Ocean Fanfare | Third Nature | June 12, 2026

Celebrated Danish-Polish quartet Ocean Fanfare return with Third Nature, the final instalment in their long-form Nature Trilogy. Led by trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski and saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild, the group pushes further into structurally open, improvisation-led music, embracing a freer, more volatile approach to layered and non-linear time.

Third Nature is set for release on June 12th, 2026

The album draws inspiration from The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, whose ideas around “temporal polyphony” – the coexistence of multiple timelines and possibilities – sparked aspects of the project’s thinking. The quartet translates this into flexible compositions that favour ambiguity, overlap and intuitive decision-making. Rather than fixed forms, the pieces evolve through interaction, allowing different temporal layers to emerge organically in performance.

Musically, the record builds on the band’s established language: a close-knit rhythm section paired with a highly responsive horn frontline. Dąbrowski and Meinild move between tightly aligned phrases and more diffuse, textural playing, while bassist Richard Andersson and drummer Peter Bruun shift between grounded swing and open, momentum-driven passages. The quartet sound remains central, with subtle overdubs on “Circular One” and “Natskygge Ordnen” extending the palette without losing immediacy.

Ocean Fanfare’s origins date back to 2012, initially featuring drummer Tyshawn Sorey, whose collaboration with the group led to their 2014 debut Imagine Sound, Imagine Silence. Since then, the quartet has developed a distinct collective identity across the trilogy: First Nature – Ecological Relations (2019) focused on acoustic interplay, while Second Nature – Capitalist Transformation (2022) incorporated algorithmic processes and electronic augmentation into the compositional framework.

With Third Nature – Temporal Polyphony, Ocean Fanfare bring these threads together in their most open-ended and fluid music to date. Framed by Nicolai Howalt’s photograph Old Tjikko – an image of one of the world’s oldest living trees – the album reflects on duration, simultaneity and change, closing the trilogy with a work that foregrounds process, perception and collective improvisation.

Line up

Sven Dam Meinild | Alto Saxophone, Electronics
Tomasz Dąbrowski | Trumpet
Richard Andersson | Bass
Peter Bruun | Drums

Track Listing

Kritisk Stadie
Circular One
Paper Mountains
Long Time
Circular Two
Natskygge Ordnen
Quantum

PR Quotes

JazzTrail (USA)
“Creating immersive atmospheres and haunting tension, Third Nature reflects on duration, perception, and transformation through a series of open-ended pieces. At the same time, it highlights Ocean Fanfare’s ongoing commitment to tonal experimentation, collective interplay, and exploratory improvisation“

Paris-move (FR)
“The improvisations feel immediate, almost documentary in nature, preserving fleeting emotional states before they dissolve”

SK Jazz (SK)
“Musically, the album builds on the band’s established language: a tightly knit rhythm section paired with a highly sensitive front line of brass instruments. Dąbrowski and Meinild switch between tightly coordinated phrases and more diffuse, textural playing, while double bassist Richard Andersson and drummer Peter Bruun switch between grounded swing and open, dynamic-driven passages”

JazzWord (CA)
“The skillful playing here augurs for more notable long form or shorter sessions in the future”

Esensja (PL)
“Dąbrowski and Meinild constantly keep each other in sight, circling each other like two celestial bodies attracting each other.”

La Habitacion del Jazz (ES)
“The group expresses itself with its characteristic language: a tight, ever-attentive rhythm section and a horn section with a remarkable capacity for mutual interaction, based on naturally flowing dialogues”

Salt-Peanuts (DK)
“Dąbrowski and Meinild are patiently exploring evocative, resonant melodies and the timbral possibilities of the alto sax and the trumpet, while Andersson and Bruun color this textual playing with delicate touches, creating a collaborative ecology of «temporal polyphony»”

Jazz-fun (DE)
“Ocean Fanfare impressively demonstrates how creative and vibrant contemporary jazz can be. The quartet combines compositional openness with great musical precision, creating a soundscape where freedom and cohesion are not opposites”

Musik an sich (DE)
“after about five songs, when you can no longer resist its pull, you’ll be able to understand this sound”

Donos (PL)
“It’s an album that continually reveals new details and connections between the musicians. In an age when many albums reveal all their strengths upon first listening, such a quality is valuable in itself”