Herskedal Daniel

Voyage

Label: Edition Records

Genre: Jazz / Avant Garde

Availability

CD Digi / Cardboard €14.49

Dispatched within 5-10 working days

Voyage is the new album from Norwegian Tuba player and composer Daniel Herskedal following his acclaimed albums Slow Eastbound Train (2015) and The Roc (2017). With each release the core line-up of Herskedal on Tuba and bass trumpet, pianist Eyolf Dale, percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken and more recently violist Bergmund Waal Skaslien has become more effortlessly integrated. On Voyage the band exude a seamless flow and interconnectedness with even greater emphasis on the subtlety, nuance and colour that Daniel Herskedal has built his compositional reputation on. But the music is nonetheless equally exciting and captivating. Bridging the melodic beauty of Slow Eastbound Train to the Arabian flavours of The Roc, Voyage stands as a hallmark of Herskedal’s exquisite taste and perfect blend of emotion, melody and rhythmical intensity merged together in a sound that is undeniably his.

To hear Voyage as part of the collection, with Slow Eastbound Train and The Roc, offers its greatest reward. Yet this is not a trilogy nor a part of a larger suite, but a movement in the body of work of a composer and musician deeply involved in a journey of discovery and the resulting music becomes more involved and captivating with each pass.

With his uncompromising ability, vast range, and colour Herskedals’ virtuosity knows no boundaries. His soaring upper register on ‘The Great Race, Padua Vs Passat’ is sublime whilst the opening ‘Batten Down The Hatches’ incorporates fast, rhythmical intensity in the lowest of the tuba’s register. As a composer, Herskadal has the knack of making his melodies seem familiar on first listen and his arrangements are simply works of art. Listen how ‘The Mediterranean Passage In The Age Of Refugees’ builds and develops, weaving the core instruments and Maher Mahmoud’s Oud with a seemingly divine orchestral voice.

Daniel Herskedal has been steadily building his audience through his consistently high-quality albums and live shows, which together demonstrate an instantly recognisable voice. While Voyage is another step on the ladder in what looks set to be a glowing career, it is, of all his albums to date, the one most likely to be seen as a landmark album: one that absolutely defines his sound, his writing and his bandleading at this point. Voyage proves that Daniel has the voice of a master with an instrument that has not been pushed so far, and with music that is exemplarily executed, beautiful and powerful.