Warped Dreamer - Lomahongva (February 2022 Off - record label)

A “dream line-up” is possibly the best way to describe Warped Dreamer. Few quartets succeed in bowling over their audiences in such diverse ways as this quartet led by drummer Teun Verbruggen. This versatile Belgian percussionist puts together four top-notch musicians from the Belgian and Norwegian scenes, who bring out the best in each other on stage. Teun likes to be startled by collaborations with wayward musicians, musicians who inspire him because they rediscover and reinvent themselves each time again. He had already hooked up with trumpeter Arve Henriksen and with Jozef Dumoulin (Rhodes) previously. Guitarist Stian Westerhus is the right fit and perfectly complements the quartet. Include a big display of effects pedals and you get a music genre that defies any attempt at classification.

Free improvisation, jazz residue and electronic interventions/manipulations are woven together in an organically flowing crossover that both hints at a Northern vastness and utilises a complex inner map that guides the audience past labyrinthine horizons, intricate textures and spontaneous interactions. As such, they incorporate both crackling, whirling walls of sound and claustrophobic whispers. 

Warped Dreamer is definitely looking forward in a way that makes the question whether it’s in or out completely irrelevant. It’s everywhere at once. The band gets its name from an Othin Spake composition, another of Teun Verbruggen’s experimental bands, and also shares the same fickle, mysterious city vibe. If you like improv, you are in for a treat!

Cd/dvd/lp, a collaboration between Off and Rat Records. 

1. Kenda 11:12

2. Nahimana 09:34

3. Sahpooly 08:13

4. Odahingum 15:57

5. Tehya 09:07

Arve Henriksen: Trumpet, flute, voice and electronics

Stian Westerhus: Guitar and electronics

Jozef Dumoulin: Fender Rhodes and electronics

Teun Verbruggen: Drums and electronics

PRE-ORDER

Giovanni Di Domenico / Arve Henriksen / Tatsuhisa Yamamoto - Distare Sonanti (February 2022 Off - record label)

Following the release of the highly acclamed album Clinamen in 2010 ( see also: ORT002: Giovanni Di Domenico - Arve Henriksen - Tatsuhisa Yamamoto / Clinamen ), Giovanni Di Domenico started in the beginning 2012 to listen back to the recordings of the sessions and decided to publish some unreleased tracks. You can now discover them on the new album Distare Sonanti.

Originally released in digital on Off and on cd by either/OAR record label ( USA)

1. Mlouk 06:07

2. Charivari 07:05

3. Alma Venus 07:32

4. Naked Skin Of Empty Spaces 02:09

5. Sahel Glace 10:38

6. Sensire 05:27

Arve Henriksen : Trumpet, Voice

Giovanni Di Domenico : Piano, Fender Rhodes, Electronics

Tatsuhisa Yamamoto : Drums, Percussions

PRE-ORDER

Giovanni Di Domenico / Arve Henriksen / Tatsuhisa Yamamoto - Clinamen (February 2022 Off - record label)

Pianist/composer Giovanni Di Domenico formed this trio because of the extremely special quality of the sound he wanted to achieve within a musical group, and the choice of the musicians involved in it is extremely related to that special quality.

Clinamen, in ancient roman philosopher Lucretius’s ‘De Rerum Natura’, is the magic force that makes an atom to change direction during it’s fall and thus be able to hit other atoms and ‘create’ Energy and Life.It’s not a law, it happens by ‘chance’…

This new exploratory musical unit takes inspiration from Lucretius’s theory to create melodies and sound scapes, to play with the inner and most special matter of the “sound” of each and all of the 3 members. Di Domenico’s open compositions will be integrated by Henriksen’s and Yamamoto’s extreme transparent approach to their instrument, making them breath and have an extra special quality.

1. Hyrje 05:28

2. Aide 04:48

3. Silence Is Twice As Fast Backwards 06:29

4. Nakizuni 00:56

5. Mask That Eats Water 05:46

6. Vatos 08:35

7. Idiot Glee 06:57

8. Aether Talk (For Joao) 03:12

9. Fanno il deserto e lo chiamano pace 05:43

10. Clinamen 04:21

Arve Henriksen : Trumpet, Voice

Giovanni Di Domenico : Piano, Fender Rhodes, Electronics

Tatsuhisa Yamamoto : Drums, Percussions

PRE-ORDER

The Eivind Aarset 4-tet / Phantasmagoria, or A Different Kind of Journey (September 17, 2021 Jazzland recordings Norway)

"Phantasmagoria, or A Different Kind of Journey" is the latest album by the Eivind Aarset 4tet, to be released September 2021 at Punkt Festival, Kristiansand. Featuring Eivind Aarset, Wetle Holte, Erland Dahlen and Audun Erlien, the album is no departure in terms of the compositional quality contained therein, as it remains gold standard. But sonically and texturally? This album features more traditional guitar sounds and techniques than can be found on almost all of his previous albums taken together, while still incorporating his signature tonal manipulations that render the guitar sound into almost unrecognizable forms. The album traverses the full gamut of the instrument's tonal possibilities, from Joe Pass tones to ambient textural soundbeds, from blistering shredding to controlled noise and signal. The line-up is augmented by Jan Bang and John Derek Bishop on several tracks, and Arve Henriksen on one.

The compositions by turns can be straightforward instrumentals with a heavy groove, rhapsodic tone poems, quasi-ambient jazz, expressionistic campaigns of sonic annihilation, delicate variations and improvisational explorations built upon melody and harmony, and, not infrequently, a combination of any or all of the above.

The "Different Kind of Journey" of "Phantasmagoria" takes us through a preamble consisting of the hazy fuzz of "Intoxication" with its lazy backbeat and psychedelic tightrope walk of dreamscape over chaos, to "Pearl Hunter" with its bossanova groove filtered through ambient rock. From there we arrive at "Outbound or Stubb1" where the main leg of the journey begins and the beats kick in with greater intensity, and where post-punk guitar minimalism is given a 2021 makeover, before moving to "Duløc or The Cat's Eye" where 60s B-Movie score tropes blend with 70s avant garde and art rock, then stumble through a wormhole that takes them almost 50 years into the future. "Manta Ray or Soft Spot", with Arve Henriksen on trumpets, effortlessly glides into view, a sonic space where the marine vibes eddy and whirl with dreamy undertows and sun-kissed waves.

Next on the itinerary is "Didn't See This One Coming", an aptly titled track that is better listened to than described (suffice to say, this is NOT something anyone familiar with Aarset's work would have expected). From the utterly unexpected, we move to "Soft Grey Ghosts", a textural piece that feels familiar, yet is somehow disconnected, drifting and swaggering with an extra step. The second stage of the journey progresses to its close with “Inbound or Stubb2”, the more experienced sibling of “Outbound or Stubb1", one that quotes from the journey and introduces new vocabulary and dialects extrapolated from it. The third and final leg of the journey is encapsulated in "Light on Sanzu River", a piece loosely derived from "Waiting on a Boat" by Anneli Drecker: filled with deep nostalgia for the past that lies behind, it also looks forward to the oncoming future with a bright optimism, a certainty that this part of the journey will lead to a better time and place.

"Phantasmagoria, Or a Different Kind of Journey" is an album that delivers a multifaceted experience: it is a soundtrack to an inner journey of remembered or imaginary landscapes and spaces; a travelogue of musical styles, sounds and eras; a simulacrum of the live touring experience. This album, perhaps more than any of his previous releases, is one that proudly and confidently wears Aarset's influences on its sleeve - a bold move, but one that serves to underline how he is infinitely more than the sum of those influences. This latest chapter in his weaving of the unified tapestry of his career shows how Aarset is capable of finding new threads in unexpected colours, of innovation and reinvention. 

1. Intoxication

2. Pearl Hunter

3. Outbound, or Stubb1

4. Duløc, or The Cat's Eye

5. Manta Ray, or Soft Spot

6. Didn't See This One Coming

7. Soft Grey Ghosts, or Twilight Chamber

8. Inbound, or Stubb2

9. Light on Sanzu River, or Dreaming of a Boat

Wetle Holte —

Drums / Percussion / Metallophone.

Drum Programming / Mellotron on

Outbound (or) Stubb1 /

Organ on Manta Ray (or) Soft Spot.

Erland Dahlen —

Drums / Percussion / Logdrum /

Vibraphone. Drum Programming on

Soft Grey Ghosts (or)

Twilight Chamber.

Audun Erlien —

Bass. Casio Synth on Intoxication.

Eivind Aarset —

Guitar / Electronics / Edits.

Guests —

Arve Henriksen —

Trumpets on Manta Ray (or) Soft Spot.

Jan Bang —

Samples on Manta Ray (or) Soft Spot,

Didn’t See This One Coming & Soft

Grey Ghosts (or) Twilight Chamber.

John Derek Bishop —

Field Recordings & Treatments on

Manta Ray (or) Soft Spot & Light on Sanzu River (or) Dreaming of a Boat.

Music developed collectively by all participating

musicians. (0.9) is loosely based on

Anneli Drecker’s song ‘Waiting For a Boat’.

Recorded & mixed by Bjarne Stensli at Oslo Klang.

Additional recording at Punkt Studio / Skogen

Studio / Sus / Oslo Lydbruk & Eivind’s Home studio.

Mastered by Georg Tanderød.

PREORDER

Lars Danielsson Liberetto - Cloudland (2021 ACT Music)

When it comes to delivering up music with dreamy melodies, dense atmospherics, and folk music conversational stylings, Lars Danielsson does not disappoint. The Swedish double bassist is joined on this new-school Euro-jazz session by pianist Grégory Privat, guitarist John Parricelli, drummer Magnus Öström and guest trumpeter Arve Henriksen, and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh. Sometimes, the music generates an engaging dialogue; other times, it ranges into daydream territory. But it always radiates a friendly warmth and music like a welcoming smile.

We’ll end this month’s column with a shout-out for some older music.

1. Vildmark 01:12

2. Lars Danielsson feat. Arve Henriksen & Arve Henriksen - Cloudland 04:34

3. The Fifth Grade 05:37

4. Nikita's Dream 04:40

5. Lars Danielsson feat. Arve Henriksen & Arve Henriksen - Tango Magnifique 03:53

6. Lars Danielsson feat. Kinan Azmeh & Kinan Azmeh - Desert of Catanga 06:17

7. River of Little 03:22

8. Lars Danielsson feat. Arve Henriksen & Arve Henriksen - Yes to You 03:35

9. Lars Danielsson feat. Kinan Azmeh & Kinan Azmeh - Intermezzo 01:58

10. Villstad 04:12

11. Lars Danielsson feat. Arve Henriksen & Kinan Azmeh & Arve Henriksen & Kinan Azmeh - Sacred Mind 05:02

12. Imagine Joao 03:41

Pre-order

Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Eivind Aarset & Arve Henriksen - Towards Language Live at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (May 2021)

Towards Language was originally released

on Rune Grammofon in 2017. Towards Language - Live at Punkt was released digitally on Arve Music in 2018, and later in 2019 presented by Rune Grammofon in the 4vinyl/LP box set The Timeless Nowhere.

1. Preface 08:11

2. Groundswell II 04:58

3. Liquid language 03:25

4. Literaturm 03:22

5. Word factory 03:42

6. Demarcations 04:35

7. Patient One 01:51

8. Conversations 03:00

9. Hibernal hybrid 05:06

10. Traces of words II 08:21

11. Postscript 06:09

Arve Henriksen trumpets, vocal & electronics

Eivind Aarset guitars & electronics

Jan Bang live electronics & samples

Erik Honoré live electronics & synthesizer

Recorded at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm

in Frankfurt 18th of October 2019

Sound FOH & recording engineer Christian Ulbrich

Composed & performed by Bang, Honoré, Aarset & Henriksen

Mastering Helge Sten at Audio Virus Lab

Pre-order

Jakob Bro / Arve Henriksen / Jorge Rossy - Uma Elmo (ECM Records)

With Uma Elmo, his fifth album as a leader for ECM, Danish guitarist Jakob Bro presents a new trio featuring Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy. Astonishingly, given the trio’s musical synergy, the first time these three musicians ever performed together was for the album’s sessions at the Swiss Radio studio in Lugano, with ECM founder Manfred Eicher producing. Uma Elmo reaffirms the observation about Bro’s work by London Jazz News that “there is no hurry to this music, but there is great depth.” Among the album’s highlights is opener “Reconstructing a Dream,” a darkly lyrical reverie. “To Stanko” is Bro’s hushed tribute to the late, great Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, who featured the guitarist in his quintet for the ECM album Dark Eyes. Another homage to a late elder is “Music for Black Pigeons,” which was given its evocative title by saxophone sage Lee Konitz. Listeners will recognize Henriksen’s whispering, poetic sound from his 2008 ECM album Cartography, as well as his collaborations for the label with Trio Mediaeval and Tigran Hamasyan. Rossy is well known to jazz fans on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly for his decade-plus tenure in Brad Mehldau’s career-making first trio. As for the leader, DownBeat aptly noted in its review of his previous ECM album, Bay of Rainbows, that “Bro’s guitar is luminous… his music both hypnotic and dramatic.”

1. RECONSTRUCTING A DREAM (Jakob Bro) 09:17

2. TO STANKO (Jakob Bro) 04:33

3. BEAUTIFUL DAY (Jakob Bro) 05:03

4. MORNING SONG (Jakob Bro) 06:55

5. HOUSEWORK (Jakob Bro) 11:05

6. MUSIC FOR BLACK PIGEONS (Jakob Bro) 07:54

7. SOUND FLOWER (Jakob Bro) 05:55

8. SLARAFFENLAND (Jakob Bro) 03:52

9. MORNING SONG (VAR.) (Jakob Bro) 07:07

Jakob Bro: Guitar

Arve Henriksen: Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet

Jorge Rossy: Drums

CONCERTS

October 19

Jakob Bro Porgy&Bess Vienna Austria

October 20

Jakob Bro MOMkult Budapest Hungary

November 09

Jakob Bro Village Vanguard New York, NY United States of America

November 10

Jakob Bro Village Vanguard New York, NY United States of America

November 11

Jakob Bro Village Vanguard New York, NY United States of America

November 12

Jakob Bro Village Vanguard New York, NY United States of America

November 13

Jakob Bro Village Vanguard New York, NY United States of America

November 14

Jakob Bro Village Vanguard New York, NY United States of America

Pre-order

Arve Henriksen - The Height Of Reeds (RUNE GRAMMOFON 2018)

"The Height Of The Reeds" started as a commissioned work to the city of Hull, Great Britain´s cultural capital 2017. Composed by Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang, the work celebrates the longstanding seafaring relationship between Hull and Scandinavia. It was originally the musical companion to a sound walk that took place in April, May and June 2017. Those who took part could listen to the music on headphones while crossing the Humber Bridge. Initially intended for April only, the arrangement proved so popular it ended up with selling out three months, a total of 15.000 tickets.

Whether it will be repeated in the future remains to be seen, but at least the evocative music can now be experienced on this release. Only minor adjustments have been done to justify the transition from sound walk to album.

Other than Henriksen, Aarset and Bang, the work includes important contributions from Hull sound artist Jez Riley French, providing field recordings from the bridge itself: the river below, the noise of engines, the creaking of steel wires, wheels against asphalt and the song of the reeds in the wind. Opera North´s choir and orchestra provides the necessary musical space for the soloists, and two actors and a child are reading from translated poems by Norwegian poet Nils Christian Moe-Repstad.

This is a beautiful addition to Arve Henriksen´s large and fast growing discography, and sits well with his very popular Jan Bang collaborations "Chiaroscuro" (2004) and "Places Of Worship" (2013).

RUNE GRAMMOFON

David Kollar / Arve Henriksen - Illusion of a Separate World (July 15, 2018)

Illusion of a Separate World is the meeting between innovative Slovakian guitarist, film music composer and sound designer David Kollar (Steven Wilson, Pat Mastelotto, Fennesz, Marco Minnemann, Eivind Aarset) and Norwegian trumpet maestro Arve Henriksen. Shimmering soundscapes and haunting melodies mixed with soundtrack music, ethnic influences, electronic explorations, jazz hybrids, and post-rock riffs are at the core of this meeting. 

David Kollar and Arve Henriksen started their collaboration after they met in 2017 and played just twice before the recording. “I played last year at the Spectaculare festival in Prague,” said David “I had a solo performance and after me there was Arve playing with Christian Fennesz. At the end of the festival, we shared our contact details. In few months, we met again on the stage at Hevhetia festival in Slovakia.” The performance was such a bonding experience that the two chose to record an album together. 

In December 2017, David spent a week in the city of Faenza, Italy as the guest of his fellow trumpeter and friend Paolo Ranieri. This was the perfect setting to start sketching out improvisations that would become part of Illusion of a Separate World. David drew inspiration from life’s trials and tribulations or from the environment around him. “I played them as musical diaries,” said David. Soundscapes, moody riffs and rhythmic works emerged. He recorded 17 tracks and then gave them to Arve, who layered trumpet, voice and electronics over them. 

Through this joining of two unique worlds, in both geographical and cultural senses, the duo has created an anthemic album which reveals an intimate connection. It spans from the moments of quietness that slowly turn into walls of orchestral sounds like in Night Navigator, to the tribal drumming rhythms that Henriksen enriches with his voice-like trumpet in Chimera. When the guitarist transforms a simple clacking on string into a weird rhythm like in Silk spinning, Henriksen then turns it into a pastoral melody. When the trumpeter switches to his trademark soft-speaking voice, like in Mirror Transformations, Kollar places himself in a more subtle context, camouflaging his guitar in synth-like drapings. The Slovakian guitarist then takes the stage and hints at his Americana influences with a delicate guitar and trumpet solo in Solarization, that eventually morphs in an ethnic-flavored electronic experience. Suspended over Kollar’s cloudy drone, Castles in the Air is Arve Henriksen at his best, playing one of his most iconic solos. But he can also turn in some of the most intricate and haunting melodies like in the unsettling Roving Observer, which Kollar initially took inspiration from movie director Tarkovsky. 

Intimate, intense, passionate and subtle, Illusion of a Separate World is two artists showing how easy is for them to create music that is immediate and tremendously complex, haunting and gorgeous at same time.

1. Night Navigator

2. Mirror Transformations

3. Silk Spinning

4. Chimera

5. The Spiral Turn

6. Solarization

7. Vision of Light

8. Castles In The Air

9. Bird Of Passage

10. Augmented Reality

11. Roving Observer

12. Beyond the iCloud

David Kollar, electric guitar, electronics

Arve Henriksen, trumpet, vocal, drums, keyboards and electronics

Recorded in Prešov, Faenza and Mölnlycke april-mai 2018

Mixed by David Kollar and Roman Šoltýs

Mastering by Roman Šoltýs

Produced by David Kollar and Arve Henriksen

Janne Mark - Pilgrim (ACT MUSIC 2018)

Janne Mark: reinventing the hymn in Denmark in the spirit of jazz 

Janne Mark writes hymns. And yet there is nothing about her that is stuck in a fusty tradition. She writes in the here and now, she is socially aware and committed, and in her work she draws on the freedom of jazz and all of the breadth of the Scandinavian folk tradition. And that is how her songs have established their place outside the canon of sacred music and in the secular space. As she explains herself, “the music of ‘Pilgrim’ is written for people who are unfamiliar with the church as well as for those who know it well.” 

The music of the Christian church and jazz have always been closely related. Spirituals and then gospel music were both a fertile nurturing ground for jazz and an important source of inspiration. Janne Mark has enlisted the participation of Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen. Henriksen is an important figure in Nordic jazz, and is also known for his work with Lars Danielsson on projects such as the “Liberetto” albums. Henriksen’s unique flute-like trumpet sound with all its emotion and expressiveness fits in superbly. In fact Mark had wanted to incorporate it into her music for a long time. “Arve’s sound reaches into the deepest layers of human existence,” she says. “When I first heard it, it affected me so completely and totally, I knew I had to follow the path of that sound.” 

Danish hymns are unique. The works of Denmark’s greatest hymn writer N.F.S Grundtvig (1783-1872) have a resonance which reaches well beyond the confines of Denmark. Within the heritage of Scandinavian song, they are a constituent part which is very much alive. Like Grundtvig, Janne Mark grew up in Jutland, but she has spent most of her adult working life in Copenhagen. The Danish hymn tradition is agrarian. Most hymns were written in the countryside where the majority of Danes used to live, but Mark incorporates the urban space into her hymn-writing more than any other modern practitioner, and has found a unique way to reinvent the Danish hymn-writing tradition. Indeed she has been described as being like a musical cornflower at the hub of the city.

Since 2000, Mark has been singing in the Brorsons Church, in the centre of Copenhagen. It is in a neighbourhood teeming with different cultures, and where the media has been known to report clashes between local gangs. And yet the church serves as a sanctuary amid this commotion, and also happens to stand right next to the cemetery where two of Denmark’s most prolific writers are buried, the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and the writer of fairy tales Hans Christian Andersen. This is a place from which Janne Mark derives strong creative inspiration. 

In traditional hymns, the lyricist and the composer are different people, and the role of the music is to express the words with straightforward intensity. As lyricist, composer and singer, Janne Mark has a different approach: “For me,” she explains, “the melody almost always emerges before the lyrics, often accompanied by the first line, an idea for a title or some other bit of text that provides either a melodic and rhythmic impetus.” She finds inspiration in many different places – her local community in Copenhagen, literature and music. Her music emanates from a person who listens to herself, to others and to God; all of that can be heard in it. Perhaps the best way to understand Janne Mark’s hymns is as one long prayer for more light in the darkness. She writes about creating light for those who have lost their way, and also about letting a light shine on the shadowy regions of the soul. And it is as if Janne Mark uses both her words and her lingering notes to send light from the serenity of the church and out into life with all its cracks and imperfections. 

“The church is the house of slowness,” she says. “I am interested in slowness, silence, the sounds of slowness and silence. The sound of the world in the form of a hymn. The sound of the world in the form of a church.” And her songs do indeed convey the stillness of meditation. 

“Pilgrim" is an engaging and thoughtful album with plenty in it to discover. It is a haven of peace and quiet in a world beset with restlessness and uncertainty. It is also the portrait of a fascinating artist who is little known as yet outside Denmark. Janne Mark has embarked upon a path between hymns, songwriting, folk and jazz, and has done so with great success. 

01 Igen berørt (Touched once again) 4:19

02 Verden er en salme (The world is a hymn)* 4:47

03 Pilgrim 5:39

04 Intro 0:48

05 Gå stille og tyst (Walk quietly, hushed through the world) 4:28

06 Elsket favnet, husket savnet (Wanted, cherished, remembered) 3:57

07 Syng for alverdens urolige hjerter (Sing for the hurt in the hearts of all people) 5:36

08 Vinter (Winter) 5:28

09 Julen i hjertet (Bethlehem) 4:59

10 I verden uden for verden (Both in the world and yet outside it) 3:48

Janne Mark / vocals

Arve Henriksen / trumpet

Henrik Gunde Pedersen / piano & celeste

Esben Eyermann / bass

Jesper Uno Kofoed / drums

Gustaf Ljunggren / lap steel

Music and lyrics by Janne Mark except:

04 Intro composed by Arve Henriksen

05 Gå stille og tyst, lyrics by Halfdan Rasmussen translated by Christina Thyssen

01 - 03 arranged by Esben Eyermann

05 & 10 arranged by Henrik Gunde Pedersen

*In memory of Hildegard von Bingen 

Recorded by Lars Nilsson at Nilento Studios, Kållered (SE), May 4 & 5, 2017

and by Boe Larsen at MillFactory Studios, Copenhagen, May - June 2017

Mixed and mastered by Lars Nilsson

Produced by Esben Eyermann and Janne Mark

Vocals produced by Boe Larsen

Arve Henriksen & Terje Isungset – The Art Of Irrigation (ALL ICE RECORDS 2017)

1 Slåk 4:44

2 Kvitli 2:00

3 Fløymde 4:12

4 Vassluke 3:16

5 Fer 1:05

6 Ausje 4:16

7 Vassreke 3:11

8 Ard 1:48

9 Podl 3:43

10 Kjøe 1:50

11 Kvitla 4:38

Arve Henriksen: Trumpet, voice & electronics

Terje Isungset: Drums & percussion

Recorded in Lærdal lydstudio-Norway, June 2015

Engineer: Tom Karlsrud

Mixed by Daniel Michael Wold and Terje Isungset

Mastered by Daniel Michael Wold

All Ice Records, Oct 1 - 2017