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Arild Andersen

He has been one of Europe's leading bass player since the early 70-ties. Andersen started out as a member of the Jan Garbarek Quartet (67-73). The group also included Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen. During 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 these years.

In 1972-74, he visited New York several times and worked with the 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 1981 he had a band with Alphonse Mouzon, Bill Frisell and John Taylor (A Molde Concert, ECM). This band also toured Europe in 1983, this time with John Abercrombie on guitar.

In 1982 he formed "The Arild Andersen Quintet" with Jon Christensen (dr) Jon Balke (p`), Tore Brunborg (sax), Nils Petter Molvaer (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 the 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.

In 1993, Arild Andersen released 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. In 1988, he started 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 1990 and performed more than 40 times including Town Hall, New York, Germany and Scandinavia. "Sagn" was recorded in 1991 on the Norwegian label "Kirkelig Kulturverksted" and later released on ECM. In 1993 Andersen 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.

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Album Review

Don Cherry: Where Is Brooklyn? & Eternal Rhythm - Revisited

Read "Where Is Brooklyn? & Eternal Rhythm - Revisited" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


Nel percorso artistico di molti, è decisivo il rapporto tra emancipazione ed auto-affermazione. Il jazz moderno è spesso testimone di una dialettica feconda tra individualismo e trama collettiva, ma è dirimente il tema dell'originalità. “Se sei come tutti gli altri, a che serve il jazz?," diceva spesso Monk. E un vero “percorso," costellato da innumerevoli stazioni, è stato quello di Don Cherry, mai del tutto soddisfatto delle sue conquiste, costantemente messe in discussione. Ammesso e non concesso che Cherry sia ...

Album Review

Arild Andersen: Affirmation

Read "Affirmation" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Il contrabbassista norvegese Arild Andersen è uno dei protagonisti di quella generazione di musicisti (insieme a Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Jon Christensen, Bobo Stenson, Edward Vesala) che grazie all'etichetta ECM, nel cui catalogo è presente con regolarità fin dal lontano 1971, ha contribuito all'affermazione del jazz scandinavo fino ad allora praticamente sconosciuto. Per il suo più recente progetto ha costituito un nuovo quartetto chiamando a sé alcuni musicisti, anch'essi norvegesi, appartenenti a generazioni successive alla sua, ma già completamente affermati ...

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Album Review

Arild Andersen Group: Affirmation

Read "Affirmation" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


For almost half a century, Arild Andersen has been a pillar of Manfred Eicher's ECM label. His ECM albums have traversed dissimilar territory, from the brooding Shimri (1976), the folk-influenced Sagn (1990), to the orchestral grandeur of Live at Belleville (2008). At seventy-seven, the Norwegian bassist offers the almost entirely improvised Affirmation. Andersen is joined by tenor saxophonist Marius Neset, pianist Helge Lien, and drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen. Andersen recorded with Lien on The Rose Window (Deutsche Media Productions, 2016) ...

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Album Review

Arild Andersen Quartet: Affirmation

Read "Affirmation" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Arild Andersen began his association with ECM Records in 1975, with the release of his album Clouds In My Head. He has released over 20 more recordings in a leadership role for the label, and has participated in even more albums--for ECM and other labels--in a sideman role, joining artists as diverse as pianists Bobo Stenson, Ketil Bjornstad and Yelena Eckemoff, saxophonists Jan Garbarek and Tommy Smith. trombonist Roswell Rudd and singer Sheila Jordan. He has proved himself a prolific ...

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Live Review

Norwegian Digital Jazz Festival 2020, Part 3

Read "Norwegian Digital Jazz Festival 2020, Part 3" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Norwegian Digital Jazz Festival Sentralen Oslo, Norway December 8-11, 2020 December 8Beady Belle Beady Belle is a soul/jazz band led by vocalist Beate S. Lech. For this performance she was joined by her husband Marius Reksjø on electric bass, plus keyboardist and backing vocalist David Wallumrød, drummer and backing vocalist Bjørn Sæther, and backing vocalists Sofie Tollefsbøl and Anja Martine Mørk. Most of these musicians ...

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Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals

Read "Nocturnal Animals" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Pianist-composer Yelena Eckemoff is predictably unpredictable. After an early series of piano trio albums she worked with larger ensembles, culminating in the sextet (plus vocalists) of Better Than Gold And Silver (L&H, 2018). After cutting back to a duet with drummer Manu Katché on Colors (L&H, 2019) she returns with a larger band, but with a difference; this is a quartet with double bassist Arild Andersen (her longest collaborator), and drummer/percussionists Jon Christensen and Thomas Strønen. It may ...

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Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals

Read "Nocturnal Animals" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


"You're busy appearing or you're busy disappearing." Drummer-bandleader Art Blakey may have said that; if he didn't, he should have. Somebody had to express the importance of presenting your work, for getting it out there to an audience. This goes for virtually any artist in any medium. Double down on that for people who create jazz. Pianist Yelena Eckemoff rolls with the “busy appearing" concept. She is prolific; since her debut recording , Cold Sun (L & H, ...

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Recording

Pianist Yelena Eckemoff Reaches New Heights Working With The Norwegian Dream Team Of Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen, And Tore Brunborg On "Everblue"

Pianist Yelena Eckemoff Reaches New Heights Working With The Norwegian Dream Team Of Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen, And Tore Brunborg On "Everblue"

Source: All About Jazz

By Dan Bilawsky When pianist Yelena Eckemoff released Cold Sun (L & H Production, 2010)—a trio date with drumming legend Peter Erskine and Danish bass whiz Mads Vinding—the jazz world was introduced to a startlingly fresh voice destined for great things. Over the course of the six albums that followed, Eckemoff lived up to that promise, delivering organically-crafted music reflective of her classical background, fascination with the natural world, poetic soul, communicative spirit, and overall open-mindedness. Now, Eckemoff is poised ...

Performance / Tour

Trio Edition Featuring Christy Doran (g), Arild Andersen (b), Marc Halbheer (d)

Trio Edition Featuring Christy Doran (g), Arild Andersen (b), Marc Halbheer (d)

Source: Marc Halbheer

Driving rhythms, intricate harmonic decoration, thrusting melodic lines and stellar musicianship are the keywords to describe the sound of Trio Edition. Christy Doran: A focal point in contemporary guitar playing. Arild Andersen: A leading figure in European jazz. Marc Halbheer: A navigator beyond borders in the world of rhythm. On Tour in Spain April 2014 2.4. La Coruña / Filloa Jazz Club 3.4. Toledo / Circulo de Arte 4.4. Salamanca / Plan ...

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Performance / Tour

Killing Pain, Not Time: Arild Andersen Trio Live Report

Killing Pain, Not Time: Arild Andersen Trio Live Report

Source: Between Sound and Space - An ECM Records Resource

June 11, 2011 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival Lutheran Church of the Reformation I find it difficult to begin any review about Arild Andersen without billing him simply as a “Norwegian bassist." Succinct though the term may be, it hardly hints at the far reach of his fingertips, bow, and musical vision. A packed house felt some of that reach in the distance he'd so graciously traveled to bring his latest outfit to this year's Rochester ...

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Recording

One Track Mind: Arild Andersen with Bill Frisell, "Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams" (1981)

One Track Mind: Arild Andersen with Bill Frisell, "Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams" (1981)

Source: Something Else!

By S. Victor Aaron Some time ago...two years and three months ago to be more precise...we raved on the double-bass mastery of the Norwegian ECM Records mainstay Arild Andersen, and noted then that he “may not be the first name that comes up when one thinks of the greatest living acoustic bassists, but he's at least earned the right to be considered somewhere on that list." This is a One Track Mind where you might say that little-known genius is ...

Tommy Smith
saxophone, tenor

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Affirmation

ECM Records
2022

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Nocturnal Animals

L&H Production
2020

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In-House Science

ECM Records
2018

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Desert

L & H Production
2018

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Short Story

From: Affirmation
By Arild Andersen

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