Best of 2017 #28: Daniel Herskedal – “The Roc” (Edition Records)

If there exists a societal opinion that tuba is incapable of being the source of beautiful music, then Daniel Herskedal has something to send that premise crashing down.  The Roc is arguably the most gorgeous recording of 2017.  Built upon the tubist’s personal concoction of modern jazz, chamber and folk, Herskedal adds an intriguing influence of Arabic music to the mix, as well as expands his ensemble with a cellist and violinist.  As with previous Herskedal recordings, The Roc is an album overflowing with cinematic imagery, thick beautiful harmonies and melodies as bright and clear as a forest stream.  The addition of Arabic music creates a rhythmic environment that brings a life to those elements that breathes an entirely new way, and has the melodic effect of a shapely allure, of providing an enchantment impossible to ignore.  This is a phenomenal album from a musician who just keeps raising the bar on his own projects, and exceeding it.

Music from Oslo, Norway.

Read more at Bird is the Worm.