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Froy Aagre: Cycle of Silence

By John Kelman
February 22, 2010
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For her first album on the internationally distributed ACT label, saxophonist Fr?y Aagre continues along the path begun with her earlier releases on the Norwegian AIM label—Katalyze (2004) and Countryside (2006)—mining her own combination of melancholic Nordicism, Baroque classicism and American jazz tradition. As on Countryside, she expands her core piano/bass/drums quartet on six tracks, enhancing the disc's overall chamber vibe with cello, and the surprisingly vocal combination of French horn and trombone.

This time, Aagre puts down her tenor and focuses solely on soprano—her main axe, anyway. Perhaps most surprising for a young Norwegian saxophonist, the iconic

Jan Garbarek

saxophone
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Jan Garbarek is not an obvious touchstone; instead, Aagre's tone more closely resembles

Dave Liebman

saxophone
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Liebman's—no surprise, given she studied with the American soprano specialist in New York. But Aagre's approach is almost diametrically opposed to Liebman's more expressionist tendencies, instead leaning more greater economy and fragility.

While Aagre's playing is never less than thoroughly engaging and mindful of the needs of the music, if there's an instrumentalist who shines on Cycle of Silence it's pianist

Andreas Ulvo

piano
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Andreas Ulvo. In addition to being a member of Aagre's group since Katalyze, the increasingly ubiquitous Ulvo is a member of the collective Eple Trio, responsible for the sublime The Widening Sphere of Influence (NORCD, 2008), and helps Norwegian trumpeter

Mathias Eick

trumpet
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Mathias Eick kick his more restrained 2008 ECM debut, The Door, into higher gear in performance. A versatile player, Ulvo demonstrates a gossamer-like touch on the intro to the contrapuntal Bach-isms of Aagre's title track, but is equally capable of greater expressionism during the more propulsive modal ostinato of his solo on the same tune.

Aagre's entire quartet is back from Countryside, and the time spent working together has paid great dividends. The group rarely approaches a simmer, let alone a boil, but its profound intuition makes songs like the lyrical "Words On An Envelope" resonate with a kind of seamless comfort, transcending mere playing of the music into the realm of truly feeling it.

Cycle of Silence's writing, then, is what really distances the disc from Aagre's previous two and demonstrates considerable growth. French hornist Trude Eick and trombonist ?yvind Br?kke—known to ECM fans for his work with

Trygve Seim

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Trygve Seim and the collaborative group The Source, whose self-titled 2006 ECM disc demonstrated similar "no grandstanding" restraint—lend greater weight to "Long Distance," the album's brightest tune and a feature for bassist Audun Ellingsen's most intense solo of the set. The horns also expand the soundscape on the indigo-tinged yet magisterial "Lost Connection," a brooding tone poem colored by drummer Freddy Wike's astute textural choices.

Aagre's comingling of folk and classical traditions isn't particularly innovative in the world of Norwegian jazz, but she still succeeds at asserting a distinguishable voice on Cycle of Silence. An appealing but largely dark album whose landscape is defined by the sure-footed playing of Aagre, her quartet and her guests, it's another sign of the German ACT label's commitment to bring music from the north to an international audience.

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Track Listing

Steam Train; Long Distance; Words On An Envelope; Atoms; Lost Connection; Siberia; Slow Motion; View From Venus; Cycle of Silence; Neverending Journey.

Personnel

Froy Aagre

saxophone, soprano

Fr?y Aagre: soprano saxophone; Andreas Ulvo: piano; Audun Ellingsen: double-bass; Freddy Wike: drums; Sigrun Eng: cello (1, 6, 7, 10); Trude Eick: French horn (2, 5); ?yvind Br?kke: trombone (2, 5).

Album information

Title: Cycle of Silence | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: ACT Music

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