Arild Andersen

Norway's Arild Andersen ranks among Europe's most adaptable double bassists. Credits attached to his name reach into the hundreds and span avant-garde, jazz-rock, contemporary jazz, improvisation, and new age. He first joined Jan Garbarek for the 1967 album Til Vigdis and stayed with the saxophonist through 1973. Additional appearances include sessions led by Don Cherry, Terje Rypdal, Bobo Stenson, Karin Krog, and George Russell. Andersen made his ECM debut as a leader with Clouds in My Head in 1975 and maintained a close tie to the label thereafter. Lifelines appeared in 1981, If You Look Far Enough from 1993 earned worldwide recognition, and Hyperborean in 1997 was cut with his quintet plus strings. During the twenty-first century Andersen raised his output further, issuing dozens of albums on assorted imprints while continuing active session work. Celebration came out in 2012 in partnership with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. In 2020 he joined Clive Bell and Mark Wastell for the album-length improvisation Tales of Hackney, then presented the seven-movement suite Affirmation with a jazz quartet. April 2024 brought the trio date As Time Passes, and November saw ECM release the solo album Landloper.

Born in Norway, Andersen studied music through public schools. He began his career as a jazz guitarist with the Riverside Swing Group in Lillestrøm from 1961 to 1963, switched to double bass in 1964, and quickly joined the central jazz ensembles in Oslo. During the 1960s and 1970s he studied and performed with composer George Russell and took lessons from Karel Netolička. His recorded debut arrived in 1967 on Jan Garbarek's Til Vigdis, and he remained for Afric Pepperbird in 1970, Sart in 1971, and Triptykon in 1973. Don Cherry selected him at the Berliner Jazztage in 1968, an encounter that produced Eternal Rhythm. That same year he appeared on Karin Krog's Joy. At various festivals Andersen performed with Sonny Rollins, Sam Rivers, and Paul Bley, and he also collaborated with them, Joe Farrell, Steve Kuhn, Sheila Jordan, and others in New York during the early 1970s.

His first ECM album as leader, Clouds in My Head, arrived in 1975 with pianist Jon Balke and drummer Pål Thowsen. Shimri followed in 1977, now featuring saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen and pianist Lars Jansson in place of Balke. The next year he and Sheila Jordan issued the duet album Sheila, after which Lifelines appeared under his own name in 1981. Throughout the 1980s Andersen's studio and touring activity grew, strengthening his reputation across Europe and the United States. He performed and recorded with Alphonse Mouzon, John Taylor, and Bill Frisell. Between 1983 and 1991 he led the quintet Masqualero alongside Jon Christensen, Balke, Tore Brunborg, and trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær on four albums, three of them for ECM including Aero and Re-Enter, and the group toured England and Europe.

In the 1990s Andersen recorded more often as a leader for several labels, releasing Sagn in 1990, Hyperborean in 1997, Karta in 2001, The Triangle in 2004, Electra in 2005, and Live at Belleville in 2008. During the second decade of the new century he proved especially prolific as sideman, touring musician, and bandleader, with releases including Celebration in 2012 with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and Under the Rainbow in 2013. In 2014 he joined drummer Paolo Vinaccia and saxophonist Tommy Smith for the trio album Mira, followed two years later by the live set The Rose Window. In 2018 he reunited with Vinaccia and Smith for In-House Science. The next year Andersen collaborated with composer and multi-instrumentalist Clive Bell, who played Asian wind and brass instruments, and with percussionist and producer Mark Wastell; the three improvised for ten hours, edited the results into a fifty-minute piece divided into nine numbered sections, and issued the recording as Tales of Hackney on Confront's Core series.

After extensive international touring, Andersen reconvened the Arild Andersen Group with drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen, pianist Helge Lien, and saxophonist Marius Neset to record the seven-movement suite Affirmation for ECM. April 2024 brought As Time Passes on Denmark's April Records, a trio date with drummer and producer Daniel Sommer and guitarist Rob Luft. In November he released the completely solo ECM album Landloper, accompanying his double bass with a range of innovative electronics.