Anne Mette Iversen Quartet +1 is an extension of Anne Mette’s longest running group: Anne Mette Iversen Quartet, featuring John Ellis (tenor saxophone), Peter Dahlgren (trombone), Danny Grissett (piano), Iversen (bass) and Otis Brown III (drums). Established in NYC in 2002, the musical relationship and the improvisational rapport of its musicians have developed to the supreme, as have their music and the compositions. This group voices a musical ideal and aesthetic that Anne Mette has sought after for many years; having found it, her seventh recording, Round Trip, feels like going full circle. It expresses on several levels what is innate in the words “round trip”, and how we all strive to satisfy our longing to come, to be, to find, and to have, a home.
Originally the meaning of ‘round trip’ was to return to the starting point via a different road. Anne Mette explains, “when I wrote the tune 'Round Trip’, it was about a deep and heartfelt wish I had to return to my two sons, who I had left in another country for a few days. As this album and this music came about, ‘round trip’ then became a key idea for the album. In the sense of coming home, it describes the feeling I have every time I play with this group. It refers to the many (round) trips we have taken together over the years, but also how much we have grown as a band, musicians and persons, and how we, no matter where each one of us is placed in the world, get together to make music and share our experiences. Even on a personal level I see the many round trips in our journey through life and music.” Round Trip is simply jazz on a high level, a feeling of unity and togetherness that can be otherwise hard to find. Highly recommended! |
