Lars Danielsson's Libretto have staked-out a corner of jazz for themselves where calm, thoughtful, melodically based improvisation prevails. The group debuted on ACT in 2012 but even before then Danielsson had been working with small, ad hoc ensembles performing his own compositions. I saw an ensemble with Yaron Herman on piano, and his choice of pianist, hand in hand with Liberetto regular John Paricelli on guitar, is central to shaping the direction of Danielsson's music – the first two Liberetto albums had Tigran Hamasyan in the piano chair who was succeeded on Liberetto III by Privat. On this fourth album by the group, Danielsson again comes up with a collection of well crafted original songs, not just vehicles for improvisation, but songs in their own right that demand the improvisor respect the songwriter's intentions in terms of mood and melody. Each musician is tuned-in to Danielsson's wavelength with players responding to the challenge the context of Danielsson's music imposes on them. He likes an occasional subtle flavour of the exotic in his music, the mid-Eastern flavours that crept in on a couple of compositions on Liberetto III, for example, and here on ‘Desert of Catanga’ and ‘Tango Magnifique’. Arve Henriksen and Kinan Azmeh provide additional colour as well as skilfully creative solos in what is a well conceived, subtly executed album where context is all.

Jazzwise spoke to Lars about his new album…

Libretto began on record in 2012 and its been an evolving project. What was your original conception for Libretto and how has that changed?

The idea of Liberetto was to put a group together that would present my songs both in the studio and live. For me it was very important to find musicians that understand the music, as well as put their own personal sound into it. The group has remained the same since the first album, except for the pianist, I was very lucky to have Gregory Privat in my band after Tigran. The concept has developed over the years since we played many concerts live, and I have worked on new material all the time. However, the mix between classical music, folk, rock and jazz has always been there in my opinion. That has to do with my way of composing and also the way the musicians in the band are putting their own interpretation to the music.

This work seems to have been on an ascending graph with each succeeding record, and certain players return, is this because you feel the group has a specific musical identity, or do you like to keep it fluid?

I think it is both ways, for instance, when it comes to Arve Henriksen, he has become an important colour on the records. The fact that he lives in the same town as me doesn’t make that choice more difficult. He is one of my absolute favourite trumpet players. I like the way of keeping a certain feel through the records, but to put in something new or different. This time I would say it is Kinan Azmeh on clarinet, who is a Syrian player who lives in New York. There was a plan for a long time that we should play together, and I felt that this was the right moment.

On Cloudland there are 12 songs, all your originals, are these written with the group sound in mind, or does the group find its sound in your melodies?

Most of the songs were written for the group in mind, but ‘Yes To You’ was written for the Ulf Wakenius album Taste Of Honey, and ‘Tango Magnifique’ was written for Wolfgang Haffner. I rearranged them for the group when we recorded the album. In this process I had great help from my Co-producers Caecilie Norby and Magnus Öström. Also, John Parricelli's amazing sounds on the guitar give me a lot of inspiration when it comes to arranging the songs. Most of my songs are written on piano, but sometimes on guitar as well.

Does the inclusion of guests suggest you are thinking in terms of a larger ensemble?

The guests give an additional colour to the songs, however a good song should be able to be played in a small ensemble as well as in a big orchestra. I like to arrange for symphony orchestra, since I come from a classical background.