True North

Morten Ramsbol writes: "Returning to my home in Denmark in the summer of 2017 inspired me to write new music that would feature some of my favorite musicians and a string quartet. Each morning for two weeks I sat at my piano without an agenda, expectations or plan, apart from allowing myself to "receive" whatever would come to me and document it on my phone. After a few months I sent some finished melodies, chords and sketches to my friend, Austrian drummer, composer and band leader, Reini Schmolzer, whom I met in 2013 when I started working as professor for double bass at the Kunst Uni Graz, Austria. Reini was given the freedom to arrange, orchestrate, and interpret my music and write for the string quartet. In May 2018, Julian Arguelles, Jacob Karlzon, Reini Schmolzer and myself plus the Ingmar Jenner String Quartet met for the first time as a band, rehearsed one day, played a concert in Graz and went to Italy the next morning to record the music. The freshness and vitality can be heard on the recording and I humbly feel that the stars aligned in our favor."