Thrilling live album by Arild Andersen's new Norwegian/Scottish/Italian trio, the veteran bassist's most exciting group to date. Featuring tenorist Tommy Smith and drummer Paolo Vinaccia and embracing hot post-bop playing, strong compositions, fiery improvising, beautiful balladry and waves of atmospheric sound-painting, it was recorded live in Oslo's Belleville club.
Arild Andersen is of course an ECM musician of the first hour. He made his label debut in 1970 with the Jan Garbarek Quartet on the seminally important 'Afric Pepperbird' and on the ECM leader debuts of both Terje Rypdal and Bobo Stenson. In the 70's he also worked with a wide range of American musicians including Don Cherry, Sam Rivers, Stan Getz, Steve Kuhn and many others. He has been active in a wide range of contexts - exploring Norwegian folklore with the "Sagn" band, playing in an acoustic trio with Ralph Towner and Nana Vasconcelos, writing for the Cikada String Quartet on 'Hyperborean', leading or co-leading groups with Markus Stockhausen and Vassilis Tsabropoulos...the list goes on.
Apart from being a terrific bassist, one of Europe's very best, Andersen's ability to put together bands and bring out the best in his collaborators is legendary: (Jon Balke and Nils Petter Molvaer, for instance, both made their debuts with Andersen groups.)
Edinburgh-born saxophonist Tommy Smith, a wonderfully inventive player, first recorded for ECM at 18, as a member of Gary Burton's band on 'Whiz Kids' in 1986, then went on to record a series of albums for Blue Note, with star sidemen including John Scofield and Jack DeJohnette. He hosted the BBC Television series Jazz Types, began to write "classical" music, and launched the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. His many prizes include a British Jazz Award in 2002 as Best Tenor Saxophonist.
Paolo Vinaccia is an Italian jazz drummer who has lived in Norway for 30 years working with many major players in Scandinavian music including Arild Andersen, Terje Rypdal, Palle Mikkelborg, Nils Petter Molvær, Jon Christensen.
Personnel:
Arild Andersen - (double-bass, live electronics), Tommy Smith - (tenor saxophone), Paolo Vinaccia - (drums)