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In Essence: Spaargaren & Bjornild


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Jazz duo In Essence, featuring saxophonist and clarinetist Iman Spaargaren (NL) and double bassist Peter Bjornild (DK). They released the album In Essence on the Sound Liaison label in 2025 – beautiful, well-known and lesser-known jazz standards and ballads in a purely acoustic, improvised dialogue between double bass, tenor saxophone, and clarinet.
A one mic recording for Sound Liaison with recording engineer Frans de Rond. In a setting of clarinet, saxophone and double bass they explore the musical richness of carefully chosen songs in an intimate setting. Iman and Peter know each other through the Amsterdam musicians scene and became devoted to each other's playing after their first joint concert. They find each other in their lyrical way of playing. In their musical interaction, Iman and Peter beautifully complete and challenge each other. The duo plays a multitude of well-known and lesser-known jazz standards where musical freedom and intense interplay are key elements.



Iman Spaargaren & Peter Bjørnild - Pocket Concerts

Coming to you from the studios of the Concertzender / World of Jazz: Pocket Concerts. 

Line up:

Iman Spaargaren (NL) tenor saxophone

Peter Bjørnild (DK) double bass

The album was recorded live in a single room with a single Josephson C700S microphone in Pure DSD256, resulting in an exceptionally natural and intimate sound. Both the music and the recording were very well received.

Positive Feedback
wrote:

Simply incredible… with all the transparency, timbral accuracy, and resolution for which we love Pure DSD256. Iman Spaargaren and Peter Bjørnild play brilliantly together. The duo has chosen to keep each track short, distilled down to its melodic and emotional core. It’s as if the goal wasn’t to impress with complexity, but to offer a clear, focused experience of each tune, each one a small, self-contained meditation, a kind of musical haiku, concise, almost fragile in its clarity, capturing the essence of melody and melodic improvisation. The result is music that doesn’t explain itself — it simply is.”

Audiophile Style described the album as:

A wonderful selection of songs, played exquisitely, captured impeccably, and delivered to our listening rooms pristinely.”

The Absolute Sound called it:

A truly beautiful aural snapshot of a wonderful musical performance. A real ‘you’re there’ moment.”

Musically, this duo format creates an open, spontaneous interaction—two instruments in a quiet conversation, exploring melody and space. It's music that flourishes in an intimate setting.

Or watch a track from the recording session here: Live video on YouTube



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