Yeraz is the first album by the duo of Norwegian saxophonist Trygve Seim and accordionist Frode Haltli, a pairing that had been touring for several seasons before it reached the studio. Both instruments are driven by breath, through lungs or bellows, and the record works in the narrow space where saxophone and accordion reeds start to sound alike. The repertoire runs from an Armenian folk song to G.I. Gurdjieff, Bob Marley and Seim's own tunes, new and old.
The two had already worked together often, and Haltli was a member of Seim's large ensemble Sangam. Here Seim plays soprano and tenor saxophones and Haltli accordion, with no other musicians. The album was recorded in June 2007 at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, with Jan Erik Kongshaug as engineer and Manfred Eicher as producer. All the tunes were newly arranged by the two, and both are credited as composers of the opening suite and of the closing Postludium.
The programme moves like a journey, and ECM's notes point to the open road on the cover. Praeludium / Bayaty / Duduki, over twelve minutes long, sets improvised passages around music by Gurdjieff. The Greek-Armenian thinker collected traditional melodies on his travels through the Caucasus and the Middle East. The title track sets an Armenian traditional melody after a short introduction. Marley's Redemption Song is played rubato, that is, in free tempo, away from its reggae roots. Waits for Waltz is a free waltz with a nod to Tom Waits. Seim also brings back Airamero, from the repertoire of his early 1990s band, along with Bhavana and MmBall, a tune by his drummer Per Oddvar Johansen.
DownBeat wrote that "the improvisations unfold with exquisite care, in lines steeped in melancholic beauty and sometimes glimmering hope". In the German magazine Jazzthing, Wolf Kampmann heard world music in the best sense, gathering global sources without false ethno-romanticism. Die Zeit noted how Seim's saxophone can stand in for a whole horn section, while Haltli keeps a balance between virtuosity and the modesty of an accompanist. The duo went on to record Our Time for ECM, and Haltli also appears on Seim's Rumi Songs.
CD edition, ECM 2044, first released in September 2008.
