ARTEMIS – ARBORESQUE

1. The Smile of the Snake(Donald Brown) Arranged by Renee Rosnes 5:27
2. Komorebi (Noriko Ueda) Arranged by Noriko Ueda 5:41
3. Sights Unseen (Ingrid Jensen) Arranged by Ingrid Jensen 4:30
4. Petrichor (Nicole Glover) Arranged by Nicole Glover 5:39
5. Footprints (Wayne Shorter) Arranged by Renee Rosnes 5:33
6. Olive Branch (Renee Rosnes) Arranged by Renee Rosnes 5:31
7. What The World Needs Now Is Love (Burt Bacharach/Hal David) Arranged by Renee Rosnes 5:39
8. Little Cranberry (Allison Miller) Arranged by Allison Miller 5:06

Piano: Renee Rosnes

Trumpet: Ingrid Jensen

Tenor Saxophone: Nicole Glover

Bass: Noriko Ueda

Drums: Allison Miller

Produced by Renee Rosnes / Recorded by James Farber

Nach ihrem zweiten Sieg in Folge als “Jazz Group of the Year” bei der DownBeat-Leserumfrage kehren ARTEMIS mit ihrem dritten Blue-Note-Album ARBORESQUE zurück, als Quintett-Besetzung unter Leitung der Pianistin und musikalischen Leiterin Renee Rosnes. NPR Music bezeichnete die Band als „Femme Fatale Supergroup“, was nicht verwundert bei der herausragenden Besetzung mit Trompeterin Ingrid Jensen, Saxophonistin Nicole Glover, Bassistin Noriko Ueda und Schlagzeugerin Allison Miller.

Als Inspiration für Klang und Repertoire von ARBORESQUE nennt die Band diesmal die Natur und ihre Wirkung und Bedeutung für uns Menschen. Die acht Tracks des Albums, bestehend aus je einer Originalkomposition der Bandmitglieder sowie neuen Arrangements von Stücken von Wayne Shorter, Burt Bacharach und Donald Brown, klingend dementsprechend harmonisch und organisch, geben den fünf Musikerinnen viel Spielraum für ebenso elegante wie herausfordernde Soli.

INFO

The genesis of the acclaimed jazz group ARTEMIS can be traced back to 2016 when pianist Renee Rosnes first assembled an all-star ensemble to celebrate International Women’s Day with live performances in Europe. Nine years on, as the band releases its third Blue Note album, ARBORESQUE, the collective continues to demonstrate its staying power and prove how the music transcends any notion of patriarchy. But ARTEMIS’ purpose has also expanded, reaching beyond special projects, cultural initiatives, or the supergroup concept. On the new recording, they explore a loose theme of natural and environmental beauty. Even more so, however, ARBORESQUE is a paean to the sheer joy of collaboration and creativity.

“Our goal is to make honest music that touches people,” says pianist Rosnes, who is the band’s organizing force and primary arranger, though every member contributes original compositions. “We inspire one another and feel passionate about playing together. All that positive energy comes through in the music and I believe the audiences feel it.”

They certainly do, and it’s helped ARTEMIS earn a reputation as one of the finest working groups in all of jazz. Or as DownBeat’s readers voted in the magazine’s 2023 and 2024 polls, ARTEMIS is the finest working group in jazz. Period.

As heard on ARBORESQUE, the quintet lineup of ARTEMIS features five talents who represent the pinnacle of their generations: Rosnes, on piano and Rhodes, alongside trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda, and drummer Allison Miller. And like other working-band institutions in Blue Note Records history — Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers come to mind — ARTEMIS has nurtured and elevated game-changing musicians through natural shifts in the personnel. ARTEMIS alumni comprise some of jazz’s absolute luminaries: Cécile McLorin Salvant, Melissa Aldana, Anat Cohen, and Alexa Tarantino.

Today, ARTEMIS exists as a deeply committed core unit who’ve played together more than any other incarnation of the group. “As a quintet, there’s a greater feeling of elasticity” says Rosnes. “We’ve become looser and tighter at the same time.”

Throughout these eight tracks, a kind of telepathy is present that can bring to mind jazz’s most daring and interactive swinging groups, starting with Miles’ Second Great Quintet. The supremely fluid performances suit the nature-inspired material, and vice versa. As Rosnes explains, the members of ARTEMIS are “lovers of the natural world,” she says, discussing how the musicians hail from breathtaking locales, and how they cherish any time possible to immerse themselves in the outdoors while on the road. “Traveling can be challenging, and it fosters our connectedness and gives us a sense of well-being.”

Ueda’s “Komorebi” takes its title from the Japanese word that signifies the effect of sunlight filtering through the leaves of a tree. The composition is optimistic but also edgy, with spirited frontline interaction. “Petrichor,” an entrancing ballad that Glover wrote, is titled after the comforting aroma in the air that follows the first rain after a dry spell. Jensen’s “Sights Unseen” highlights a driving groove, tinted with electronics. The trumpeter describes her contribution as “a call to our collective imagination,” and a reflection of her “dream that we all approach what we see and hear with the innocence of a child.” Miller’s “Little Cranberry,” a reference to the postcard-worthy island in Maine, communicates the balance between contentment and excitement, calm and motion, that defines a perfect respite.

Rosnes’ “Olive Branch” is Latin-tinged jazz modernism, inspired by an Spanish olive grove the band encountered while on tour. “The olive tree is not only a symbol of peace but is sacred in many cultures,” she points out. “In Greek mythology, Leto, the mother of Artemis and Apollo, gave birth to her twins under an olive tree on the island of Delos.”

Rosnes also arranged the three non-original entries on ARBORESQUE, and all hold personal meaning. Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love” features harmonies inspired by the late Mulgrew Miller, a hero and friend to Rosnes. First recorded in 1965, the pianist underscores that this classic date-night melody was written in protest of the Vietnam War. “The message,” Rosnes says, “is one I think we can all universally relate to.” The inquisitive, noirish opener, “The Smile of the Snake,” was composed by the unsung piano giant Donald Brown, whom Rosnes has been a fan and friend of, for decades. “The title refers to people whom you love and trust, but who end up disappointing you.”

Rosnes also recalls that she recorded one of Brown’s pieces on her self-titled Blue Note debut, released back in 1990. Indeed, her history with the label is profound and includes an extensive catalog as a leader, membership in era-defining Blue Note supergroups, a collaborative album with her husband, pianist Bill Charlap, and time spent working for some of the label’s most storied artists, including Bobby Hutcherson, J.J. Johnson, Joe Henderson and, of course, Wayne Shorter. That late icon’s spirit fills Rosnes’ arrangement of “Footprints,” which is informed by how it was performed as part of the maestro’s group in the late ’80s.

But Shorter’s most meaningful lessons reached beyond the music itself. “What I’ve learned from the legends I’ve worked with,” Rosnes says, “is to have trust. The best way to inspire the greatest playing from any artist, is to allow them to be themselves.”

Rosnes is wise to heed this advice in a band of such unmatched ability and expressivity. Jensen is “a stunningly original voice on trumpet and can pollinate a chord with the perfect note.” As Jensen’s ideal foil on the frontline, Glover is a bold storyteller and plays with a innate sense of purpose and freedom,” says Rosnes. Ueda is a “virtuoso of the bass whose lines are centered and buoyant.” Miller is the band’s center of gravity as well as being a gifted orchestrator behind the drumkit.” Together with Rosnes and Ueda, the rhythm section puts power and finesse in perfect equilibrium.

Not surprisingly, the members of ARTEMIS have overstuffed schedules outside the group: as bandleaders, educators, and integral parts of other thrilling working groups, but they insist on making focused time for ARTEMIS. The chemistry within this band, Rosnes says, is simply too riveting to pass up.

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