Spirit is the debut album of Brede Sørum Quartet, with Sørum himself as the frontman. The young quartet offers acoustic music that blooms with pure youth, but with a maturity and musical excess that will make even the most experienced jazz listeners open their ears. The written music is based on the band's ability to create and maintain energy over time with strong musical passion and an energetic interaction. The music opens up, and in good jazz tradition this allows the musicians to freely unfold and embroider the large forms. This is music that breathes, at the same time as it boils, with always an extra gear available.
Sørum has invited some of Norway's most exciting young musicians in jazz and improvisational music into his quartet. They process the music with clear sources of inspiration for the 60's innovations within free jazz and modal jazz. The quartet wants to honor this tradition, while at the same time consciously looking forward to what is to come.
The suite Spirit consists of four movements moving from darkness to light, from fog to clarity. The suite has been recorded in one take, testifying to a very mature quartet. It also stands as a strong documentation of the musicians here and now, the quartet itself, and its exploration of creativity and endurance over time. The vision behind the suite is that it can act as a catalyst for a meditative state in the musicians to hopefully reach into the core of their musicality - allowing them to free themselves from body and mind, and be present in the moment and in the music.