Arcanum Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin, Markku Ounaskari

• 1 Nokitpyrt 02:57
• 2 Blib A 01:31
• 3 Armon Lapset 03:47
• 4 Folkesong 04:06
• 5 Trofast 04:41
• 6 Lost in Vanløse 05:16
• 7 Old Dreams 03:48
• 8 Koto 05:08
• 9 Polvere Uno 03:37
• 10 Pharao 04:32
• 11 Morning Meditation 01:41
• 12 Elegy 04:14
• 13 What Reason Could I Give 01:35
• 14 La Fontaine 02:47
• 15 Shadow Trail 02:46
• 16 Fata Morgana 02:28
• Total Runtime 54:54

Info for Arcanum

The Scandinavian project Arcanum brings together four artists all well-known to followers of music at ECM: Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin and Markku Ounaskari. They’ve played together in many permutations over the years, but this is their first album as a quartet. Already hailed as a “Nordic supergroup” in some quarters, the designation hardly conveys the thoughtful, reflective quality of the improvising and the sensitivity of the interaction here, whether playing music composed in real time or taking a written theme to new places.

Ounaksari, Jormin and Seim were all working with folksinger and kantele player Sinikka Langeland when the idea of a new band was first raised: “We’d often play as a trio during soundchecks, which was always very enjoyable, so I proposed booking a couple of concerts in Finland….”, Markku recalls. Trygve felt Arve Henriksen also had to be in the line-up, a suggestion easily agreed to. All four of the musicians had played together on Langeland’s Starflowers album in 2006 and on her later recordings including The Land That Is Not and The Magical Forest, and the Seim/Henriksen association stretched back still further, with Arve already a significant presence on Trygve’s ECM debut Different Rivers, recorded in 1998 and 1999. From the earliest days it was evident that there was something special in the way that Seim and Henriksen were able to bend and intertwine their sounds on saxophone and trumpet.

What, then, are the roots of Arcanum’s approach to music-making? Tryge Seim’s opening composition “Nokitpyrt” offers one clue. Anders Jormin calls it “a respectful bow to Scandinavian role models.” Read the song title backwards and you get close to Triptykon, Jan Garbarek’s seminal 1972 recording with Arild Andersen and Edward Vesala, which opened new perspectives for free balladry and found a spiritual affinity between post-Ayler improvising and Norwegian traditional music. The Arcanum quartet are similarly looking, through the prism of jazz creativity, at a broader scope of music and meaning.

This is evidenced in, for instance, their interpretation of the Finnish traditional tune “Armon Lapset”. Arve Henriksen: “This western Læstadian hymn was widely used in North Troms, Norway in the past. It helped to keep the Kven language alive, as a part of the Tornedal dialect and Finnish church language from the 1860s. We used this psalm as a starting point for a very free interpretation, quite far away from the original habitat.”

Anders Jormin’s tune “Koto” was composed in 1999 as part of a commission for Swedish Radio originally featuring Arve Henriksen and guitarist Marc Ducret, among others. Jormin’s fascination for Japanese traditional music was later intensified through his work with koto player Karin Nakagawa on albums including Trees of Light and Pasado en claro.

Jormin wrote “Elegy” with Arve, Trygve and Markku in mind “on the first day of the war in Ukraine”. It leads into a brief account of “What Reason Could I Give”, which Anders describes as “my favourite of Ornette Coleman’s many expressive and iconic pieces”. The beautiful ballad was included on Dona Nostra, Don Cherry’s final album – and the first ECM album on which Jormin appeared – in 1993, where it was played as a duet by Cherry and Bobo Stenson.

Collectively improvised pieces on Arcanum reveal an uncommon feeling for form. Exploration here is always highly focused, the musicians keeping things concise and to the point.

The band takes its musical concept to the road this autumn with concerts including Krokus Jazz Festival, Poland (October 23), Jazz In Bess, Lugano, Switzerland (November 27), Paradox, Tilburg, Netherlands (November 28), Bimhuis, Amsterdam, Netherlands, (November 29), LantarenVenster, Rotterdam, Netherlands (November 30).

Recorded at Village Recording Studio, Copenhagen, and mixed in Munich in January 2025, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Arve Henriksen, trumpet
Trygve Seim, saxophone
Anders Jormin, double bass
Markku Ounaskari, drums, percussion

Arve Henriksen
Born in 1968 and a graduate of the Trondheim Conservatory, he began performing internationally in 1989. He made his ECM debut in 1998 as part of Christian Wallumrød's trio on the album No Birch and has recorded regularly for the label ever since. In addition to his contributions to Wallumrød's changing ensembles, Henriksen has also performed on albums by Trygve Seim, Arild Andersen, Jon Balke, Sinikka Langeland, and Frode Haltli. Down Beat Magazine once described him as one of the "few trumpeters of the last two decades [who] have developed such a distinctive personality."

Trygve Seim
is a Norwegian saxophonist and composer known for his contributions to contemporary jazz and improvised music. Born on April 25, 1971, in Oslo, Norway, Seim has made a name for himself in the Scandinavian jazz scene. His musical path is characterized by a unique and versatile approach to the saxophone, particularly the tenor and soprano saxophone. He is known for his ability to combine traditional jazz elements with influences from various world music traditions, creating a distinctive and evocative sound. Seim has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians and ensembles both in Norway and internationally. His work often operates at the intersection of jazz, folk, and classical music, reflecting a broad musical palette. He has released numerous albums as a leader and has appeared on numerous recordings with various artists.

Anders Jormin
is a renowned Swedish bassist, praised by Down Beat as "everything a bassist should be." He is influenced by his classical and jazz training, as well as by Swedish folk tradition. Jormin was discovered by pianist Bobo Stenson at ECM and has released several albums for the label. He has also taught double bass and improvisation at the Gothenburg Academy of Music for almost 30 years and has received several awards for his jazz recordings. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Finnish Sibelius Academy. He is a four-time winner of the Swedish Annual Prize for Best Jazz Recording and the first contemporary improviser ever to become a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music.

Markku Ounaskari
(born 1967) initially studied percussion at the Pop and Jazz Conservatory in Oulunkylä and, from 1987, at the Jazz Department of the Sibelius Academy. During this time, his professional career also began, as he toured and recorded with two legendary Finnish groups, Piirpauke (Algazara 1987 and Zerenade 1989) and the Pekka Pohjola Group (Changing Waters 1998). Ounaskari has played with all the major Finnish jazz greats (journalist Petri Silas once wrote that it would be easier to list the Finnish ensembles with which Ounaskari has not played). Since 1999, Ounaskari has increasingly collaborated with international projects and bands, becoming one of the most internationally renowned Finnish jazz musicians. Over the past 20 years, he has performed in more than 35 countries around the world. He has been a sought-after artist at major European jazz festivals for decades. In 2010, he also won a Finnish Grammy for his ECM release "Psalms and Folk Songs."

Booklet for Arcanum