Ingar Zach “Dans les arbres” + Alex Waterman, Gene Coleman & Vincent Royer December 9, 2010

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There’s no end to the delights of this quite magical disc. The finest composition, like improvisation, ultimately relies on intuition, and these players seem to have an innate grasp of the right combination of sounds and textures. Dans les arbres must be one of the finest ECM Improv releases – indeed, releases from any label – in recent years. —Andy Hamilton, The Wire Magazine

This quartet stems from work that Ivar Grydeland and Ingar Zach (of the SOFA record label) created while studying for their Master’s degree in Chamber Music at the Norwegian Academy of Music between 2001 and 2003. Around the time they gave their graduate concerts, Christian Wallumrød’s “Sofienberg Variations” (ECM 1809) was released. Grydeland and Zach soon began to record with Wallumrød

Parallel to their duo, Grydeland and Zach were also working with bassist Tonny Kluften in a project-based ensemble with the obscure name, No Spaghetti Edition. In 2003, No Spaghetti Edition released their third CD (“Real Time Satellite Data”, SOFA513). On this release and on the following tour and concerts, French clarinettist Xavier Charles was a guest.

In early July 2004 they had their first meeting as a quartet. 16 months later they met for another project with No Spaghetti Edition—recording the CD “Sketches of a Fusion” (SOFA520) with Tonny Kluften and the Canadian improviser, Martin Tétreault.

In July 2006 Charles, Grydeland, Wallumrød and Zach met again. This time to work on a band sound and to compose music for the present release. The CD is called “Dans les Arbres” and it’s also the introduction of the quartet by the same name: Dans les Arbres.

Official Website: http://www.issueprojectroom.org/2010/10/14/ingar-zach-%E2%80%9Cdans-les-arbres%E2%80%9D/