Arne Jansen Trio - Nine Firmaments '2016

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Here We Go
02. Deep Wood
03. Ahead of Us (Down the Hillside)
04. The Three of Us
05. Its Always Night
06. Klingsors Last Summer
07. Neither Powder nor Plaster
08. Between Two Moons
09. Lees Summit
10. He Who Counts the Stars

As a guitarist, Arne Jansen has never thought in genre categories. The ECHO
prizewinner has already played a special role, particularly in Germany, with his
first two trio albums. Melodic compositions, transparent arrangements and a warm
guitar sound have been his trademark to this day. On his new album Nine
Firmaments there are many „songs without words“ and some of them,
quickly and without any detours, make their way into our consciousness where
they seem to have always felt at home. Jansen prefers clear lines and avoids
unnecessary exhibitionism. Today, more than ever, he is motivated by his
selective choice of the means he uses to develop intense atmospheres and
stronger statements. This does not rule out that at times his fingers dance over
the strings with their very own aesthetic approach.

After all, as a teenager Arne Jansen once picked up a guitar for the first time
because of Jimi Hendrix and the Dire Straits. The great storytellers of pop,
such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell also belonged to his early sources of
inspiration just like the Beatles and Pink Floyd, who he discovered in his
parents‘ record collection. At the age of 17 he discovered the music of
Pat Metheny and John Scofield, which opened up new horizons for him. Today,
almost two dozen years later, Jansen of course cites other sources of
inspiration for his songs. „In the summer of 2012 I went on a trip with my
wife to southeastern and southern Europe. We followed in the footsteps of
Janacek and Rilke and in Lugano I was reminded of Hesse’s novel
Klingsor’s Last Summer“, Jansen relates. „One chapter takes
place in the mountain village Carona and naturally we also had to visit this
place. When I got back to Germany, the bass player Marc Muelbauer called me and
asked whether I wanted to join his dectet for a few concerts. One of them was
taking place as a one-off event in Carona, so I ended up visiting Carona for a
second time in 2013. That was sort of a sign“. The atmosphere of
Mediterranean summer nights show up in some of the song titles and gives the
music a certain lightness and serenity.

Strong impulses also came from the visual artist Timo Nasseri who is one of
Jansen’s longstanding friends. Nasseri’s works can be seen on the
cover and in the album’s booklet, yet not only here. „One of his
latest exhibitions was called Nine Firmaments„, Jansen says, „I like
the definition of firmaments as a connecting layer between the earthly world and
higher powers, especially since this can also be said about music. Apart from
that, according to mythology the nine firmaments are home to the angel
choirs“. For the picture on the front cover of the album, Nasseri
calculated what the constellation of the stars over Alexandria would have been
on the day of the death of the historic visionary, philosopher and astronomer,
Hypatia.

Of course, none of the angel choirs made their way into Jansen’s musical
world. Instead a new bass player arrived: namely Robert Lucaciu from Leipzig. He
has a reputation also for his interest in new music soundscapes and –
apart from dry grooves and pointed, plucked notes – he masters all facets
of bowing. The latter can be unmistakably heard in two pieces, It’s
Always Night and Between Two Moons. On the other hand we have a familiar face on
drums, namely Eric Schaefer. Jansen and he have been the best of friends since
1997. The two of them are connected by an intuitive understanding when playing
together which has its roots in their common interests apart from music. Both
Jansen and Schaefer have intensely engaged themselves with Buddhism and
meditation over the years. „Directly after recording the album, Eric told
me, almost in surprise, that he had never played so straight“, Jansen
recalls laughing. As the bandleader, he may be responsible for all the
compositions but he always allows room for ideas from Schaefer and Lucaciu. He
consistently refers to the music on Nine Firmaments as a band process. The
aforementioned Between Two Moons is a good example of this. „I actually
only brought a sketch with me to the studio, which we improvised on. Even the
first take of the session made its way onto the record.“ The dramatic
composition with swelling sounds, ringing cymbals, stroked bass motifs and the
drumbeats that start up half way through the piece, these all create an
individual atmosphere. The last title on the album He Who Counts The Stars
stands out with a similar special arrangement, with a chamber music quality,
thanks to Stephan Braun’s cello.

Since its debut, the Arne Jansen Trio has received a positive response from many
directions. The scale of the press coverage alone is enormous. In 2014 Jansen
was awarded an ECHO Jazz for his album The Sleep of Reason-Ode to Goya (ACT). In
November of the same year the band toured extensively through India. They gave
guest performances at the large Jazz Utsav Festival in New Delhi. Other festival
invitations came from Riga and the Crimea (before its annexation by Russia), in
2015 Jansen & Co. played as a part of the 25th Jazzbaltica. Beyond that, the
trio has toured in the Central Asia, Scandinavia and of course many European
countries. Several weeks ago Jansen was nominated for the German Music
Author’s Prize donated by the GEMA, which is particularly remarkable
since there are, apart from two new music composers, also the likes of Wolfgang
Niedecken and Max Herre in the jury.

Born in Kiel in 1975, Arne Jansen wanted to play the guitar early on in life.
However, his sister’s violin teacher did not think that is was a serious
instrument and advised him to try the clarinet. At his school in Flensburg
however, the big band not only inspired Jansen to play along on guitar but also
to play the tenor saxophone and to play concerts as far away as the United
States and the Ukraine. At the same time he was listening to rock music and had
founded his first guitar trio which played as the warm-up band for the school
big band on tour in front of 1000 students at a concert in Crimea. Before
graduation he was even able to attend a week of rehearsals and all the concerts
of the Jazz Baltica Festival, thanks to state funding. „After these
concerts I sat backstage with these incredible musicians, talked with them
through the night and felt very much at home“, he recalls. „I
realized that I also absolutely had to do this, it was downright necessary. For
two years I practiced like crazy so I could pass the entrance exam to the
University of the Arts in Berlin.“ He studied here from 1996 until 2001
under David Friedman, Peter Weniger and Jerry Granelli among others. After this
he remained in the capital.

To this day Arne Jansen is not a big fan of effects. Speed orgies of showing-off
have never interested him. He intentionally preserves the song form, avoids
exaggerated abstraction and finds finds depth in ambiguous, associative
understatement, remaining accessible yet at the same time without being
frivolous. There are not many musicians in German jazz who can pull off this
balancing act as elegantly as the Arne Jansen Trio.

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