Mira

Arild Andersen, Tommy Smith and Paolo Vinaccia previously raised the roof with intense and exultant collective playing on the CD Live At Belleville (recorded in 2007). Widely praised around the world, the album secured for Arild Andersen the Prix du Musicien Européen 2008 from the Academie du Jazz, and was an album-of-the-year choice in France’s Jazz Magazine and Jazzman. “Intensity” can, of course, be defined in many ways and on Mira recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow, the trio re-channel their music’s energies in a programme of soulful ballads and free-floating sound explorations. The combination of Anderson’s muscular and melodic bass and Smith’s vaulting and expressive tenor continues to be exceptionally compelling, and Vinaccia’s approach to ballad-playing is like nobody else’s. Most of the tunes on Mira are from Arild’s pen, though his cohorts also contribute material, with Smith switching to shakuhachi for an improvised dialogue with Vinaccia on “Raijin”. Tommy Smith also shines on Burt Bacharach’s “Alfie”, a tune the trio have been playing as an encore on recent concerts, savouring the prettiness of the melody.

Trio leader Andersen has played in almost every jazz ensemble context over the years, but there is something especially satisfying about hearing him in the bare boned trio format of sax, bass, drums. For long-time Andersen listeners this trio will also trigger memories of Arild in the early 70s, with the Triptykon-trio with Garbarek and Vesala, and the Sam Rivers Trio. The absence of a harmony instrument opens up new space for creative interplay and the three musicians, listening acutely, use it well.