Mats Eilertsen Trio

“Sails Set”

(Hubro Records HUBROCD2524)

This 2013 release by Norwegian bassist and composer Mats Eilertsen has been sat in the “to do” file for far too long. It’s a beautiful album and with Eilertsen due to hit British shores in March 2014 as a member of the Tord Gustavsen quartet and with this trio about to play a short series of live shows in Europe now seems an appropriate time to take a closer look at its many qualities.

This all star trio teams Eilertsen with his fellow countryman Thomas Stronen (drums) and Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje. Stronen is well known to UK audiences through his work with the Anglo-Norwegian groups Food and Meadow while Fraanje made a memorable appearance at the 2013 London Jazz Festival alongside Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger and Senegalese vocalist/percussionist Mola Sylla.

The Eilertsen trio is a (fairly) regular working unit and was first convened for the 2010 album “Elegy”, also released on Hubro, an intriguing mix of through composed and totally improvised playing. Eilertsen and Stronen met at Trondheim Conservatoire in the 1990’s and have since worked together in several different bands including Food and Parish. Eilertsen lived in the Netherlands for a while,  first establishing his fertile musical relationship with Fraanje at that time. 

“Sails Set” refines the trio’s approach and is comprised of purely improvised material and it’s a tribute to the levels of rapport that the three musicians are capable of realising that the album actually sounds more complete and cohesive than its predecessor. It’s as if Eilertsen and his colleagues have distilled the essence of their music to produce something pure and beautiful. The quality of the recording by the celebrated engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug at Oslo’s famous Rainbow Studio is also a significant factor.

The majority of the eleven pieces on the album are short, some of them little more than vignettes. The material includes pieces in solo, duo and trio formats but all are credited to Fraanje/Eilertsen/Stronen thus emphasising the democratic and interactive nature of the trio. Indeed the album itself is comparatively brief as are many other Hubro recordings. I think it’s probably fair to say that the label chooses to exercise a policy of “quality over quantity”.

The album begins with the melodic lyricism of the title track. Fraanje’s piano carries the tune but the atmosphere is greatly enhanced by the sound of Eilertsen’s ghostly arco bass and the subtle detail of Stronen’s drumming. It sounds like a fragment from a longer improvisation and the skill of the editing process is clearly a factor in the success of the record.

The beautiful solo piano piece “Stellar” has a sonata like quality and precedes the trio piece “Orbiting” which sees the threesome at their most co-operative and integrated, you can almost hear them thinking. Eilertsen produces a rich, meaty sound on pizzicato bass while Stronen explores the full sonic capabilities of his kit including the use of a variety of small percussive devices (bells, etc.).

“Stray Dog” features the two Norwegians in brief but sparkling dialogue with Eilertsen’s fluid but resonant bass leading the way as Stronen chatters imaginatively around him creating a remarkable, but always tasteful, palette of sounds.

At one minute forty three seconds “The Lighthouse” is an extraordinarily descriptive miniature featuring piano and a brief wordless vocal from Fraanje (the Dutchman’s occasional singing was a feature of the LJF show alluded to previously) and another astonishing display from Stronen, his shimmering cymbals, mallet rumbles etc. instantly establishing a palpable sense of atmosphere. The man is a true drum colourist, a percussive painter in sound

The near eight minute “Monument” is one of the major focal points of the album. It builds from Stronen’s gently atmospheric drum intro through Eilertsen’s melodic, deeply resonant bass to full trio, the music unfolding logically and organically as the three musicians subtly introduce more complex layers of harmony and rhythm, the range of sounds deployed by the trio expanding during the process. The use of repeated rhythmic patterns has led to the piece being described in the accompanying press release as “chant like” and by Adrian Pallant of London Jazz News as “redolent of the extended final improvisations of e.s.t. “Monument” is certainly a totally immersive experience as the listener finds themselves absorbed in the gradual development of the music from simple beginnings to full on magnificence.

“Lunar Light” features Eilertsen’s thoughtfully plucked melodic bass faithfully shadowed by Stronen’s percussion shadings featuring gentle mallet rumbles and the subtly clangorous sound of small gongs. It’s a richly atmospheric dialogue between two old musical friends that absorbs throughout its three minute duration.

The darker, slightly unsettling “Currents” features Fraanje’s piano and plaintive wordless vocal alongside a gently insistent arco bass pulse as Stronen is given license to roam, conjuring up a predictably fascinating range of sounds in the process. 

At a little under seven minutes “Stone and Sand” is another long form example of the trio’s improvisatory prowess. This time the trio build from Eilertsen’s bass, initially retaining something of the mysterious atmosphere of the immediately preceding “Currents”. Fraanje’s repeated piano motif mutates into an expansive solo before the trio subtly rein things in and wind them back down. In its own way it’s as fascinating as the earlier “Monument”

“Music Box” is another supremely descriptive piece, a three minute dialogue between Fraanje and Stronen with the latter’s percussion approximating the mechanistic sounds of the instrument of the title. It’s a pleasingly playful interlude in the overall context of the album.

Finally we hear “Alone” featuring Eilertsen solo at the bass. With his huge tone, acute melodic sensibility and remarkable dexterity Eilertsen is more than capable of maintaining the listener’s interest in this format. This two minute cameo is an excellent way to conclude this fascinating and often beautiful album.

Eilertsen has said of this record “for us it’s all about shaping a trio where the three of us are equal members in creating our sound and where we take turns being the focal point, carrying the melody, developing the sound, determining the basic principles, being story tellers and prime movers, and varying how each of us is distributed in the soundscape. On this album it’s about being selective, condensing and concentrating, and prioritising”.
On the evidence of the material presented here Eilertsen and his colleagues have fulfilled these aims to the letter.  All the qualities that Eilertsen is searching for are clearly audible and despite its relative brevity this album makes for essential listening.

It would be fascinating to see how the trio’s aesthetic translates into live performance. Audiences in Norway and The Netherlands will soon have the chance to find out for themselves as the trio undertake a short series of live dates.

Mini-tour with Mats Eilertsen Trio (Harmen Fraanje and Thomas Str?nen) performing @:

Jan 31 2014 Paradox, Tilburg, NL

Feb 01 2014 Kulturv?rket, Eidsvoll Verk, N

Feb 02 2014 KampenJazz, Oslo, N

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