Here Now

Punya offers a few notes about the latest album by the Danish Jazz band, the Søren Bebe Trio

Søren Bebe Trio | Here Now
from Out Here Music, 17 November 2023
Søren Bebe Piano
Kasper Tagel Bass
Knut Finsrud Drums
Listen to On and On on all streaming services here: trio.lnk.to/onon
Buy from sorenbebe.com

I am totally besotted by this music! Since I have come across Here Now, I cannot start my day without listening at least once to my favourite track: On and On (the one in the video).

The sound might seem soothing on the surface, but the double bass can take us into a deep, almost uncomfortable space; with, however, redemption coming along just at the right time to bring us back out with a brighter chord sequence, like, Spring has come, we have survived it again, and have become richer through the experience. This is how I feel On an On.

When I listen attentively to those delicately placed notes on the piano I am reminded of the flower decorations on the marble slabs around the Taj Mahal. It’s been 50 years since I was there, but the experience is still engraved in my mind; in that moment I became aware of the delicacy, care and love for beauty of these Sufi sculptors, a male sensitivity in creativity I felt awe towards.

And once I know by heart every drummer’s brush stroke and finger pluck on the double bass on On and On, I will probably move on to Day by Day.

From the other tracks, I love it when it’s the happy Folksy’s turn. Indeed, I find deep scratches in the classic Nordic seriousness. The bleak landscape of the cover is a disguise for the sweet playfulness in the first track, Here Now, and the luscious sensuousness in Tangeri.

In Grateful (a title which could have easily been chosen by one of our musicians, ditto the title of the album itself), the trio takes us, via new melodies and rhythm passages, to discover new places and ways of saying our heartful thanks. How Winter can be regarded with so much up-beat joy is a mystery to me, but then I am a child of the south…

But wait until you get to Summer: you’ll have to get up and move your spine and legs and swing your shoulders. I’ll let you discover the remaining tracks on youtube.com

I liked the idea of supporting the musicians (as one should) by purchasing a signed copy of the CD (it arrived this morning in the post!), but it turned out that I have been supporting my own well-being by listening to the downloaded WAV files, which sound so full and detailed through my newly-bought Bose earbuds (an extravagance under the guise of a birthday present to myself).

Not that I had afterthoughts, but after ordering the album I thought of getting confirmation from others by reading reviews. In the one by Mike Jurkovic in All About Jazz we read this as his conclusion:

“The question of is it jazz or is it new age or is it ambient may always follow Bebe and the many generous offerings his fellow artisans have gifted the world. Let us just put that question in the moot category as long as the music is good. Here Now is real good.”

Quite right: there is my eternal love for Jazz, a life steeped in new age music (with our very own Deuter). And ambient? Does Cipriani belong to that category?

Have a wonderful time with Here Now in the HereNow!

Details about the video

On and On is composed and produced by Søren Bebe
Recorded April 2023 by Thomas Vang at The V-Recording, Denmark
Mixed by August Wanngren at Virkeligheden, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mastered by Sofia von Hage and Thomas Eberger at Stockholm Mastering, Sweden
Artwork by Veselić & Veselić, Serbia
Video by Jonas Lyngdam, Denmark