Canopée Dans les arbres

• 1 La Fumée 05:14
• 2 L'Émanation 03:52
• 3 La Vapeur 07:10
• 4 La Buée 01:58
• 5 L'Éther 04:24
• 6 Le Vertige 01:54
• 7 L'Immatériel 09:22
• 8 Les Cimes 07:56
• 9 La Brume 01:19
• 10 La Transparence 06:10
• Total Runtime 49:19

Info for Canopée

Dans les arbres – the unique improvising quartet comprising three Norwegians and a Frenchman – continues to fine-tune its artistic concept, patiently traversing its luminous planes of sound with a rare sense of accord, and shared responsibilities. The combination of its unorthodox sound sources, including Charles’s clarinet harmonics, Wallumrød’s prepared piano, Grydeland’s bowed banjo, and Zach’s differentiated gran casa playing has led to free playing and spontaneous group-composing in a class of its own. The group’s ECM debut generated many rave reviews, with England’s The Wire declaring “There’s no end to the delights of this quite magical disc.” The magic is intact on “Canopée”, recorded in June 2010 and April 2011 in Oslo.

On this second album by the unorthodox quartet comprised of Norwegians Grydeland, Wallumrød and Zach, and Frenchman Charles, the music continues to unfold with poetic logic and unhurried pace. To paraphrase LaMonte Young, Dans les arbres draws a straight line and follows it. Their music moves gently but steadily ahead on broad planes of sound, the textural scenery changing as DLA harnesses its wealth of unorthodox extended techniques. Including but not limited to: Charles’ extraordinary control of harmonics, the prepared piano of Wallumrød perfectly matched by the prepared banjo of Grydeland and by Zach’s unprecedented use of the gran cassa, the horizontal orchestral bass drum, augmented here by metal percussion and ceramic bells. Small movements precipitate gradual sonic transformations. Sounds are carefully nurtured and encouraged to glow. Responsibilities are very equally shared as textures are blended. All four musicians are skilled improvisers, but no one is claiming or struggling for solo space. There seems, rather, to be a group mind at work, with strong compositional instincts. Where DLA’s debut album was all-acoustic, this time Grydeland has brought his electric guitar into the sound picture. If it thickens the plot, it is never permitted to overpower the delicate sonic palette.

The group has been working as Dans les arbres since 2006 but there have been other and earlier collaborations between the members, including extensive duo work by Ingar Zach and Ivar Grydeland. Both musicians had worked in the zones between free improvising and contemporary composition – collaborating with some of the pioneers of abstract free play (including Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Phil Wachsmann) in recordings for their own SOFA label, made while they were still studying Chamber Music at the Norwegian Academy of Music. On hearing Christian Wallumrød’s ECM “Sofienberg Variations” album they sensed a kindred spirit and asked the pianist to join them “to see where the combination might lead. We were recording material and playing concerts before Xavier Charles was in the picture, but as soon as we invited him, already at the first rehearsal we felt it would be great to develop the music as a quartet.” (Ingar Zach to All About Jazz).

The group’s ECM debut, called just “Dans les arbres” (ECM 2058), received much critical praise, with UK magazine The Wire writing, “A first listen revealed that this disc clearly belongs in the ‘unclassified’ category. With a second listen, it was obvious that it’s a most extraordinary and compelling achievement. … Two features mark it as contemporary Improv: all-acoustic exploration of sonorities and textures that often sound electronic, and the affinities of its sound-world with those of contemporary composition. … There’s no end to the delights of this quite magical disc. The finest composition, like improvisation, ultimately relies on intuition, and these players seem to have an innate grasp of the right combination of sounds and textures. Dans les arbres must be one of the finest ECM Improv releases – indeed, releases from any label – in recent years”.

Since the first ECM disc, the group has toured the world, often overturning expectations: “The field drum, which looked like it would blow us out of the room, emitted the gentlest of sounds,” wrote John Diliberto of the ensemble’s Philadelphia concert. “Ingar Zach stroked the skin with fingertips, brushed it with a blanket and spun objects across the head. He was only slightly louder than Xavier Charles, who blew low whines, breathy questions and ghost overtones through his clarinet. No one played their instruments in a conventional fashion. There were virtually no timbres that sounded like they emanated from the actual instruments. Grydeland scraped the banjo head, stroked below the bridge, riffed on muted plucks. Wallumrød’s piano sounded like a Balinese gamelan.” So it goes when the members of Dans les arbres convene.

Each of the players maintains or is involved in other projects. Zach, for instance, has recorded for ECM with Jon Balke’s Magnetic North and Batagraf ensembles. He and Ivar Grydeland play, furthermore, in the trio Huntsville. Grydeland also has another trio, Electric Pansori, with Wallumrød and drummer Per Oddvar Johansen. Xavier Charles plays with improvisers John Butcher and Axel Dörner in the group Contest of Pleasures. And Christian Wallumrød leads his own ensembles with a number of albums issued on ECM including “No Birch”, “Sofienberg Variations”, “A Year From Easter”, “The Zoo Is Far”, and “Fabula Suite Lugano”.

Xavier Charles, clarinet & harmonica
Ivar Grydeland, electric guitar, banjo & sruti box
Christian Wallumrød, prepared piano & harmonium
Ingar Zach, gran cassa & percussion

Recorded June 2010 at Biermannsgården and April 2011 at Cafeteatret, Oslo
Engineer: Thomas Hukkelberg

This quartet stems from work that Ivar Grydeland and Ingar Zach began in duo toward the end of the twentieth century. Grydeland and Zach established the label SOFA, performed as a duo, and started several ensembles in which the two worked with musicians from the European improvised music scene. The duo passed through several stages, but their music really took shape while Grydeland and Zach were studying for their Master's degree in Chamber Music at the Norwegian Academy of Music between 2001 and 2003. Those studies focused exclusively on their own compositions and improvisations. Around the time they gave their graduate concerts, Christian Wallumrød’s “Sofienberg Variations” (ECM 1809) was released. Grydeland and Zach felt that Wallumrød’s music was related to their own. Seeing a possibilty for musical cooperation, they invited Wallumrød to participate in rehearsals and concerts. This work led Grydeland and Zach to record with Wallumrød.

Parallel to their duo, Grydeland and Zach were also working with bassist Tonny Kluften in a project-based ensemble with the obscure name, No Spaghetti Edition. The core of that ensemble was originally Zach and Kluften, but Grydeland gradually became an equal member. The ensemble core invited guest musicians from diverse genres to join their CD releases, tours and concerts, with a constant focus on large-ensemble improvising. Wallumrød took part in one of the earlier projects. In 2003, No Spaghetti Edition released their third CD (“Real Time Satellite Data”, SOFA513). On this release and on the following tour and concerts, French clarinettist Xavier Charles was a guest. Grydeland and Zach were impressed by Charles’ music. Feeling he could enhance the work that began with Wallumrød, they invited him to rehearsals.

In early July 2004 they had their first meeting as a quartet. Though it was successful, they weren't able to meet again until 16 months later. That time, they met for another project with No Spaghetti Edition—recording the CD “Sketches of a Fusion” (SOFA520) with Tonny Kluften and the Canadian improviser, Martin Tétreault. Although the focus on “Sketches of a Fusion” is clearly different from “Dans les Arbres,” working with “Sketches of a Fusion” and playing concerts with this material and this lineup inspired them to continue their work as a quartet.

In July 2006 Charles, Grydeland, Wallumrød and Zach met again. This time to work on a band sound and to compose music for the present release. The CD is called “Dans les Arbres” and it's also the introduction of the quartet by the same name: Dans les Arbres.

This album contains no booklet.