Description
180g vinyl pressing of Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick's 2021 ECM album 'When We Leave'. Eick's expressive playing, which according to the New York Times radiates a "pristine yet penetrating tone", is remarkably well complemented in the company of his gifted supporting players and fellow travelers. Violinist Hakon Aase, one of the outstanding improvisers of his generation, shadows the leader with lines that reflect a profound background in folk as well as jazz.
Drummers Helge Andeas Norbakken and Torstein Lofthus mirror their exchanges, as they interact with purring precision. Near the centre of the action, pianist Andras Ulvo and bass guitarist Audun Erlien ferry ideas between frontline and rhythm section and make statements of their own. On several tracks, the delicate swell of Stian Carstensen's pedal steel guitar adds a dimension of mystery.
'When we leave' was recorded at Oslo's Rainbow Studio in August 2020.
Mathias Eick: trumpet, keyboard, vocals
Hakon Aase: violin, percussion
Andreas Ulvo: piano
Audun Erlien: bass
Torstein Lofthus: drums
Helge Andreas Norbakken: drums, percussion
Stian Carstensen: pedal steel guitar
Press:
"Eick plays his delicate melodies with a quiet intensity and sometimes, as on Turning, there are echoes of the late Kenny Wheeler's radiant tone...Sun rising over lake music? Well, it's a rather beautiful lake and a vivid sunrise." - LondonJazzNews
"There's a wistfulness, a sense of melodic yearning, that informs Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick's tenderly honed tone, at times reminiscent of the voice-like melancholy of an Armenian duduk. Here, amid a well-chosen septet, the opening Loving sets the tone, with lyrically murmuring trumpet, Håkon Aase's violin adding an edgy, sinuous presence and Stian Cartensen painting in swells of steel guitar, as bustling drums keep things shifting." - **** The Scotsman