Arild Andersen, Tommy Smith, Paolo Vinaccia - Mira (2014) Hi-Res

The debut of Arild Andersen's now longstanding trio with Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith and Italian expat drummer Paolo Vinaccia on Live at Belleville (ECM, 2008) came as no small surprise, even to those familiar with the Norwegian bassist's work on the label—dating right back to its inception on Jan Garbarek's classic Afric Pepperbird (ECM, 1971), as well as with his own fine triptych of more accessible early albums, recently collected on Green Into Blue—Early Quartets (ECM, 2010).

Andersen has proven, over a career now spanning six decades, to be a bassist with a muscular tone and broad stylistic reach: from the freer terrain of Tryptikon (ECM, 1973), with Garbarek and Finnish drummer Edward Vesala; through his fusion of jazz modality and the Norwegian folk tradition on Sagn (ECM, 1993); to the remarkably focused, spontaneous compositions of Karta (ECM, 2000), a trio date with German trumpeter Markus Stockhausen and French percussionist Patrice Héral augmented, for this session, by Andersen's partner in ECM's original Nordic "Big Five," guitarist Terje Rypdal. Still, few could have expected the absolute heat that permeated Live at Belleville, an early document of a trio that, six years later, has further evolved both its language and chemistry with Mira.