Jakob Bro, Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy - Uma Elmo

Cat. no: 3528227
Format: CD
Barcode: 602435282275
Release Date: 12th February 2021
Genre: Jazz

With Uma Elmo, his fifth album as a leader for ECM, Danish guitarist Jakob Bro presents a new trio featuring Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy.

Astonishingly, given the trio’s musical synergy, the first time these three musicians ever performed together was for the album’s sessions at the Swiss Radio studio in Lugano, with ECM founder Manfred Eicher producing.

Uma Elmo reaffirms the observation about Bro’s work by London Jazz News that “there is no hurry to this music, but there is great depth.” Among the album’s highlights is opener “Reconstructing a Dream,” a darkly lyrical reverie. “To Stanko” is Bro’s hushed tribute to the late, great Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, who featured the guitarist in his quintet for the ECM album Dark Eyes. Another homage to a late elder is “Music for Black Pigeons,” which was given its evocative title by saxophone sage Lee Konitz.

Listeners will recognize Henriksen’s whispering, poetic sound from his 2008 ECM album Cartography, as well as his collaborations for the label with Trio Mediaeval and Tigran Hamasyan. Rossy is well known to jazz fans on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly for his decade-plus tenure in Brad Mehldau’s careermaking first trio.

As for the leader, DownBeat aptly noted in its review of his previous ECM album, Bay of Rainbows, that “Bro’s guitar is luminous... his music both hypnotic and dramatic.”

Jakob Bro: guitar, Arve Henriksen: trumpet, piccolo trumpet, Jorge Rossy: drums

(“To Stanko” - official audio)

Cover star and lead track on Spotify’s State of Jazz playlist (474K Followers)

Reviews at (publications/online): Jazzwise, BBC Music Magazine, Record Collector, Hi Fi News, Prog, Echoes, Jazz Journal, London Jazz News, Jazz Views, UK Vibe, AP Reviews

Radio airplay: BBC Radio 3 J to Z, BBC Radio 3 Late Junction, BBC Radio 6 Music Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone, Jazz FM – shows presented by Chris Philips, Jez Nelson, Ruth Fisher, Helen Mayhew, Sarah Ward; soulandjazz.com
Mike Chadwick

Facebook: 8K Followers
Spotify: 9.6K Followers / 104K Monthly Listeners

Tracks: Reconstructing A Dream / To Stanko / Beautiful Day / Morning Song / Housework / Music For Black Pigeons / Sound Flower / Slaraffenland / Morning Song (var.)

More From This Artist: Jakob Bro / Arve Henriksen & Jorge Rossy