DANIEL HERSKEDAL - Harbour
Edition: EDN1181
Daniel Herskedal: tuba, bass trumpet; Eyolf Dale: piano, celesta; Helge Andreas Norbakken: drums, marimba.
Recorded 4th-6th December 2020 by Henning Svoren at Ocean Sound Recordings; mixed by August Wanngren.
Each piece on this delightful set has a tendency to creep up on the listener – and then end abruptly. As if it doesn’t want to intrude or to outstay its welcome. But, like the most entertaining of guests, you are delighted to let it in and sad to see it go – wishing that the unfolding anecdotes and stories that swirl around each piece could last longer than the 3 or 4 minutes allotted to it. Three of the tunes on this album have been released as single (‘The Beaches of Lesbos’, track 10 which closes the album, ‘The Mariner’s Cross’, which opens the album, and ‘Arriving at Ellis Island’, track 5). Each of these capture Herskedal’s mastery of the tuba – not an instrument that springs to mind as a traditional one for jazz but which he has minted his own, highly original sound – and the blend of jazz and wide range of rhythms that characterise his compositions. In many places, the music carries a strong flavour of Middle Eastern sounds and Norwegian folk rhythms, in other places, Dale’s piano has the languid elegance of a Grieg sonata. Indeed, in several places on this set, I was reminded of Grieg’s ‘Funeral March of Richard Nordraak’ – not because these was much similarity in tune or style but because of the ways in which the music builds with solemn dignity.
Across all of the pieces, Norbakken’s drumming shifts the pulse of each piece in such a way as to spotlight nuances and shifts in mood. The longest piece, ‘The Lighthouse on the Horizon’, track 3, beautifully captures the interplay of the trio and the ways in which the soft reverb of Herskedal’s tuba (subtly shimmered in the mixing) carries the elegiac tune. In places, bass trumpet (I think) shadow the main instrument and provide depth on which the piano elaborates.
While the titles of each piece refer to travelling on water, with ports and docks, lighthouses and beaches, the overall feel is less one of travelling than of arriving. The ‘harbour’ of the title being the safe haven that the trio invite the listener into (just like the cover image). But this harbour is not simply the endpoint of a journey, because each composition carries within it the excitement, the perils, the joys and fears of the journey that has brought us to this place. That, I think, is the genius of Herskedal’s compositions and his playing – that behind the lyricism of the melodies, he is able to draw our attention to the fragility of life and the smallness of our place in nature. Listening to this album is like standing on a deserted beach looking out to sea on a wintry morning as the sun creates shifting patterns over the water.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Edition: EDN1181
Daniel Herskedal: tuba, bass trumpet; Eyolf Dale: piano, celesta; Helge Andreas Norbakken: drums, marimba.
Recorded 4th-6th December 2020 by Henning Svoren at Ocean Sound Recordings; mixed by August Wanngren.
Each piece on this delightful set has a tendency to creep up on the listener – and then end abruptly. As if it doesn’t want to intrude or to outstay its welcome. But, like the most entertaining of guests, you are delighted to let it in and sad to see it go – wishing that the unfolding anecdotes and stories that swirl around each piece could last longer than the 3 or 4 minutes allotted to it. Three of the tunes on this album have been released as single (‘The Beaches of Lesbos’, track 10 which closes the album, ‘The Mariner’s Cross’, which opens the album, and ‘Arriving at Ellis Island’, track 5). Each of these capture Herskedal’s mastery of the tuba – not an instrument that springs to mind as a traditional one for jazz but which he has minted his own, highly original sound – and the blend of jazz and wide range of rhythms that characterise his compositions. In many places, the music carries a strong flavour of Middle Eastern sounds and Norwegian folk rhythms, in other places, Dale’s piano has the languid elegance of a Grieg sonata. Indeed, in several places on this set, I was reminded of Grieg’s ‘Funeral March of Richard Nordraak’ – not because these was much similarity in tune or style but because of the ways in which the music builds with solemn dignity.
Across all of the pieces, Norbakken’s drumming shifts the pulse of each piece in such a way as to spotlight nuances and shifts in mood. The longest piece, ‘The Lighthouse on the Horizon’, track 3, beautifully captures the interplay of the trio and the ways in which the soft reverb of Herskedal’s tuba (subtly shimmered in the mixing) carries the elegiac tune. In places, bass trumpet (I think) shadow the main instrument and provide depth on which the piano elaborates.
While the titles of each piece refer to travelling on water, with ports and docks, lighthouses and beaches, the overall feel is less one of travelling than of arriving. The ‘harbour’ of the title being the safe haven that the trio invite the listener into (just like the cover image). But this harbour is not simply the endpoint of a journey, because each composition carries within it the excitement, the perils, the joys and fears of the journey that has brought us to this place. That, I think, is the genius of Herskedal’s compositions and his playing – that behind the lyricism of the melodies, he is able to draw our attention to the fragility of life and the smallness of our place in nature. Listening to this album is like standing on a deserted beach looking out to sea on a wintry morning as the sun creates shifting patterns over the water.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
