Of the November ECM jazz releases Keith Jarrett’s The Old Country, Colin Vallon’s Samares, Stephan Micus’ To the Rising Moon, Jakob Bro’s Taking Turns, Thomas Strønen’s Relations it’s Arild Andersen’s Landloper that struck us most.
Throb handed
Andersen, who turned 79 yesterday, is one of the few artists still on the roster who goes back almost to the beginnings of ECM Records. After all he is on the Jan Garbarek classic Afric Pepperbird recently reissued.
This new album out next month which is solo bass and electronics but which never suffers from underpopulation was recorded mainly at an Oslo venue Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene in 2020.
Landloper contains originals, what the label typically accurately captions ”some free jazz classics”, traditional folk music and more.
Andersen’s rig includes bass and use of a Gibson Echoplex Pro Plus loop machine and a TC Electronic M 2000 signal processor.
The electronic loops Andersen plays against were created in real time and that’s crucial.
Fans of Scottish sax great Tommy Smith will know ‘Dreamhorse’ on this new album from his collaboration with Andersen and Paolo Vinaccia (1954-2019) on the marvellous Live at Belleville here, the second of the 6 tracks. It is extremely beautiful. There’s a certain transcendental beatific vision contained within its lingering impact.
A fanfare of free-jazz classics
Thriving on a riff
And as for the title track ‘Landloper’ – the word can mean someone with no fixed home or tramp whether that sense is meant or not is unclear – nevertheless the inspired riff raffery of the piece goes further back to the 1980s and its very brief incarnation on Lifelines (an album that had Kenny Wheeler on it, life affirming on ‘A Song I Used To Play’) is a touchstone.
Lonely Woman
There’s another Smith and Paolo Vinaccia connection in the inclusion of ‘Mira’. A Norwegian traditional is also in the blend.
Angels dining at the Ritz
And there’s a version of 1940s standard ‘A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square’ – the stately main melody of which is not a million miles away in certain fragments from Andersen’s own ‘A Song I Used to Play’ mentioned above in parenthesis – plus Ornette Coleman classic ‘Lonely Woman’ from The Shape of Jazz To Come, Charlie Haden’s ‘Song for Ché’ and Albert Ayler’s ‘Ghosts’.
Bob’s your uncle
Landloper also contains a piece recorded at Arild’s home written by the Roland Kirk I Talk With the Spirits legend drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses a past collaborator of Andersen’s and arranged by the bassist called ‘Peace Universal.’
An Affirmation
Since Mira a decade ago Andersen has released albums such as 2016 live album The Rose Window (Deutsche Media Productions) with Helge Lien and Gard Nilssen.
And in 2018 again with Vincaccia and Smith for ECM the great bassist was heard on In House Science.
But probably of all this work we liked quartet record Affirmation from 2022 – which had Marius Neset and the great pianist Lien again on it – most of all but typically with Andersen the bar is set extremely high.
Looping possibilities
Paul Bley in the 1970s got Andersen started on the use of electronics in tandem with the bass.
He enquired of Andersen, according to ECM ”’You have a pick-up on the bass? You could transform the sound electronically’.”
And so Andersen started with a Roland echo machine. Andersen says that he got into the area more deeply ”when Bill Frisell turned me on to the Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Digital Delay, which opened up a lot of looping possibilities being explored at the time by artists from Jon Hassell to Brian Eno.”
Landloper is out on 29 November.
Just listening to Dreamhorse now….very intriguing….looking forward to hearing the whole album. Thanks for the tip!