The prolific and critically-acclaimed bassist and composer,
Anne Mette Iversen (based in Berlin since 2012), formed Ternion Quartet at the
beginning of 2015, exposing a new, exciting side of her musical personality,
documented in grand fashion on the band's self-titled debut in 2017 (on
Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records).
Ternion Quartet's sophomore album, Invincible Nimbus
(available Today, May 10 on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records), which showcases
an ensemble of highly-creative, accomplished artists utterly in tune and
musically enamored with one another, stretching out their seemingly
inexhaustible imaginations, is about selflessness and being open to dialogue.
Iversen elaborated that, "In music there is no room for selfishness. Music
only lives and thrives when a dialogue is present. Only by giving room to
others, by listening and by taking part in the conversation, can we lift
ourselves out of the needy, greedy, self-centered orientation that threatens to
grab us all. This is evident to all of us who are intimately familiar with
music - and this is what we all intuitively respond to and love about music. My
hope is that music can inspire more people, and especially people who have the
power to make a difference in our current state of the world, to listen, omit
selfishness and to respect other ideas than their own."
On Invincible Nimbus Ms. Iversen flexes her considerable
composing chops, and while writing the music for this album she was studying
different classical composing theories, and trying out approaches and
techniques that she had not worked with consciously before. Iversen was
especially focused on melody and harmony, and found herself experimenting with
ways to apply the 12-tone scale to a jazz composition, ways to incorporate
fugue-writing techniques and ideas from Messian's 'The Technique of My Musical
Language'. The composer also searched for new sounds in Slonimsky's 'Thesaurus
of Scales and Melodic Patterns', and had ideas for some challenging rhythmic
material that the band had fun working with in the rehearsals (check out 'Dig
Your Heels In'). While writing and recording Iversen eschewed
compartmentalizing her music into genre or style. The ensemble simply played,
worked out their sound for these compositions, and engaged in the musical
dialogues.
Ternion Quartet is fronted by two amazing artists, alto
saxophonist Silke Eberhard (rising star, DownBeat Magazine 2015 & 2017),
and trombonist Geoffroy De Masure (professor at The Jazz Institute of Berlin),
and is brilliantly supported, buoyed and propelled by Ms. Iversen and long-time
friend and colleague from NYC, German-born drummer Roland Schneider. Iversen
composes to allow the musicians unlimited space for their creative input, which
is imperative to having a true dialogue. "The compositions I bring to the
band are open pages. I do not dictate how anyone should play. The composition
comes alive when each musician contributes what he or she hears and feels. The
composition is an opening statement, setting the topic for the discussion, and
the dialogue is the means for us to get the most out of each and every
experience. We can be very different people, and we are, but because we share
the values of keeping an open mind, being curious, respectful, and humble, the
interactive dialogue we have with each other moves us and the music forward and
the composition comes alive!", said Iversen.
The compelling album title, Invincible Nimbus, comes from
classical mythology in which a nimbus is a cloud that surrounds a God or
Goddess when he/she is on earth. Iversen liked the idea that this kind of aura
is not something that can be destroyed, no matter what is done to the
God/Goddess. "I guess I wish that we, humans, would find ourselves so
strong that the aura that we are born with as children, the light that you see
in the eyes of most children, would stay with us, and not disappear through
being hurt or disappointed or manipulated into being something else than who we
are. I believe that if we could meet each individual and not expect them to be anything
else than who they are, then we would also be able to have an invincible nimbus
around us," said Iversen. So the Invincible Nimbus album is about being
still and engaging in true dialogues. Iversen elaborated, "our upbringing
and our societies may not support the mindset that we were given at birth, i.e.
a natural curiosity, trust and the need to explore, but this should be the base
of our lives. We need to rediscover this foundation within ourselves, so that
we can grow to the maximum potential and an important tool for that is in my
opinion, dialogue."
Shortly after the recording sessions Iversen travelled to
Athens to play concerts with another band and the importance of dialogue - the musical,
but also the spoken, became very clear to her. She explains, "The dialogue
was essential for the famous ancient Greeks for understanding and for learning.
A true dialogue is a tool, characterized by openness, respect and
humbleness."
For Iversen, the making of this album combined with her stay
in Athens brought to consciousness what the bassist had always subconsciously
understood and intuitively adhered to. Music teaches us about life and how to
be the best we can be. Iversen elaborated, "It spreads the message to
anyone who listens, and hopefully helps open hearts and ears for many. Our
responsibility as musicians is to put something real into the music. Depth,
soul, a heartfelt message. Real life content and experiences, not superficial
crap. We are obligated to teach the importance of dialogue by making our music.
To exemplify it. This is how we make an impact, and this is so much deeper than
entertaining an audience for a few hours - what we put into the music is what
they take home. This is why I am a musician and why it is meaningful for me to
be a musician."
Ternion Quartet has toured successfully in Europe, performs
regularly in and around Berlin, and has been invited to perform at Aarhus
International Jazzfestival in Denmark (July 2017) and The Copenhagen Jazz
Festival (2017). Their debut album Ternion Quartet received numerous rave
reviews, and was on the long list of 'Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik'
(2017), and on the list of "10 Best Jazz Releases of 2017" by Kjeld
Frandsen, Berlingske, DK. Invincible Nimbus is their second album, available
May 10, 2019 on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records.
Invincible Nimbuswas recorded September 15 & 16, 2018,
by Marco Birkner at RecPublica Studio, Lubrza, Poland.
It was mixed and mastered December 29, 2018 and January 4,
2019 by Dave Darlington, Bass Hit Studio, NYC.
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