ARILD ANDERSEN “Landloper”

ARTIST

Arild Andersen

ALBUM TITLE

“Landloper”

LABEL

ECM

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Those attuned to Kabbalah and numerology suggest that 2025 will be a special year for Arild Andersen. The elegant bassist from Strømmen is preparing to celebrate his 80th birthday in style, with a long and distinguished career behind him. It also marks half a century since his debut as a leader on ECM with Clouds in My Head, which showcased the talents of his formidable companions in adventure: Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Ketil Bjørnstad, and other major figures in Norwegian and international improvised music, including George Russell, Sam Rivers, Roswell Rudd, Bill Frisell, Sheila Jordan, and Albert Mangelsdorff.

Now, after releasing some forty albums as both leader and sideman, Andersen presents his first solo project for Manfred Eicher’s label. Landloper is an old-fashioned record – beginning with its length, a concise 34 minutes, like the LPs of the past. The performance was recorded at the Victoria National Jazz Scene in Oslo, one of the city’s premier clubs. What emerges is a masterful and evocative recital for double bass and real-time loops, divided into six tracks. Alongside original material – including the lyrical, dreamlike Dreamhorse – Andersen pays tribute to tradition and to the pioneers of free jazz. One medley begins with Albert Ayler’s Ghosts; another alternates Ornette Coleman’s Lonely Woman with Charlie Haden’s Song for Che.

The result is a distilled essence of Andersen’s artistry and poetics. His clear, enveloping tone has long since become both a personal signature and a pillar of European jazz.

—Ivo Franchi

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