Places Of Worship: An Interview With Arve Henriksen
Friday, April 29, 2016
Ahead of a forthcoming tour focused on his much-praised 2013 album Places of Worship, Jazzwise put some questions to prodigious Norwegian trumpeter and sonic explorer extraordinaire Arve Henriksen: Already this year you’ve played in many different contexts and format; as a soloist, with Supersilent and while recording with Trio Mediaeval and various small improv groupings, while even finding the time to toot the ice trumpet at the Ice Music Festival.
Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang are with you on this tour. How important is your collaboration with them?
My collaborations with these two fantastic sound masters has been going on for years, and they’re so important. I always want to go further and to explore and create music together.
What can we look forward to, then, with the Places of Worship tour?
We won’t just be recreating the album. It is two-and-a-half-years since that was released and so we’ll be bringing to the live performances material that Eivind, Jan and I have been working on since then.
Will there be live sampling?
Yes, we will all be able to sample, though Jan will be sampling what Eivind and I are playing along with excerpts from the album.
One of the most unusual and compelling tracks on the album is ‘Shelter From The Storm’. Will you be performing that live?
That one’s a collaboration with Erik Honoré, who sent me the words and the treatment along with the singing. Erik’s not with us on the tour, so I’m considering a variation without vocals.
You also have Anastasia Isachsen on board for this tour, providing visuals. How will it work with her videos?
Working with a video artist is a relatively new thing for me and we’ve only worked with Anastasia once before, when we did Places of Worship at Opera North’s space at the Howard Rooms in Leeds. It was fantastic. The venues on this tour are different, and different from one another, so it will be a distinct experience each time, but I hope the music will lead the video.
You’re always incredibly active, so what else have you got planned?
The album I’ve done as part of the Warped Dreamer (pictured above, video clip below) ensemble will be released in June. I’ve also got an album coming out with Hilmar Jensson and Skuli Sverrisson called Saumur. The recording with Trio Mediaeval for ECM is done, but I don’t know when that’s coming out. I will be touring with them though and some of those concerts will be with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. I’ve also been recording with Tigran Hamasyan and I hope to be doing a concert with him, Jan and Eivind soon. Then there’s the next Supersilent –Supersilent 13, which will also see that band going out on tour.
Will there be a new solo album?
I’ve plenty of material already recorded. What I have haven’t yet decided is how to present and release it.
– Colin May
Places of Worship, commissioned by Opera North, dates as follows: Holywell Music Room, Oxford (11 May); St George’s Bristol (12 May) and LSO St Luke’s London (13 M