The Pilgrimage brings together German, Berlin-based guitarist-composer Arne Jensen (who has played with the Orchestra Baobab from Senegal and Austrian pianist David Helbock), Swedish, Gothenburg-based double bass master Anders Jormin, known for his recordings with legendary jazz musicians Don Cherry, John Taylor, Bobo Stenson, Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, Charles Lloyd and Kenny Wheeler, and German, fellow Berliner soprano sax player Uwe Steinmetz, who initiated this trio, composed music for the NDR Big Band and the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, in addition to collaborating with the likes of Joe Maneri and Tord Gustavsen, with a deep interest in Christian sacred music, and now a cantor in the Bayerwald deanery of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.
This trio first performed in 2016 at Gothenburg Cathedral as part of a Nordic church music festival where it immediately established deep rapport. The trio later toured in autumn 2022, deepening its dynamics, and finishing this tour in the Waldkirche (forest church) in Timmendorfer Strand, where the live album The Pilgrimage was captured. The trio chose the title of the album as it explores the origins of a universal human phenomenon and aims to forge a musical statement with a deeper, spiritual meaning.
This trio plays a chamber kind of Nordic jazz mixed with exotic touches of real and imaginative, cosmopolitan folk music, already cemented in the opening piece, the cover of the iconic «La Peregrinación» (The Pilgrimage) by Argentinian composer Ariel Ramirez (who composed Misa Criolla), where the trio sings beautifully the touching, folky theme. Jormin shines throughout this album with a commanding sound, anchoring the trio’s contemplative dynamics with his singing, earthy, warm tone. Just listen to the way he introduces – solo – the North Korean folk song «Red Flower». Jormin also brought to the trio the unlikely Krzysztof Komeda’s ballad «Sleep Safe And Warm» (also known as «Lullaby from Rosemary’s Baby») which he played before with Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko (in Litania-Music of Krzystof Komeda, ECM, 1997).
The Pilgrimage transforms the life-affirming experiences of Jensen and Steinmetz into moving, profound musical statements. Jansen’s «He Who Counts the Stars» matches scenes taken from the 15th-century Ulugh Beg Observatory in Uzbekistan with inspiration from the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, Steinmetz’s «The Promise» unfolds its melodic contours like an Indian morning raga, and «The Pilgrimage» was inspired by an unexpected visit to the Church of the Madonna d’Ongero in Lugano, where Hermann Hesse’s novella «Klingsor’s Last Summer» is set. His «New Flower» was written while teaching in Addis Ababa and celebrates-dances playfully the short-optimism of Ethiopia, soon soon descended into civil unrest. The trio concludes this touching, soulful and most humane journey with the hymn-like «Peace of the Earth».
Eyal Hareuveni
Arne Jansen (guitar), Anders Jormin (double bass), Uwe Steinmetz (soprano saxophone)
