Jasper Høiby
What It Means To Be Human

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CDs and limited number of coloured vinyl copies still available!

What It Means To be Human is the second in a series of four albums from Jasper Høiby’s Planet B, featuring saxophonist Josh Arcoleo and drummer Marc Michel, that focus on global topics of vital importance - Humanity, Climate Change, Artificial intelligence and Monetary Reform.

Release date: 16 September 2022

Jasper Høiby Bass and Electronics

Josh Arcoleo Saxophone

Marc Michel Drums

All music composed and arranged by Jasper Høiby

Produced by Jasper Høiby
Executive producer Dave Stapleton

Recorded by August Wanngren at Tornado Studio in Copenhagen, 26, 27, 28 October 2021.
Mixed by August Wanngren in November 2021
Mastered by Peter Beckmann in London in November 2021

Album artwork by Oli Bentley, Split
Front and back cover photography by Anuar Patjane Floriuk
www.anuarpatjane.com

Following is the text and sources of the samples used:

Ruby Sales:
Where Does it Hurt - ‘On Being’ podcast with Krista Tippett.

Used on track 1 ‘Vision Of Outrage’ -
‘I think that we have to begin to have a conversation that incorporates…
a vision of love with a vision of outrage.’

Used on track 6 ‘Spiritual Geniuses’ -
‘Our parents were spiritual geniuses who created a world and a language where the notion that I was inadequate or inferior or less-than never touched my consciousness.’

‘You can’t talk about injustice without talking about suffering. But the reason why I want to have justice is because I love everybody in my heart. And if I didn’t have that feeling, that sense, then there would be no struggle.

Used on track 10 ‘What It Means To Be Human’ -
‘What it means to be humans — we live in a very diverse world, and to talk about what it means to be humans is to talk with the simultaneous tongue of universality and particularities.’

Grace Lee Boggs
A Century in the World - ’On Being’ podcast with Krista Tippett

Used on track 3 ‘Clock Of The World’ -
‘To have lost our ties with one another, to have become strangers and even enemies of one another and competitors, we’ve lost a lot of our spirit.’

‘We have so much to rediscover. There are so many creative energies that are part of human history that have been lost because we’ve been pursuing the almighty dollar. We haven’t recognised at what expense we’ve done that, the expense not only of the earth, not only of people of colour, but of our own souls.’

We think we are only the victims.’

We no longer recognise that we have the capacity within us to create the world anew.’

Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, Founder - the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace - www.janegoodall.org.uk
What It Means to Be Human - On Being’ podcast with Krista Tippett

Used on track 8 ‘Life Force Seeds’ -
‘I think, probably, my very favourite individual tree has to be the beech in my garden. And when beech began to grow, over 100 years ago actually, it was from a pretty tiny seed. And if I had picked it up at that time, it would’ve seemed so small and weak, a little growing shoot and a few little roots. And yet, there is what I call magic. It’s a life force in that little seed, so powerful that, to reach the water that the tree will need, those little roots can work through rocks and eventually push them aside. And that little shoot, to reach the sunlight which the tree will need for photosynthesis, can work its way through cracks in a brick wall and eventually knock it down. And so we see the bricks and the walls as all the problems, social and environmental, that we have inflicted on the planet.

So it’s a message of hope: hundreds and thousands of young people around the world can break through and can make this a better world.’

What It Means To be Human is the second in a series of four albums from Jasper Høiby’s Planet B, featuring saxophonist Josh Arcoleo and drummer Marc Michel, that focus on global topics of vital importance – Humanity, Climate Change, Artificial intelligence and Monetary Reform. This album seeks connection. A connection between humanity and the planet, between the problems we all face and about an opportunistic optimism to fix them. The mastermind is Jasper Høiby, the esteemed and revered Danish bassist and the deeply reflective, expressive and visionary artist.

Whilst there are many moments that display the virtuosity and hard-hitting grooves of Phronesis, the long-standing band that shot Jasper to the limelight, Planet B offers additional rewards of subtle expression. The music is captivating and highly absorbing, enhanced by soundscapes of electronics and interspersed with powerful, emotive speech by some unique and forward-thinking women including Grace Lee Boggs, Ruby Sales and Jane Goodall. They all share a profound understanding of the world, only achievable through practical wisdom, each offering their individual take on where we are as a species and what we can do to improve.

At the heart of the album is the trio. A group of like-minded and creative souls where the focus is all about the collective sound. As a whole, the music is a powerful, mesmerising and poignant display of musicianship, integrity and storytelling. What it Means To Be Human is an album at the forefront of the creative European scene.

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