Arild Andersen
Paolo Vinaccia
Tommy Smith
Live At Belleville

Arild Andersen double-bass, live-electronics
Paolo Vinaccia drums
Tommy Smith tenor saxophone

①           Independency Part 1
②           Independency Part 2
③           Independency Part 3
④           Independency Part 4
⑤           Prelude to a kiss
⑥           Outhouse
⑦           Dreamhorse

Live recording of Arild Andersen's exciting new trio, playing in Oslo's Belleville club and at the Drammen Theatre, spurred on by an enthusiastic crowd. Apart from Duke Ellington's "Prelude To A Kiss", played with much feeling by Tommy Smith, the music is all written by Andersen, and it burns. "Live At Belleville" may be Arild's most powerful trio recording since "Triptykon" with Garbarek and Vesala, back in 1972.

Recorded September 2007
ECM 2078

ARILD ANDERSEN IS VOTED EUROPEAN MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
FROM THE FRENCH "ACADÉMIE DU JAZZ".

"Choc Jazzman of the Year " JAZZMAN Magazine 2008

"Disques d'Emoi " of Jazz Magazine 2008

JEFF DAYTON BEST OF 2008
"The highlight is a forty-minute suite celebrating the centenary of Norway's independence from the yolk of Swedish subjugation-seriously. That the music is so consistently intelligent and passionate is a tribute to all three members of the trio, but particularly saxophonist Tommy Smith."

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE - CRITICS CHOICE (5 STARS) ★★★★★
"Arild Andersen creates a kaleidoscope of modern jazz composition."
"Absolutely and unreservedly marvelous, and (being an ECM disc) sonically impeccable, too."

THE SCOTSMAN ★★★★★
"MY JAZZ album of the year. Norwegian bass maestro teams up with saxophonist Tommy Smith and Italian drummer Paolo Vinaccia in a trio that is brimming over with compelling ideas and creative invention."

THE HERALD ★★★★
"It's all about masters at work: Andersen creating big, warm structures through real-time double tracking and his fingers scampering gleefully over the strings; Smith variously understated, magisterial and venomous; and Vinaccia a brilliantly responsive, subtly propulsive livewire whose dynamic range enhances quiet atmosphere and charging tempo alike."

THE SCOTSMAN
"It was a sustained display of high-level musicianship in which Andersen took the acoustic bass (plus some additional electronics) into territory that remains inaccessible to most players, while Smith demonstrated once again that he is a saxophonist of world-class standing in any company. His flow of musical invention combined with a rich, lustrous sonority on tenor saxophone to dramatic effect. Vinaccia's probing drumming played a full part in the three-way musical conversation."

MOMENT'S NOTICE (BRIAN MORTON)
"This new trio teams Andersen with Italian percussionist and composer Paolo Vinaccia and with Scottish tenor saxophonist Tommy Smith, who having concentrated largely on his own groups and his own Spartacus imprint now once again seems willing to bring his distinctive voice to other leaders' situations. Smith is at the height of his powers. There are few saxophonists of any age capable of what he does on "Prelude To A Kiss," which manages to sound lyrical and iron-hard, free and logically watertight. For years he struggled under an inevitable comparison with Jan Garbarek. One has to pick one's Garbarek sets carefully - though Triptykon would certainly be one - to make the parallel or the influence work. These days, Smith sounds like no one but himself, a supremely confident artist working in the company of his peers."

ALL ABOUT JAZZ
"With enough form to lend cohesive shape to the entire set and plenty of freedom to allow Andersen, Smith and Vinaccia to take the music where they will, Live at Belleville is Andersen's most exciting release to date. Even more, balanced with its lyrical and, at times, near-orchestral tendencies, it's the best disc of Andersen's long and varied career."

JAZZWISE ★★★★ 'This is nothing short of a masterclass."

THE GUARDIAN ★★★★ as always, has the air of a master at work."