Anders Jormin has been a vital contributor to music on ECM over the last fifteen years, a powerful presence on recordings by Charles Lloyd , Don Cherry, Bobo Stenson, Tomasz Stanko and Jon Balke. “In winds, in light” turns the spotlight on Jormin as composer-arranger. Written in response to a commission to compose new sacred music, and setting exceptional poetry for Lena Willemark to sing, the musical concept expanded as Anders’ unique quintet toured it through Sweden. Subsequently, the album was recorded in the large and resonant Organ Hall of the Gothenburg Music Aademy.
In winds, in light
Anders Jormin
- 1Vårstäv
01:10 - 2Introitus
01:36 - 3Sång 80
06:08 - 4Choral
08:28 - 5In winds
03:02 - 6Sandstone
02:01 - 7Allt
06:37 - 8Soapstone
02:10 - 9Gryning
03:31 - 10Each man
00:53 - 11Transition
01:08 - 12Flying
03:10 - 13Sommarorgel
04:49 - 14Lovesong
06:33 - 15Limestone
01:27 - 16En gång
08:50
In Winds, In Light originated as a commission to create new sacred music, but instead of creating a straightforward song cycle, Jormin has instead composed a work that incorporates lyrics by Swedish poets Harry Edmund Martinson, Pär Lagerkvist, Johannes Edfelt and Lotta Olsson-Anderberg, along with William Blake and Jormin himself, into a series of songs that meld extended compositional form with a more exploratory improvisational concept. The core of the group is Jormin, pianist Marilyn Crispell and percussionist Raymond Strid, a unit that has worked together over a period of years. Renowned classical organist Karin Nelson demonstrates an ability that reaches beyond her reputation in baroque improvisation, into a more contemporary context. Swedish singer Lena Willemark is known to ECM fans as the singer for two groups centered on the folk tradition, the Nordan Project and Frifot. But with Jormin’s compositions and lyrics that expound on the larger concept of spirituality in the firmament, Willemark proves herself to be a more profound vocalist, sometimes caressing the lyrics, other times screaming them in almost existential pain.
John Kelman, All About Jazz
Neue geistlich Musik sollte er schreiben. So lautete der Kompositionsauftrag, den der schwedische Bassist Anders Jormin erhielt, und heraus kam ein Song-Zyklus, der auf Gedichten von verschiedenen schwedischen Lyrikern sowie von William Blake basiert. Auch die musikalische Umsetzung ist ungewöhnlich. ... Jormin gelingen Miniaturen von seltener Schönheit. Und Marilyn Crispell, die wird sowieso immer besser: „Allt“ ist ein Musterbeispiel ihrer schlichten, hoch ökonomischen Spielweise.
Rolf Thomas, Jazzthing
Als einer der führenden Jazz-Bassisten Skandinaviens gilt der Schwede Anders Jormin seit langem. In diesem Auftragswerk, einem sakralen Songzyklus, kommt aber vor allem seine Erfahrung mit Volks-, Kammer- und freier Improvisationsmusik zur Geltung. Hier vertont er Lyrik von schwedischen Dichtern, dem englischen Romantiker William Blake sowie eigene Texte und wählt dazu ein ungewöhnlich besetztes Ensemble, in dem die Kombination von Kirchenorgel und Klavier überraschend schlüssig wirkt. Vokalistin Lena Willemark kann ihren im Folk wurzelnden Gesang bis zum expressiven Schrei steigern. Doch geht es hier eher darum, in Zwischenräume zu lauschen.
Berthold Klostermann, Fono Forum
Bassist and composer Jormin, who has cut a multi-faceted, distinguished path through the Scandinavian music scene, brings together an arrestingly accomplished quintet ... for an album of commissioned sacral music. It combines elements of folk, contemporary classical and free improvisation in a kind of solemn consistency of purpose, which produces moments of stark beauty and jolting anguish.
Ray Comiskey, Irish Times
Anders Jormin zeigt hier einmal mehr seine enorme Vielseitigkeit und sein kompositorisches Talent in einem Werk, an das man mit klarem Geist und weit geöffneten Ohren herangehen sollte, ja muss. Dann kann man erfahren, wie es dem Ensemble ... gelingt, dem Hörer inneren Frieden und Zuversicht einzuhauchen.
Peter Billaudelle, Jazzpodium
Lena Willemark est l’interprète d’un cycle de chansons composé par le contrebassiste de jazz Anders Jormin pour l’inauguration de la cathédrale de Västerås. L’improvisation s’y manifeste dans les splendides parties de contrebasse et dans la complicité du trio régulier d’Anders Jormin : la pianiste Marilyn Crispell et le percussionniste Raymond Strid. Improvisatrice, mais dans le domaine baroque, l’organiste Karin Nelson recentre discrètement le disque vers les partitions d’un folklore imaginaire. Les accents de musique ancienne se mêlent ici à des aspérités harmoniques et sonores nimbées d’une délicate retenue. La voix de Lena Willemark sert les textes de William Blake et de poètes suédois avec une émotion tendue qui la protège de tout académisme et de tout effort de classification.
Franck Bergerot, Le Monde de la musique
Commissioned to write new sacred music to be premiered in the cathedral of Västerås in Sweden, Anders Jormin rose to the challenge with a song cycle inspired by poetic texts that might be described as “pantheistic”. The words he has chosen, by great Swedish poets Harry Edmund Martinson, Pär Lagerkvist, Johannes Edfelt and Lotta Olsson-Anderberg, as well as by the English visionary William Blake, celebrate manifestations of “divine” energy in the universe and in nature. “Far out on flaming horizons / quivers an eye, a nucleus/ moving in pity – the distant / star of love, magic, eternal. / Every time it looks at the earth / a meadow springs up, and blossoms”, writes Martinson. To bring such vivid words and images alive, Jormin needed a special band, and formed one from his wide network of musical associates.
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