Anders Jormin

Sweden's Anders Jormin is a progressive composer, double bassist, and educator who plays across atmospheric classical music and folk-influenced, vanguard jazz. During the 1970s he played alongside bandleaders including Bobo Stenson and Don Cherry and he has hundreds of recording credits. He released Nordic Light, his leader debut in 1984 -- his brother Christian Jormin served as pianist. Four years later, Jormin released the octet set Eight Pieces. In 1991 he issued Alone, and in 1993 he joined Don Cherry's sextet on Dona Nostra. In 1997, Jormin's quartet released Once. For 1999's Silvae, he led a sextet that included guitarist Marc Ducret. In 2001, Jormin debuted on ECM leading a brass quartet on Xieyi and followed with 2004's In Winds, In Light with pianist Marilyn Crispell and vocalist Lena Willemark. In 2005, he joined Stenson and drummer Paul Motian on Goodbye. Ad Lucem for trio and vocalists appeared in 2012, and 2013 saw the arrival of Between Always and Never with an orchestra, choir, and Willemark. 2015's Trees of Light included Willemark and koto master Karin Nakagawa. 2023's Pasado en Claro reunited him, Willemark, and Nakagawa, and drummer Jon Fält, and in 2025, he was part of the collective that released Arcanum. the following year he re-teamed with Crispell on the duo album Memento. Born in Jönköping, Sweden in 1957, Jormin was first introduced to music by his jazz musician father, who helped him (and his brother, pianist Christian Jormin) learn standards at a young age. Later, Jormin studied classical piano and bass at the University of Gothenburg, where he graduated in 1979. Also during the '70s, Jormin found work performing with such established acts as Mwendo Dawa and Rena Rama -- the latter included longtime Jormin associate Bobo Stenson. By the early '80s, Jormin was an established jazz sideman, appearing on albums by pianist Lars Jansson and singer Claes Janson. In 1984, he made his debut as a leader with Nordic Light on Dragon. He followed with numerous outings on Dragon, including Eight Pieces (1988), Alone (1991), Jord (1995), and Silvae (1998). During the '90s, Jormin also collaborated on albums by a bevy of highly regarded forward-thinking artists, including pianist Stenson, trumpeter Cherry, saxophonist Charles Lloyd, and trumpeter Tomasz Stańko. In 2001, Jormin made his ECM leader debut with Xieyi, an impressionistic, classical-influenced production showcasing his four-piece brass ensemble arrangements. Two years later he delivered his sophomore ECM album, In Winds, in Light, that featured accompaniment from pianist Marilyn Crispell and vocalist/violinist Lena Willemark. The 2000s also found Jormin appearing on works by such similarly minded musicians as guitarist John Abercrombie, bassist Eberhard Weber, drummer Jon Christensen, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and keyboardist Kristian Blak, among others; among these, he notably appeared on vocalist and kanetele player Sinikka Langeland's ECM debut, Starflowers. In 2011, he joined percussionist Marilyn Mazur on the ECM date Celestial Circle, followed a year later by his haunting, eclectic effort Ad Lucem, featuring vocalists Mariam Wallentin and Erika Angell along with clarinetist/saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist. In 2013, the bassist was joined again by Wallentin, as well as Jönköping Sinfonietta and Jönköping Chamber Choir on Between Always and Never. That year he also paired with his brother, percussionist Christian, on the quiet duo album Provenance. In 2015, Jormin appeared with Willemark and Japanese koto player Karin Nakagawa on the ECM release Trees of Light. 2016 saw him reprise his role with Langeland on her landmark LP The Magical Forest, playing alongside trumpeter Arve Henriksen, drummer Markku Ounaskari, and saxophonist Trygve Seim. The quartet vowed to work together again. A year later the bassist delivered Titok, a trio album with guitarist Ferenc Snétberger and drummer Joey Baron. The classical-leaning Tantum, with organist Karin Nelson and flutist Jonas Simonson, followed in 2018 as did Anders Jormin: Ama, with Jormin leading Camerata Silesia and Anna Szostak. Jormin released Poems for Orchestra for Sweden's Losen Records in 2019. In 2022 he joined violinist Mark Feldman on What Exit for ECM, and saw his recorded contributions with Stenson's trio reissued. Jormin reunited with Willemark, Nakagawa, and drummer Jon Fält for 2023's Pasado en Claro on ECM, and in 2024 made The Pilgrimage with guitarist Arne Jansen and saxophonist Uwe Steinmetz. The following year, Jormin joined trumpeter/composer Ulf Adåker and his brother Christian on the former's Music for Bobo Stenson: Odyssey of Karib on TengTones. He also reteamed with Henriksen, Seim, and Ounaskari on the collectively billed Arcanum. The following year, Jormin and Crispell teamed for the duo album Memento, also on ECM. It offered four freely improvised works, amid select tunes redone from the catalogues of both artists. ~ Matt Collar & Thom Jurek