Six years after the much-praised Northbound - described by All About Jazz as lovely, articulate, river-deep music - comes a new album of emotionally-powerful ballads from outstanding composer-pianist-harpist Iro Haarla and her remarkable Finnish-Norwegian ensemble. The line-up is unchanged and includes trumpeter Mathias Eick, saxophonist Trygve Seim and drummer Jon Christensen.
Vespers extends a tradition of music, and a scope of feeling, that Iro helped to establish in the Far North in her years as arranger/orchestrator for Edward Vesala's bands. With Northbound and the introduction of this quintet, assembled with the help of ECM's Manfred Eicher, Haarla began to receive overdue international attention - as well as significant recognition in her native Finland. In 2006, she won the Georgie Award, considered the highest honour for a Finnish Jazz Musician.
Since Northbound, other band members have seen their international profile boosted through the success of their own recordings and collaborations. Trumpeter Mathias Eick, shooting star of the Norwegian scene, has won major prizes (including The International Jazz Award for New Talent), and both his ECM leader debut The Door and his membership of Jaga Jazzist have put him in the spotlight. Saxophonist Trygve Seim's recent releases include Purcor, one ECM's most consistently beautiful records in years (All About Jazz).
Master drummer Jon Christensen, one of the architects of ECM's early musical directions, delighted many with his contributions to Remembrance with Ketil Bjornstad and Tore Brunborg, one of the label's commercial and critical hits of 2009. Powerful bassist Uffe Krokfors, now Haarla's partner in many musical undertakings, made his ECM debut with Edward Vesala's Sound & Fury band. Most importantly, Iro Haarla now writes for this constellation of players and their special skills and strengths are illuminated as never before in her unique and often very touching music. Haarla herself takes plenty of solo space with thoughtful piano playing and evocative harp, a combination that can certainly attract admirers of Paul Bley or Alice Coltrane.
Personnel: Iro Haarla (piano, harp), Mathias Eick (trumpet), Trygve Seim (tenor and soprano saxophones), Ulf Krokfors (double-bass), Jon Christensen (drums)
