Swedish pianist
Bobo Stenson released
Underwear, his initial trio offering for
ECM, in 1971. His lineup then included bassist
Anders Jormin and drummer
Jon Christensen. That incarnation developed a deeply intuitive language over three decades that resulted in
Reflections and
War Orphans. With 2008's
Cantando,
Jon Faelt became their permanent drummer.
Sphere, this incarnation's fourth studio outing, is a mirror image of 2018's
Contra la Indecision. The former offered a small handful of re-envisioned classical works interspersed with original compositions.
Sphere is the reverse. It is primarily comprised of works by 20th and 21st century composers including
Per Norgard,
Sven-Erik Baeck, and
Jean Sibelius, and offers two originals by
Jormin.
The set is bookended with
Norgard's "You Shall Plant a Tree." Composed in 1967, it is one of the composer's few "songs"; the original version was set to words by Danish poet
Piet Hein. A five-note piano motif mimics the hymnal cadences as
Faelt rumbles brushes across his tom-toms and
Jormin paces with a countermelody. The trio adds quiet improvisation as
Faelt uses all the materials in his kit. The closing version balances it with an authoritative use of the theme's lyricism in melodic group improv that channels the blues. "Unquestioned Answer" is
Jormin's tribute to
Charles Ives. A minor-key bass figure is underlined by
Stenson.
Faelt bridges the space between. After a plectrum solo, the bassist employs his bow, accompanied by sparse, dirgelike piano chords and the drummer's padded mallets.
Jormin's "Kingdom of Coldness" is anything but. He offers the circular six-note theme arco.
Stenson's lush chord voicings flesh out the melody before
Faelt moves it afield as a post-bop ballad.
There are two works here by
Baeck, the truly spectral yet magnificent tonal study titled "Spring" and the album's hinge cut, "Communion Psalm." On the latter,
Stenson's right-hand introduction emulates a chorale's voices -- albeit with a shade more intensity and melodic interplay.
Jormin's brief, canny bass solo serves to frame the trio's interrogative work.
Alfred Janson's "Ky and Beautiful Madame Ky" was arranged by
Jormin; he goes the extra mile to highlight the composer's jazz background. The inquisitive melody is offered in fragments by
Stenson and in double time by
Faelt's brushes. The bassist's heft is the engine as the trio starts to swing.
Sibelius' "Valsette Op. 40/1" is rendered abstractly. As
Stenson drops chordal shards, the drummer adds syncopated accents; he uses everything from the rims of his kick drum to muted, rubbed cymbals.
Jormin's tones, from high-pitched squeals played arco to rumbling low-end plectrum drones, provide impetus for harmonic and rhythmic invention from the group. The bow returns in the final third as the trio employs modalism and jazz balladry to illuminate the tune's haunting mystery. Fifty-two years after releasing his
ECM leader debut,
Stenson and his trio are still deep in the throes of discovery. ~ Thom Jurek
