Landloper (Live) Arild Andersen

• 1 Peace Universal (Live) 06:40
• 2 Dreamhorse (Live) 04:24
• 3 Ghosts / Old Stev / Landloper (Live) 07:48
• 4 A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Live) 04:43
• 5 Mira (Live) 04:32
• 6 Lonely Woman / Song for Che (Live) 06:15
• Total Runtime 34:22

Info for Landloper (Live)

Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen, an ECM recording artist since 1970, presents his first-ever solo album. Characteristically broad in its musical scope and creative range, Landloper was recorded primarily at Oslo’s Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene. Choice of repertoire in this recital reflects on Arild’s musical journey, and, alongside original compositions, new light is cast upon some free jazz classics, traditional folk music, and more. Throughout, Andersen’s performances combine his masterful bass playing with real-time creation of electronic loops that bring an atmospheric dimension to solo playing as well as fresh opportunities for improvisational interaction.

The set from Oslo includes: Arild’s pieces “Dreamhorse”, “Landloper” and “Mira”; “Old Stev”, a Norwegian traditional; the jazz standard “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square”; Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman”, Charlie Haden’s “Song for Che” and a spectral fragment of Albert Ayler’s “Ghosts”.

“Dreamhorse” is a piece whose theme, Arild recalls, first emerged during an improvisation at the Kongsberg Festival in 1994, one of the first occasions where he’d played solo. It was subsequently further developed and performed in many different contexts: there is a trio version, for instance, with Tommy Smith and Paolo Vinaccia on Live At Belleville. In the Oslo concert Andersen created three loops, “first by tapping the strings to establish a rhythm, then adding harmonics, and then the deep bass notes. And then I improvise on top of that.”

The use of electronics in tandem with the bass is a concept that Arild has been exploring intermittently for decades. “It was actually Paul Bley who got me started in the early 1970s: ‘You have a pick-up on the bass? You could transform the sound electronically.’ And I started with a Roland echo machine, just making short loops for effects. In the 80s I got into it 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...” Andersen’s current set up, used at the Victoria Nasjonal Jazz Scene, includes a Gibson Echoplex Pro Plus loop machine and a TC Electronic M 2000 signal processor. “In the live improvised context it’s very much like playing with someone. I’ll press a button, listen to what comes out, and see what I can play against it.”

“Ghosts” introduces the album’s first medley, with subtle playing of Ayler’s theme, using the bow up near the bridge and bringing out luminous harmonics. For Andersen the tune carries memories of his work with Jan Garbarek and Edward Vesala in the Triptkyon trio of the early 1970s. “Ghosts” segues into “Old Stev”, traditional Norwegian folk music that Arild learned in his Sagn project with singer Kirsten Bråten Berg, and from there it’s a logical step to title piece “Landloper”, conveying images of wanderers and vagabonds. This too is a piece with roots, first appearing on the 1980 recording Lifelines (with Kenny Wheeler, Paul Motian and Steve Dobrogosz…)

“A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square”, written by Manning Sherwin for the musical New Faces in 1940, has long since been adapted as a jazz standard. Arild revisited it at a tribute concert for his late comrade Jon Christensen, where he played together with Jon’s daughter, singer Emilie Stoesen Christensen, after establishing a chordal arrangement with double stops on the bass.

In astronomy, “Mira” is the name of a pulsating red giant star of variable appearance that expands and contracts periodically. Arild Andersen’s “Mira” also takes different shapes and forms, and was last heard as title track of his 2014 trio album.

The aching melody of Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman”, introduced on The Shape of Jazz to Come, has inspired a thousand cover versions. Andersen has admired the tune since the early 1960s, and notes that the version here, “with an extended bridge”, is influenced by Karin Krog, with whom he once played it. Guitar-like strumming announce another famous theme associated with Ornette, Charlie Haden’s elegiac “Song for Che”, which concludes the recital. The tunes ideally illustrates both the power and the singing quality that are hallmarks of Arild’s bass playing. “I didn’t originally plan it that way, but when I look at the track selection and see Ayler, Ornette and Haden side by side, it’s a nice tribute to music I have listened to all these years and been affected and inspired by.”

The live set is preceded by a piece recorded at Arild’s home and which effectively serves as an overture to the project: “Peace Universal” written by drummer Bob Moses and arranged by Arild: “I toured with Bob a couple of years ago, and we had a good musical understanding. Later he sent me this little tune and explained he was sending it out to ten bass players and asking each of them to do their own version of this simple melody for an album he was planning. So I played the melody at home, and then developed this sort of string arrangement with chords and variations and added to it, so this one piece actually became more like studio work than the live things. I recorded everything and sent it to Bob, and said I’d like to include it on my own solo album, and he was very happy about that. It was Manfred Eicher’s idea to put it at the start of the album.”

Landloper was recorded in Oslo in June 2020 and mixed at Rainbow Studio in June 2024.

Arild Andersen, double bass, electronics

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.

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.

Booklet for Landloper (Live)