Anne Mette Iversen - Marbles (2025) [Hi-Res]

'Marbles' brings together seven top-tier musicians from across Europe. Ternion Q Expanded, the vibrant seven-piece ensemble led by visionary bassist and composer Anne Mette Iversen, is jazz in constant motion; built on structure, driven by curiosity, and alive with interaction. It is a dynamic exploration of layered form, rhythmic interplay, and creative exchange in contemporary jazz.

Rooted in the metaphor of marble runs, Marbles evokes the beauty of systems in motion — paths diverging and converging, elements interacting, music finding its way in real time. Marble runs are an image of things finding their own, natural way. Like running water that always finds a path, or the neurons in our brain that find new ways if known paths get disrupted. Like the compositional writing process for this album, which took turns and twists, often through imposed obstructions, the best marble runs contain multiple paths for the marbles to get to the goal, and all of that is an important part of this album, multiple ways. Many of the compositions on Marbles have multiple layers, multiple levels and ways of being understood. In musical terms these are: multiple rhythmic layers, like the A-sections of ‘Threefold’ which is playing with both cross-rhythms and anticipations; multiple melodies, like on ‘Double Arches’, ‘Square Root of a Dream’ and ‘Marble for Minor’; and on ‘Two Twisted Spires’ there are even multiple layers of harmony in play, simultaneously. And of course there are sections with multiple, collective, solos telling parallel and multiple stories simultaneously.

Marbles embodies the idea that music, like life, flows and grows through interaction and discovery. It is a record built for repeat listening — complex yet inviting, sophisticated yet alive with spontaneity.

Ternion Q Expanded:
Silke Eberhard - alto saxophone
Percy Pursglove - trumpet
Julius Gawlik - clarinet, alto clarinet, tenor saxophone
Morris Kliphuis - french horn
Geoffroy De Masure - trombone
Anne Mette Iversen - acoustic bass & compositions
Roland Schneider - drums & cymbals