Trygve Seim Group – Sangam – ECM 1797, 69:32 ****:
Since I recently recommended the latest Trygve Seim Quartet ECM CD, I thought I should reference two earlier ECM discs he did with a different and larger group, and which I liked even more. On Different Rivers of 2001 – the first album the Norwegian saxophonist did under his own name – he assembled 12 performers to join him in a chamber music oriented, generally contemplative, hour of music. Seim calls it “a place to stop and just breathe.” In fact, he includes a track with a recited text concerning breathing and feels that breath is a key word in his approach to music.
The ensemble includes several wind instruments in addition to Seim’s soprano and tenor saxes: clarinet, bass and contrabass clarinets, French horn, tuba, trumpet, trumpophone, trombone and bass and sopranino saxes. Also two cellos and two drummers. The players come from backgrounds including classical, pop, jazz, theater music, rock, Eastern music, new music and free improvised music. They all have a talent for the creation of multigenre music, and it is exhibited to a fascinating degree in Different Rivers. Though the band is all acoustic instruments, the title track uses some studio manipulation as two performances of the same piece, but using different instrumentations, are cut together.
TrackList for Different Rivers: Sorrows, Ulrikas Dans, Intangible Waltz, Different Rivers, Bhavana, The Aftermath/African Sunrise, Search Silence, For Edward, Breathe, Between.
Sangam, released in early 2005, finds Seim with basically the same instrumentation, an accordion, some different players, and a string ensemble and two trombones added on one track, conducted by Christian Eggen. The Sanskrit title means “coming together,” “confluence” or “learned gathering.” It can sometimes connote “the meeting point of three rivers,” and that could tie back to the first CD as well as represent the mix of jazz, contemporary music composition and world music in Seim’s work.
The young saxist is up front about the great influence on him of ECM’s music productions in general; he was originally moved to take up the sax by hearing Jan Garbarek’s ECM recordings. His tone is highly individual, breathy and floating. His compositions – which on this CD run to greater lengths than the ones on Different Rivers – have the adagio-paced wind chamber ensemble floating along something like a very discreet little big band. As more than one other reviewer has observed, the shadow of Gil Evan’s arrangements is often noted. Seim is a devotee of the Asian flute traditions and Eastern vocal music. His interest in Buddhism is seen in his emphasis on breath, which is central to much of his music.
Trumpeter Arve Henriksen should be singled out for his contributions to the front line of the group; he also has a highly individual sound unlike other trumpet players. The four-part Himmelrand i Tidevand, at almost a half-hour length, provides the centerpiece of the album. Its size in time is matched by its expansion of instrumentation with the addition of the two trombones and string ensemble. (It would be nice to have a translation of the title but as usual the note booklet provides only photos of Seim and even the reviewers’ news release didn’t translate it. I don’t know if it’s German, Norwegian or Swedish, and anyway the free online translation services are inaccurate. Something about heaven? – just a guess…) Part 2 features a lovely Seim solo over the brooding strings and Part 3 presents Henriksen’s trumpet over a bubbling string sound, followed by accordionist Frode Haltli and bass saxist Nils Jansen. The brass instruments come to the fore in Part 4, with the tuba providing a strong loping rhythm in the bass and Seim’s sax floating over it all.
It strikes me that this sort of music has so much subtlety and depth that it can become boring when listening to it on inferior gear. Just the difference in enjoyment between auditioning this disc on my small office system vs. on my big rig is immense. Adding the immersion of ProLogic II doesn’t hurt either.
TrackList for Sangam: Sangam, Dansante, Beginning an Ending, Himmelrand i Tidevand, Trio, Prayer
— John Henry
