Arild Andersen

Landloper is the first solo album by the Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen, one of the most widely acclaimed bassists in jazz, recorded here after decades of band projects. Alone with double bass and effect pedals, he builds every loop live during the performance, with no pre-recorded tracks. The programme traces his own path, from free jazz and Norwegian folk music to a romantic standard and several of his own themes.

Most of the album was recorded in concert on 18 June 2020 at Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene in Oslo, with Espen Høydalsvik as engineer. Andersen mixed it himself with Martin Abrahamsen at Rainbow Studio in June 2024, and Manfred Eicher was executive producer. The opener, Peace Universal by Ra-Kalam Bob Moses, was recorded at home. Andersen's interest in electronics goes back to the early 1970s, when Paul Bley encouraged him to use an echo machine. Today he plays through a Gibson Echoplex Pro Plus loop machine and a TC Electronic M 2000 processor. "In the live improvised context it's very much like playing with someone," he says.

Dreamhorse grew out of a solo improvisation at the 1994 Kongsberg Festival. Andersen stacks three loops, first a rhythm tapped on the strings, then harmonics, then deep bass notes, and solos over them. The central medley opens with Albert Ayler's Ghosts, a reminder of his early-1970s trio Triptykon. It moves on to Old Stev, a folk tune from his Sagn project, and ends with the title piece, first heard on Lifelines. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square becomes a chordal arrangement in double stops. The album closes with Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman, given an extended bridge, flowing into Charlie Haden's Song for Che.

For Nick Lea in Jazz Views the album was "totally enthralling with wonderful melodies in plentiful supply", and proof that loops and pedals can be a valid musical tool. In UK Jazz News Phil Johnson noted the almost orchestral washes behind fast, well-tuned pizzicato, and arco samples that can recall a saxophone or a seal. Michael Tucker in Jazz Journal praised his singing sound and intonation, and a programme that invites an immediate replay.

This is the CD edition, ECM 2826, released on 29 November 2024.