As Time Passes Arild Andersen, Daniel Sommer, Rob Luft

• 1 As Time Passes 07:55
• 2 Ea 04:23
• 3 Fifth Winter 04:58
• 4 North Wind 06:47
• 5 Basslines 03:54
• 6 Meditation 04:44
• 7 Evening Song 06:51
• 8 A Day in March 06:30
• Total Runtime 46:02

Info for As Time Passes

A leading Norwegian bassist for over 30 years, ECM legend Arild Andersen forges promising relationships with two rising stars - Daniel Sommer (drums) and Rob Luft (guitar) in an expansive, playful exploration of song and collective improvisation. ‘As Time Passes’ is set to release on April 26th on April Records.

Led by Sommer, the release signifies the first chapter of the drummer’s much-anticipated Nordic trilogy on April Records, aiming to capture and document Nordic improvisation and composition across three carefully curated ensembles.

Bassist Arild Andersen’s storied career stretches back to the 1970's as one of ECM’s first recording artists, collaborating with household names of the genre including Jan Garbarek, Don Cherry, Bill Frisell, John Taylor, Sonny Rollins, Chick Corea, and the list goes on.

Welcoming the opportunity to work with and nurture younger artists, the ensemble was born when Daniel Sommer selected Andersen for a project during his studies at the Danish National Academy of Music. Later, impressed by Luft’s performances in Ireland and Norway, Andersen suggested expanding the pair into a trio.

A transcendent musical voyage, ‘As Time Passes’ blurs the lines of conventional trio roles, and celebrates the evolution of jazz as a fluid, versatile form of expression. By providing each musician the freedom of becoming a key contributor in the melodic discourse, the trio channels the spirit of jazz veterans such as the Bill Evans Trio and free-jazz ensemble Air, while echoing the sounds and innovations of pan-European contemporary jazz.

Mixing pensive rubato ambience with energetic grooves, instrumental dexterity, a modern ECM-esque sound and folk undertones, the record’s compositional clarity combined with the spontaneity of a live performance flows across and between genres, borders and generations alike. Luft’s intricately overdubbed layers of acoustic guitars, vast reverbs, and contrapuntal melodies expand the sound of the three piece into an immersive world of textures.

Rendered in the stark beauty of Andersen's bass lines, the nuanced strokes of Sommer's drums, and capped with the lush, expansive timbres of Luft's guitar, "As Time Passes" is a testament to the enduring and ever-evolving wonder of Jazz.

Arild Andersen, double bass
Daniel Sommer, drums
Rob Luft, guitar

Arild Andersen
Born in Norway October 27-1945. He has been one of Europe’s leading bass player for more than 30 years. Andersen started out as a member of Jan Garbarek Quartet(67-73). The group also included Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen.In the same period he also worked with Norwegian singer Karin Krog and played in the rhythm section for visiting American musicians such as; Phil Woods, Dexter Gordon, Hampton Hawes, Johnny Griffin, Sonny Rollins, and Chick Corea. He also worked with Don Cherry and George Russell in this years.

In 1972-74 he visited New York several times and worked with Stan Getz Quartet, Sam Rivers trio, Sheila Jordan, Steve Kuhn and Paul Bley. In 1974 Arild Andersen formed his own quartet. The band toured Scandinavia and Europe and recorded 3 albums for ECM with this band. He also had a band together with singer Radka Toneff in the late 70-ties and early 80-ties.

In 1980 Arild Andersen put together a band that included Kenny Wheeler,Paul Motian,and Steve Dobrogosz(Lifelines-ECM). In -81 he had a band with Alphonse Mouzon, Bill Frisell and John Taylor (A Molde Concert ,ECM). This band also toured Europe in -83, this time with John Abercrombie on guitar.

1982 he formed «The Arild Andersen Quintet» with Jon Christensen dr. Jon Balke p, Tore Brunborg sax, Nils Petter Molvær tp. The band changed name later to «Masqualero». This band was in the forefront of European jazz for 10 years ,the last years as quartet without piano. Masqualero toured USA, Canada, East and West Europe and made four albums ,one for the Norwegian label «Odin » and three for ECM. Three of the albums won the Norwegian «Grammy»award. Arild Andersen released in 1993 a trio recording with Ralph Towner and Nana Vasconcelos, "If You Look Far Enough" on ECM.

Over the last years Arild Andersen has also spent time investing the possibility of combining traditional Norwegian folk music with improvised music. He started in 1988 a collaboration with singer Kirsten Braaten Berg, one of the leading artists in Norwegian folk music. This lead to the successful work «Sagn» premiered in -90 and performed more than 40 times including Town Hall, New York, Germany and Scandinavia. «Sagn» was recorded -91 on The Norwegian label «Kirkelig Kulturverksted» and later released on ECM. In 93 he premiered a new work called «Arv», also recorded on Kirkelig Kulturverksted.

In 1994 he wrote music for a theatre version on the Nobel prized trilogy «Kristin Lavransdatter» by Sigrid Undset. This also lead to several performances of the concert version of the music and a recording for Kirkelig Kulturverksted. Arild Andersens work » Hyperborean» , commissioned by » The Molde International Jazz festival» premiered in 95 .This was a 9-piece band including the Norwegian string quartet Cikada. The music was recorded in October-96 and was released in September 1997 by ECM.

1998 he formed a trio together with German trumpeter Markus Stockhausen and French percussion-player Patrice Heral. This trio+ Terje Rypdal as a guest, made a CD called ”Karta”, released sept 2000 by ECM.

1999 Andersen started a trio with English drummer John Marshall and the Greek piano player Vassilis Tsabroupolos. They released two cd’s on ECM, Achirana 2000 and The Triangle 2004.

In 2001 he played concerts at The Molde International Jazz Festival with Pat Metheney who was ”Artist in Recidence” and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilsen-Love. June 2002 he premiered the music to Sophocles Greek Drama ” Electra ” at the Herodes Theater in Athens. This performance was a part of the Athens Olympic Games cultural issue. The cd of the music was released as ”Electra” by ECM 2005.

In 2004 he started a colaboration with Hungarian Gutarist Ference Snetberger which led to a Quartet recording ”Joyosa” 2004 and a Trio Recording ”Nomad” 2005. In 2002 he became a member of the Dahl/Andersen/Heral trio which recorde two cd’s for Stunt records in Denmark . ”The Sign” and ”Moonwater”.

In 2005 Arild Andersen was ”Artist in Residence” at The Molde Jazz festical with 5 concerts during the week including one Soloconcert, Electra, Snetberger trio and a special project with Kudsi Ergunner and Nana Vasconcelos.

In 2005 he also wrote a commission work for a duo with Saxophonist Tommy Smith. This was called ”Independency” and led to the formation of his new trio with Paolo Vinaccia on drums and Tommy Smith on saxophone. This trio made a live recording at the club Belleville in Oslo autumn 2007. It was released 2008 on ECM ”Live at Belleville”. It got raving reviews around the world and this trio is Arild Andersens main project these days with concerts around the world.

Arild Andersen received "Prix du Musicien Européen” 2008 from the ”Academie du Jazz ” in France.

In 2010 he visited Japan for the first time and his trio was claimed by the Japan press to be the highlight of the ”Tokyo International Jazzfestival 2010”. In october 2010 he did four concerts with Scottish National Jazz Orchestra under direction of Tommy Smith. The music was a celebration of ECM with songs recorded on the lable over the years like Keith Jarrett´s My Song, Chick Corea´s Crystal Silence, Dave Holland´s May Dance and more. The Glasgow concert was released on ECM spring 2012 called » Celebration».

January 2014 he released «MIRA» on ECM a new cd with his trio with Paolo Vinaccia and Tommy Smith.

March 2018 he released a Live trio recording in Austria » In House Science» on ECM.

Rob Luft
is an award-winning 28-year-old jazz guitarist from London whose virtuosity has been compared to that of six-string legends John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco De Lucia. Praised by The Times for performances with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2015, who said he was destined “to achieve great things in the future”, Rob was subsequently the recipient of the 2016 Kenny Wheeler Prize from The Royal Academy of Music, and also of 2nd Prize in The 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival. His debut album, ‘Riser’, was released on Edition Records in 2017 to widespread critical acclaim from the European jazz media. John Fordham wrote in The Guardian that it’s a “very sophisticated debut, but given Luft’s old-soul achievements since his early teens, we should have heard it coming”. Following the success of his first album, Rob was nominated for a string of awards – ‘Breakthrough Act’ in the 2018 Jazz FM Awards, ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in the 2018 Parliamentary Jazz Awards and ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in the 2019 Jazz FM Awards.

His eagerly-awaited second album, “Life is the Dancer” was released in April 2020 to critical acclaim.

Concert highlights for Rob are performances with Django Bates, The Cinematic Orchestra, Loose Tubes, and Arve Henriksen. As well as leading his own quintet, Rob collaboratively runs several other projects, including a duo with the Albanian jazz/folk singer and ECM recording artist Elina Duni, a mainstream jazz quartet with Dave O’Higgins, and the nuevo tango quintet Deco Ensemble. Rob is also a regular member of some of London’s finest modern jazz groups, such as Byron Wallen’s “Four Corners”, Eddie Parker’s “Airborn”, and the Chris Batchelor/Steve Buckley quintet. His playing has been documented on a wide variety of albums over the past five years, and he appears on the ‘Sweet Sister Suite’ by Tommy Smith’s Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO); Liane Carroll’s album ‘Seaside’ (Linn Records); two albums from Italian drum virtuoso Enzo Zirilli on Milanese label UR Records (‘Zirobop’ & ‘Ten to Late’); and the latest release from Misha Mullov-Abbado on Edition Records (‘Cross-Platform Interchange’). He was the recipient of the 2015 Peter Whittingham Award as part of two collective ensembles: Patchwork Jazz Orchestra and jazz-rock quartet Big Bad Wolf.

In May 2019 Rob was selected as BBC New Generation Jazz Artist 2019-2022, an accolade granted to “some of the world’s most exceptional young musicians” (Emma Bloxham, Editor, BBC Radio 3). He has also collaborated with UK jazz great Dave O’Higgins on a new recording released on the Ubuntu Music label in October 2019 – ‘O’Higgins & Luft Play Monk & Trane’. The album, supported by a 40-date tour, showcased a thrilling new band, with Rod Youngs on drums and both Scott Flanigan & Ross Stanley on organ.

In 2022, Rob will be touring across the U.K. and continental Europe with several projects, such as his eponymous quintet, the “Lost Ships” project with Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni, Ellen Andrea Wang’s Closeness Trio, as well as much much more. Check out the gigs page for more information on Rob’s live touring schedule.

This album contains no booklet.