Arve Henriksen, Harmen Fraanje – Contact of Time
(ECM. Album evaluation by Phil Johnson)

In nice distinction to Arve Henriksen’s final ECM album as a pacesetter, the very maximalist (for him) “Cartography” from 2010, “Contact of Time” , a co-led duo with Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje, is a collection of gorgeous miniatures.

Over ten delicate and meditative items that occupy a type of pleased center floor between composition and improvisation, the duo – who first carried out collectively in 2019 in Utrecht as a part of ECM’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations – seem to enhance one another completely. Henriksen’s shakuhachi-toned trumpet and ethereal digital assists are grounded by Fraanje’s spare chording and querulous-sounding solo adventures in taking a line for a stroll.

It’s all fairly exquisitely indefinite, with little sense of solidity, however very efficient for all that. The titles inform the story: Melancholia, The Great thing about Sundays, The Darkish Gentle, Winter Haze, and so on. if Fraanje appears content material to let Henriksen take the lead, that’s maybe solely to be anticipated: Arve has been one of the vital vital figures in European jazz for 25 years or extra, whereas Fraanje, who has additionally appeared on two ECM albums led by Mats Eilertsen, is the equal however junior companion. The duo are because of tour later this 12 months.

LINK: Buy Contact of Time / Launch Date 5 April

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