or Leave Me 5'59
(Øyvind Braekke)
11    Alle Bla De Er 4'34
(Øyvind Braekke)
12    Water Glass Rhapsody 3'03
(Øyvind Braekke)
13    A Surrender Triptych 3'20
(Øyvind Braekke)
Credits :
Trygve Seim - Saxophones
Øyvind Braekke - Trombone
Mats Eilertsen - Double-Bass
Per Oddvar Johansen - Drums 

TRYGVE SEIM | FRODE HALTLI - Yeraz (2008) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Norwegian musicians Seim and Haltli have collaborated often over the years, and Frode is also a member of Trygve’s “Sangam” ensemble. But the flexible duo format has provided a particularly useful forum for the exploration of the most divergent music – from the Armenian folk song that gives the album its title to free play, from Gurdjieff to Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”, and new and old tunes by Trgyve - as well as the exploration of sound, the plangent cry of the sax against the accordion’s breathing reeds. The Seim/Haltli duo has been a popular touring unit in recent seasons: this is the first, eagerly-anticipated, recorded documentation of its music. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Praeludium / Bayaty / Duduki 12'39
(Frode Haltli, Trygve Seim, George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff)
2    Airamero 10'11
(Trygve Seim)
3    Introduction / Yeraz 6'30
(Traditional, Trygve Seim)
4    L'Altra Storia 5'54
(Trygve Seim)
5    MmBall 5'56
(Per Oddvar Johansen)
6    Bhavana 5'20
(Trygve Seim)
7    Fast Jazz 4'57
(Trygve Seim)
8    Redemption Song 4'40
(Bob Marley)
9    Waits For Waltz 8'05
(Trygve Seim)
10    Postludium 5'56
(Trygve Seim, Frode Haltli)
Credits :
Trygve Seim   Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone
Frode Haltli   Accordion    

TRYGVE SEIM | ANDREAS UTNEM - Purcor : Songs for Saxophone and Piano (2010) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Modestly subtitled “Songs for saxophone and piano”, this recording quietly covers a lot of ground, with repertoire including new musical settings of parts of the Mass, folk songs, theatre music, improvisations, and a new version of Seim’s softly-breathing tune “Bhavana” (first heard on “Different Rivers”). “Purcor” is the first recorded documentation of a duo that already has a 14 year history. In the mid 1990s pianist-composer Andreas Utnem, working with Norway’s Church City Mission foundation, invited saxophonist Seim to join him for selected church services, improvising around variations on the psalms and playing some of his compositions and Trygve’s. In time, this developed into an informal regular ‘gig’ and in 2008 the players decided it was time to record the special music they had shaped along the way. “Purcor” was recorded at Tøyen Kirke, a church in the older part of Oslo. The album is a thoughtful and reflective album, of great charm. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Kyrie 4'24
(Andreas Utnem)
2    Nu Seglar Vi Inn 4'34
(Andreas Utnem)
3    Praeludium, Improvisation 2'50
(Andreas Utnem, Trygve Seim)
4    Purcor 3'00
(Andreas Utnem)
5    Responsorium 4'08
(Trygve Seim)
6    Credo 3'34
(Andreas Utnem)
7    Pater Noster 3'50
(Traditional)
8    Bhavana 4'00
(Trygve Seim)
9    Gloria, Improvisation 1'51
(Trygve Seim, Andreas Utnem)
10    Solrenning 3'18
(Traditional)
11    312 3'47
(Traditional)
12    Agnus Dei 3'13
(Andreas Utnem)
13    Postludium, Improvisation 5'00
(Trygve Seim, Andreas Utnem)
14    Når Mitt Øye Trett Av Møye 2'57
(Traditional)
Credits :
Trygve Seim -  Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
Andreas Utnem - Piano, Harmonium