Food: Last Supper

Food is another band that features Arve Henriksen, joined by bassist Mats Eilersten and the English saxophonist Iain Ballamy and drummer Thomas Stronen. The group’s second disc, Last Supper (Rune Grammofon), is one more dazzling example of the sort of intelligent, beatific, ambient electro-jazz that pours out of Norway. Unlike Henriksen’s group Supersilent, which focuses on noise as ambience, Food hews closer to the trumpeter-vocalist’s solo records Chiaroscuro and Sakuteiki (both Rune Grammofon), which are bathed in his breathy brass exhalations and mountaintop tenor glossolalia. More than keeping time, Stronen plays coloristic percussive timbres. But as on the more beat-crazy Humcrush (Rune Grammofone), his improv-duets CD with keyboardist Stale Storlokken, Stronen drums in an open-ended style without letting the music fall apart.

Henriksen comes from the world of experimental Don Cherry and electric Miles Davis as well as that of his fellow trumpeting/singing Norwegian Per Jorgensen. But he’s such a singular horn player with a well-defined aesthetic that Henriksen’s musical approach might be considered a style unto itself.

Originally Published May 1, 2005