AnneInStavanger

MaiJazz 2007 at STING JAZZKLUBB, 10-12 May

2007-05-16T22:54:00.000+02:00

Sting Jazzklubb was again welcoming musicians under the MaiJazz festival. As always we've presented loads of IMPROVISATION. We had gigs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. THANK YOU Ståle for the great programmation!!

- Thursday: duo with Audun Kleive (percussion) and Eivin One Pedersen (piano and accordeon)

- Friday: double concert with motsol+Michael Duch, and Sten Sandell Trio

Stine Janvin Motland - vocals
Ståle Liavik Solberg - drums
Michael Duch - bass

Sten Sandell - piano
Paal Nilssen-Love - drums
Johan Berthling - bass

- Saturday: Han Bennink solo + Han Bennink with Frode Gjerstad (sax and clarinet)

You want to see more videos from MaiJazz at Sting JazzKlubb? just type in 'Maijazz 2007' in the youtube search...

Enjoy!

Bike trip to Sola strand, early May

2007-05-16T22:27:00.000+02:00

About 10 days ago i biked to one of my favourite spots in Stavanger: Sola strand. It takes about 45 minutes to bike there. Here a few pictures.

View over the south part of the beach

View over the north part of the beach

On my way back, i cycled around Hafrsfjord, which looks actually more like a lake... there are also farms and fields around the fjord.

View over the fjord from Hestnes

Farm at Revheim

Still alive... only busy with my new job...

2007-04-29T21:00:00.000+02:00

A few people commented that i should update my blogg... So finally some news: busy with my new work (as a geologist in Stavanger, it's not difficult to guess where i ended...), still listening to free jazz, going to gigs and festivals. But this year will be less than 2006 which was exceptionally good and crazy...
Still i managed to go again to All Ears festival, and Kongsberg and Mulhouse are on my list! Always something to look forward...
Now FINALLY some nice and warmish weather is back (after a real long and horrible winter), so time to pick up the bike again, trip of today: Tungenes lighthouse in Randaberg (a village besides Stavanger, which is facing the open sea). Beautiful fcking Norway...

Tungenes lighthouse

View over Mosterøy

Boat passing in front of Alstein. Going west in straight line from Tungenes will bring you straight to Orkney Islands in Scotland...

Jazz à Mulhouse, France, 22-26 August 2006

2006-08-28T18:23:00.001+02:00

Jazz à Mulhouse was my last summer festival. What a nice end. It could not have been better.

It was the 23rd edition of the festival. Check out the programme by clicking on the title of this posting... The festival has two venues, the Chappelle St-Jean where it was each day a free concert at 12.30. After that, an apperitif was offered under the trees outside of the chapel.

The evening venue was Noumatrouff, with a first free concert at 18.30, then a "dinner" break, and then the rest of the concerts (3), until about 12.30-1am. None of the concert are overlapping, meaning that i saw all the 23 gigs of the festival :-) At Noumatrouff there are also several tables covered with cds to buy, and of course always enough time between the gigs for browsing through and buying too much... Noumatrouff has also a bar, and two stands outside with warm food (dont forget to try the fruit pies, each day different, yum!).

The venues are quickly crowded, so you have to show up early, or have some plan... aheeeem... (un grand merci à Jean-Claude!!)

The whole festival is very well organized and has a very relaxed atmosphere. After the noon concert at the chapel, it was possible to meet up with people at the restaurant "Le Petit Zinc" and sit all together at a long table, and try one of the local meals from the menu.

I liked absolutely all the noon gigs at the Chappelle St-Jean. A perfect acoustic which enhanced the projects of great artists. Hm, i think my favourite in this serie was the solo of Swiss drummer/percussionist Pierre Favre.

It was many nice concerts at Noumatrouff. Everything was interesting at least. But my favourite were:

- The Fish (France): Jean-Luc Guionnet (alto sax), Edward Perraud (drums) and Benjamin Duboc (bass). Phew. Great kickass gig.

- Brötzmann Quartet with Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler and Michael Zerang.

- The Swiss trio: Türköz/Studer/Zimmerlin: Saadet Türköz (voice), Fredy Studer (drums), Alfred Zimmerlin (cello).

- DoppelMoppel (Germany): Johannes Bauer (trombone), Connie Bauer (trombone), Uwe Kropinski (guitar), Helmut "Joe" Sachse (guitar). A mix of improvised jazz, blues, rock and flamenco.

Also on the agenda, the legendary duo Bennink/Brötzmann, and a wonderful solo of Evan Parker at the Bain Municipaux (with Parker playing in the half emptied swimming pool).

Altough the time for leaving came, still a nice feeling when everybody says "A l'année prochaine!". I cross fingers that it will work out for me to visit the festival again in 2007...

And a big thanks to the festival organizers Adrian Chiquet and Paul Kanitzer (i forgot to ask him if he was a birdwatcher as well, since he was wearing each day a different t-shirt showing bird species...)

(movies coming!)

The carpet CD, chapter 1

2006-07-19T09:41:00.000+02:00

Is it a good idea to make a deal with a musician? Well, somebody told me once that drummers are not real musicians anyway... (thank you Lars for this photo document :-)

to be continued...

More Kongsberg stuff...

2006-07-15T13:39:00.000+02:00

Now time for some videos: thank you Carsten!

Han Bennink solo, Kongsberg, 7 July 2006

Michiyo Yagi plays the japanese traditional instrument KOTO. The gig took place at AvantHagen. The other noises you hear are: Paal Nilssen-Love on drums and Peter Brötzmann on saxophone (not appearing on the video).

Jaja. Our friend Terry expanding his brain abilities... ;-)
Cameraman: Carsten. Reporter: Anne.

Dont forget to check out the posting below, for Kongsberg pictures and some gig comments!

Kongsberg jazz festival 05-08 July

2006-07-14T16:12:00.000+02:00

Energimølla.Nerd.Crowd

Second time i visit Kongsberg Jazz festival, second time all expectations were fullfilled: great gigs, nice and warm weather, some nice food, got new friends :-)

My favourite concerts were:

- Globe Unity Orchestra (Energimølla)
- Michiyo Yagi, Peter Brötzmann and Paal Nilssen-Love (AvantHagen)
- Han Bennink solo (art exhibition room)
- Peter Brötzmann & Han Bennink (Byorkesterets hus)
- Fred Frith solo (Byorkesterets hus)
- ATOMIC (Energimølla)
- Håvard Wiik, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Paal Nilssen-Love and Petter Wettre in a tribute to John Coltrane (Mr. Wettre got his ass properly kicked here, hehe) (Kongsbergshallen)
- Paul Lytton & Paul Lovens (AvantHagen)

I was amazed by the Globe Unity Orchestra gig. Like one of my friends said after the gig: those guys look like a bunch of retired people who are cruising around in Norway in one of these big tourist bus to take pictures, and they just kicked our arses COMPLETELY!!!

Kongsberg is a really nice jazz festival. All the venues are small/medium size (except the sports hall which is bigger with high stage and of course bigger PA), which makes it possible to sit right in front of the musicians and not miss a single bit of what they are playing... Han Bennink threw his broken drumstick at me and when i said "AU!!!", he looked at me like he was going to throw _something_ else!
;-)))

Full article about the festival (in Norwegian):
Link to article in Dagsavisen

More (useless) pictures:

Eehh, ich möchte nur ein Photo machen!

Nerd.Talking

Thanks Heiko for the nice smile!

UFO

MONGO

Anne

Last evening at NattJazz festival in Bergen

2006-06-05T21:26:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday i had i short trip to Bergen for one last evening at NattJazz festival.

The gigs started with half hour delay because of (another) fire alarm (for nothing). So everybody out, then waiting outside 10 minutes in this typical Bergen summer weather (12 degrees, windy, a bit of rain), and everybody in again. Hmpff...

First gig was a new project, KWAZ:
- Jonas Kullhammar - sax (Sweden)
- Håvard Wiik - piano
- Torbjörn Zetterberg - bass (Sweden)
- Espen Aalberg - drums

Nice gig, i think this combo has a good potential, they just need more gigs together!

Because of the fire alarm, i left KWAZ after 45min to go to Bugge Wesseltoft's New Conception of Jazz with guest John Scofield. Why is this project (which btw Bugge ended last year) still called "New" Conception of Jazz? i wonder and that will be my only comment for that gig... So i rapidly gave up on that one, and thought better to have finally a full gig that evening with MZN3!

MZN3
- Kjetil Møster - saxes
- Per Zanussi - bass
- Kjell Nordeson - drums

Three great musicians, each their own style, each a strong personality, and working perfectly together. The pieces they played were based on compositions (from the band members), i am not sure i could always differenciate the composed with the spontaneous moments...everything was falling into place beautifuly, with of course a lot of very improvised parts. A perfect gig were you just sit, open your ears and is suprised at every moment!

Last gig of the evening, and of this NattJazz 2006 edition: Conference Call. I didnt know these musicians from before (2 from Germany and 2 from the States), and it turned out to be really nice, spontaneous and funny. Since the gig happened at Scene USF, which has no stage, i was sitting few meters away from the pianist, who had truely some inspiration from Cecil Taylor... after the gig, he told us that for him, it's enough with 6 minutes of a gig of Taylor, then his brain can't process more... ;-)

Conference Call is:

Gebhard Ullmann - sax, bass clarinet, soprano
Joe Fonda - bass
Michael Jefry Stevens - piano
George Schuller - drums

Over and out for NattJazz this year, again a great festival, so in the agenda for 2007!
=:-P

NattJazz festival in Bergen, Norway

2006-05-31T18:30:00.000+02:00

Bergen, view from our hotel room
(c)Heiko Purnhagen, 2006

NattJazz festival is happening now in Bergen (24th Mai until 3rd June). I am not quite sure since how many years NattJazz has been running, but i have been visiting this festival in 2004, 2005 and the edition of 2006 as well. The venue, USF Verftet, has 4 rooms of different sizes which were built in an old sardine factory. One room with a bar and tables, two rooms with chaired steps and one larger room for standing audience. There is also a restaurant with a terrace, where you have good chances to eat next to your favourite artists :-)

Friday was time to discover two young new bands: Peloton (Norway, Denmark, Sweden) and Cloudberry (Norway). Both played really nice concerts, Cloudberry was a bit more challenging though, the four musicians of the band (all very young, with a vocalist) really listening to each other and bringing their own voice to the project. That sounded rather promising!

Jan Bang, and in the back: DJ Strangefruit
(c)Heiko Purnhagen, 2006

Later in the evening, we also saw Nils Petter Molvaer and his band, but except three interesting tracks when vocalist Sidsel Endresen joined the band, the gig had nothing extraordinary or new. I had wished to hear more from guitarist Eivind Aarset, but unfortunately he didn’t step forward at any point.

Joe McPhee, Johannes Bauer, Mats Gustafsson
(c)Heiko Purnhagen, 2006

Saturday was the big day with Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet. Great to see them again just one week after Hasselt in Belgium!

The line-up was the same as Hasselt (see posting below). They even were standing in the same order on stage.... but not for long!

The reed/brass section guys were shuffling on stage, which from the audience, looked very nice! I thought it was a really great idea and gave another dynamic twist to the show. After the gig, we heard from the musicians that they were doing this because they could not hear each other on stage, especially not from one end to the other, hehe.

Mats Gustafsson and Peter Brötzmann
(c)Heiko Purnhagen, 2006

And what a show! We were sitting in front, 3 meters away from the stage which was only one step high. We got our ears filled, for sure!

Having seen them a week before, i could not recognize anything that they had played in Hasselt. Everything was completely different. The show started on a much higher tempo (the whole ensemble at the same time) and took off immediately, full power. Like this feeling that you are carried away by a huge wave but to where? nobody knows =:-P

Ken Vandermark, Kent Kessler
(c)Heiko Purnhagen, 2006

The gig was developing in such a way that somebody who don’t know about the band would probably think it is composed. The whole concert gave the impression that the different sequences were orchestrated somehow. That there was an invisible conductor. But it is only the ensemble which is conducting itself, flowing from one movement to the next, accelerating or slowing down, breaking apart in smaller entities or gathering everybody again. Even the end of the pieces are coordinated. There is truly something magical happening when the Chicago Tentet is playing, it will always amaze me!

After this gig, forget it, my head was full and i gave up rapidly (anyway i don’t think that the Wibutee gig would have deserved much attention, hmpff).

On Sunday i managed two full gigs (and some bits of others in between). The first was Motif, and the second was Ingebrigt Håker Flaten Quintet. Both were happening at Scene USF.

Atle Nymo, Ole Morten Vågan, Mathias Eick
(c)Heiko Purnhagen, 2006

Motif is:
Ole Morten Vågan - acoustic bass
Håvard Wiik - piano
Håkon Mjåset Johansen - drums
Mathias Eick - trumpet
Atle Nymo - sax

Klaus Holm
(c)Heiko Purnhagen, 2006

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten Quintet is:
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - acoustic bass
Ola Kvernberg - violin
Anders Hana - guitar, effects
Fredrik Rundqvist - drums
Klaus Holm - sax and clarinet

Both gigs beautiful, energiful, where the musicians are both challenging themselves and also challenging the ears of the audience: both bands are playing composed material (most of it is their own) and are improvising, sometimes very freely. No ego here: they are listening to each other and teasing each other all the time, truly having a great time playing together. Not one single minute was boring! Again this feeling after the two gigs that i was sitting in that room for nothing more than 30 minutes (both gigs were about 1h15 long, with a break in between).

Motif has released two cds at aimmusic.no, and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten Quintet has just released at Jazzland (in the Acoustic Serie). The liner notes are from Martin Revheim, also a fan of Ingebrigt's Quintet!

The same evening i also reached the end of the Polar Bear gig (2 last tracks), so it was difficult for me to have an idea about the band. I didn’t hear anything that was surprising during this short preview, but if i have the opportunity to hear them again for a full gig, i will do so.

Last evening of NattJazz part I: Monday with ATOMIC!

For those who don’t know this band yet: shame on you! Amongst the best Scandinavian jazz musicians from today, always playing their asses off! Magnus Broo (trumpet), Fredrik Ljungkvist (reeds), Håvard Wiik (piano), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums): phew! =:-P

I hanged around at USF Sardinen until the gig of Avishai Cohen, but didn’t stay more than about 15 minutes. Three American players, very much full of themselves, thank you. Uah. They surely thought they were really top notch. Jeezass.

So i switched to another gig, Delirium, with three Danish and one Finnish musicians. Exactly the opposite of the Americans: unpretentious, funny, spontaneous. And on top of that: willing to share some pretty nice stuff with the audience :-)

End of NattJazz part I: i will travel again there on Saturday for one more evening of good music!

iNTERaCT @ Hasselt, Belgium, 19th and 20th May

2006-05-21T23:00:00.000+02:00

Joe McPhee and Michael Zerang (c)Ronny Wertelaers, 2006

This weekend i visited the iNTERaCT event in Hasselt, Belgium. This time they kidnapped the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet for two days… they played in different combos, also with a few Belgium free improvisers, and the event finished with a Tentet set of 50 minutes.

It was nice to see that the hotel i had booked (IBIS) was just in the same street of the venue… so of course, everybody was staying there (not that Hasselt is such a big city anyway…).

The venue made me think of Ugglan in Stockholm: several gig rooms (Parquet Hall, Black Room, Cafe), one with a bar, a very relaxed atmosphere, the people running the place are really friendly and it was no problem to chat with the programme manager, and also people in the audience. It turned out that most of the people travelled especially to this event, from Brussels, Paris, Germany, the French part of Belgium…

They had a festival photograph (who is in daily life working in a car factory), he had been shooting the rehearsals, and some pictures were already hanging when i arrived. He also shot much during the gigs, and on Saturday we had fresh pics from Friday. That was really a great idea.

It was 5 gigs on Friday, starting 8.30pm until a bit over midnight. Different combos of the Tentet guys plus some Belgium improvisers. Some combos worked better than others, some were funny, some really interesting, and the surprise for me was the trio SONORE (brötz/mats/vandermark) which i had never heard before. Phew.

Overview of Friday's gigs:

- Kent Kessler, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Peter Jacquemyn (BE, bass), Joe McPhee, Thomas Olbrechts (BE, sax) (combo)

- SONORE (Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark)

- Thomas Olbrechts, Fred LH, Kevin Drumm (Chicago, electronics), Paal NL, Joachim Deville (BE, trumpet) (combo)

- Peter Jacquemyn, Mats Gustafsson, Johannes Bauer (combo)

- Joachim Deville, Johannes Bauer, Joe McPhee, Per-Åke Holmlander, Michael Zerang (combo)

----------------------
Saturday 20th
----------------------

Peter Brötzmann (c)Ronny Wertelaers, 2006

They had added a gig in the programme, so it went like that:

- Kevin Drumm (a guy from Chicago on electronics), Paal NL, Fred Lonberg-Holm (combo)

- Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler, Michael Zerang and Peter Brötzmann

- Vandermark, Paal NL, Kevin Drumm, Peter Jacquemyn (bass), Thomas Olbrechts (sax), Joachim Deville (trumpet) (combo)

- Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet

The combos were nice, but i really preferred the first one with Fred. It was a good combination with this Kevin Drumm electronics guy. Kevin was much more discrete than Marhaug, and also used a guitar a bit like Stackenäs. Fred is really creative on his cello, and i got really fascinated by his sounds. I wished several times that it was just the two of them, without Paal ;-)

The other combo with the Belgians was quite interesting too, this Peter Jacquemyn is really working hard on his bass, sometimes with two bows, sometimes inserting empty cola cans between the strings (not sure what difference it made with the other sounds he was making though)... but sometimes i also had the feeling that he was a bit overdoing it, and maybe he would be better with a saw and cutting trees in the woods... well anyway quite funny to see him playing. I cant say much about the two other (younger) Belgians, i should hear them again, but nothing that made me fall from my chair...

The band with McPhee/Kessler/Zerang and Brötz was excellent. Immediately one could hear that it's a fixed band and they are used to play with each other. Zerang told me at breakfast that he has been playing music with Kessler since they were like kids… They actually live in the same neighbourhood in Chicago.

The gig started with McPhee standing completely on the left and Brötz completely on the right (no stage, so they were just in front of us). Then at some point they walked towards each other and started a intensive saxophone to saxophone dialog, uah, that was really cool! So great to see these two historical free jazz figures playing their @sses off just in front of us, excellent! (there i should add something about Kessler, he was just amazing) I really would like to see a full gig of this band, for sure. Everybody in the room wanted more :-)

Then place to the TENTET! I kind of knew already that this gig was going to be too short, only one set of about 55 minutes… Again the guys were standing in front of us without stage, and actually the first row of chairs was kind of inside the hemi circle formed by the band. From left to right: Mats Gustafsson, Johannes Bauer, Fred LH, Ken Vandermark, behind him Paal NL, then Kent Kessler, behind him Michael Zerang, then Mc Phee, Brötzmann, and Per-Åke Holmlander. I was a bit surprised that Mats was standing at the opposite of Brötz, but in that way they could see each other…

Brötz opened with a beautiful solo on his alto. The whole ensemble gradually took over. It got very dense quite fast, everybody contributing to the cacophonic sound that developed. One of the most fascinating is how the band is breaking up spontaneously in solos, duos, trios, etc. and how the whole ensemble is then reacting, building up over it, or leaving it die off until one or several musicians are jumping in again and developing new ideas. Ken’s voice on baritone was sometimes difficult to hear in the tumult, but on clarinet, he was loud and clear and initiating these tensions that make everybody react… at some point somebody started a rhythm pattern out of this powerful mix, and i could not figure out if it was Fred, or Kent, or Paal, or maybe Ken? In the fury two voices were still very distinct: Paal and Peter, as if they were using the energy of the ensemble to be projected on top and get into a duo inside the storm, phew. There were also some incredibly wonderful quiet parts, for example Peter on his tarogato: you could have heard a pin fall in the room. Fantastic.

(c)Ronny Wertelaers, 2006

Trombone player Johannes Bauer (Germany) is part of this European Tentet Tour. It was the opportunity for me to discover this fantastic and reactive player, who can get quite animated while performing. Always nice to see how the Tentet is absorbing new (great) players just like that: it seems that Johannes has been in the band since ever :-)

So, i just want to say a big THANK YOU to all these fantastic musicians!

i am really looking forward to see them again at NattJazz in Bergen on Saturday!!
=:-P

Anne

Pictures from: Ronny Wertelaers

PETER&PAAL, Sting JazzKlubb, MaiJazz festival, 10th May

2006-05-14T15:01:00.000+02:00

Peter Brötzmann: alto/tenor saxophone, clarinets
Paal Nilssen-Love: drums and percussion

This week we had gigs at Sting JazzKlubb for the MaiJazz festival. We fixed the programme, and the festival sponsored us, so that was very nice. We had a fairly reasonable amount of people showing up each evening (our concerts were of course overlapping with others from the festival), so we end up this week really satisfied.
The detailed programme can be found on: Sting JazzKlubb.

Sting JazzKlubb have gigs at Sting Café in Stavanger, there is a club downstairs with a little stage. Very decent acoustics, and a capacity of 70 people (but for the festival we were allowed to sell up to 120 tickets, but luckily that didn’t happen!).

Wednesday evening, we had the honour to welcome Peter Brötzmann and Paal Nilssen-Love. It was for me like a dream coming true: having Brötzmann playing in "my" club (we’ve had of course Paal a lot of times before).

So when i arrived Paal and Brötz were sound checking (but of course they played completely acoustic), so i was really happy that i arrived at that time and it took one minute to reboot my head from my useless day at work.

After the sound checks, we went eating in the café upstairs. So i had my share of little stories :-)
Brötz said that in the late 60s when they were starting their free jazz music in Germany, the left-wing extremists thought that their music was "elitist", so they were throwing tomatoes (and other stuff) at them during the gigs!! So of course i had to giggle, and i said: "yeah i can imagine that people were on purpose letting their tomatoes rot to use them at your gigs"... Brötz is really a nice cool guy and he has this little spark in his eyes, like meaning: "anytime i can kick your ass!". U bet!

It was really easy going with them, so after we ate, Peter went back to the hotel and Paal walked with him. So i had not much to do until door opening, 8pm.

8pm, back to Sting: it was a bit of running around: Frode came with his full mike/computer equipment to tape the gig proper, with idea to tape for a cd release... i had to help the cash women, because they were newbies (with a woman that didn’t speak Norwegian, but only some kind of east Europe bad English, super). And this little guy from Iran, hihi, i had to laugh, because that's the kind of guy you tell him to do something and he does it down to the letter. So he was pushing (really) the people through so that they don’t clog the entrance, that was fun to watch, huhu.

A lot of people showed up, many of the MaiJazz volunteers that were curious, plus the more or less usual suspects, so that was quite packed (60+ people i guess)

The "celebrity" chapter: Per Zanussi was here for the whole gig, and at the end, the whole EST band showed up, and Esbjörn was quite sad that they didn’t get more of it.

The guys played two sets, one of 50 min and the second one of about 45 min.

Man that was EXTREMELY intense, the WHOLE fucking gig!!

I just don’t understand how Brötzmann can be so powerful, it's amazing!

He used alto/tenor sax, and his clarinets. As soon as he starts playing, his sound is storming in every corner of the room. With Paal, it's a real perfect match, several times i just could not believe what i was hearing: they were completely playing together, interacting all the time, i could hear melodies of Brötz picked up by Paal and meshed up into rhythms, and many times they were attacking at the exact same time, without even looking at each other. Brötz never stops playing full blast, you think "he has to have a little break now, because _i_ need one!" forget about it! He just goes on and on until your brain is melting. Sometimes they spontaneously let the other play alone, so we had a real full overview over these two great musicians.

Some mainstream heads left after 10 minutes, hehe ;-)
Some people were screaming, but i think too that a lot went kind of petrified, they just could not believe their ears.

They started in the first set with a 35 min long piece. I had to figure out what that made me think about. Actually like when there is this nice new snow (and the machines have been smoothing it) and i am for the first time of the year wearing my skis. For the next 2 hours, i just want to go down as fast as possible and ski my head off, not caring much about the style… Only after that (and a little chocolate break), i can start thinking proper again, hehe ;-)

I had the feeling that the second set was more "structured" in a way (of course they played without notes), and less this "downhill full speed" mood. This mix of energy building sequences, and also more "meditative" parts especially at the end of the pieces they played. This set was amazingly beautiful and flawless.

At the end of the gig, Brötzmann handed me a cd that he had just given me _before_ the gig. So impertinently i said: "oh, but you already gave me this one". So he handed me another one and me: "hey, i haffe this one too, i _bought_ it!", and the others i had too, so i said: "but you can giffe me something else _next_ week... like some _unreleased_ tape??" there Paal he started laughing. So Brötz answered finally with his little sneaky smile: "Aaaahh, but ZIS will cost you a lot!".

Then i gave a big hug to Brötz, so cool that i could tell him "see you next week in Hasselt!". But i didn’t give a hug to the sweat soaked Paal, ihhhh.

VossaJazz, report from Saturday 8th

2006-04-10T22:09:00.000+02:00

This weekend i was visiting VossaJazz festival in Voss. I travelled on Friday so that i could reach the gigs on time on Saturday, which started early.

The place to be was Fraktgodsen, where we saw all the gigs except the commissioned work (we is my friend Carsten and me).

Fraktgodsen is, IMO, the best venue at Voss. It is an old wooden warehouse that has been renovated into a venue. It's quite a long building at one end the bar with some tables, then rows of chairs and at the other end the stage. Good acoustics.

Starting 1pm with Sten Sandell Trio with John Butcher. Err, incredible and amazing. Four top impro brains playing music together, so you can imagine how intense it got. It was the first time i saw Sten live. He is just crazy. I mean it, i think he has a weird and undefined side which is from deep inside him (otherwise he seems to be a very nice person).

You just have to see John to believe how far he is stretching the possibilities of his saxophones (tenor and soprano), as i said to Carsten: it's like he is walking on a rope, always on the edge. Wow. Paal NL as usual was great, and it was interesting to see him playing with people of that caliber. Definitely guys at his level, so he had to think a bit, hehe. Great stuff from him. Johan Berthling is a very interesting (and also intensive) bass player, he first got my attention at Goran Kafjes gig in Stockholm, so i will keep an eye on him :-)
Right after the gig, i tried to speak to Sten but all i managed to say was mostly: "errr, gghhhmm, hfneeee, hmpfff"... In my top ten list of gigs of 2006!

Second gig was Zanussi Five. Yeah what to say?? I love that band (Møster in the sax section)! although i have the tape from the gig at Sting JazzKlubb from a few weeks ago, i never got bored at the gig at Vossa, they had changed some stuff, and the guys were improvising with new elements and interacting differently. Zanussi is a great bass player. He has been playing in many different styles (including some heavy metal impro crazy stuff in a duo with Anders Hana), and you can hear that when he plays. He has a wide range, and is very creative.

Then after: Ingebrigt Flaten Quintet. It's the 4th gig i saw of this band in less than a year (they should finally release their cd next month at NattJazz). Also a band you dont get bored to see live. This time reeds player Klaus Holm made really an impression on me. Powerfull, creative, beautifull playing on clarinet, he has much potential ahead of him (he must be like 25 years old max).

Then we just went to idrettshall to see the bestillingsverket, this year from Trygve Seim. The line up was really interesting (10 people on stage), only wood/wind instruments except a drummer (Per Oddvar Johansen also in Z5), and a young accordeon player (seen him before, but i dont know where). Including instruments like fagot, bass fagot, tuba, bass sax, etc. So of course, i was expecting some real action here at least _at some point_. Forget it. Although at the beginning some parts got interesting, most of the stuff sounded very ECM-ish, and it got really ruined when a vocalist appeared on stage and she was singing something like a Christmas song (!) and it was slimy and disgusting, uaahhhh. Two times at least Trygve got completely lost in his notes, shuffling his papers (we were sitting so that we could almost read his notes), so the orchestra went fluffly, ufffufff. Anyway: NEXT.

There we had a food break with Carsten, time to experience again the reaction of a norwergian cafe/restaurant staff to a "busy" evening. Our patience left us, at some point... ;-)

Time to go back to Fraktgodsen :-)
There a very nice acoustic trio was playing when we arrived, with some interesting names: Liebman/Swallow/Nussbaum in "We Three". It was so cool, relaxing, and easy for the ears, we had a great time listening to this "old guard" playing their stuff so easily and having a great time together on stage. And sharing it with the audience. Really a great gig and it took us unawares, so we were really enjoying it!

Last gig (still at Frakgodsen): Crimetime Orchestra. We got our usual seats again: first row in the middle, that is: 2 meters away from the stage. Before the gig, Carsten said: "errr, i think that one may get quite loud, at least for us", hihi. U BET. So these 12 guys and a woman enter the stage. In front: Bugge (on our left), Per Oddvar Johansen (the Z5 drummer) right _in front of us_, then on our right the "noisy corner" with: Paal NL, Per Zanussi, Ingebrigt (on el-bass) and Anders Hana (with his full set of guitar pedal effects and stuff, see picture). In the back: a wind section in two parts, on the left: french horn/trombone/trumpet, in the middle Kjetil Møster, and on the right 3 sax players.

They started nice and quiet, wind section first. Per Oddvar added some rythms, and the whole thing seemed to slowly take off. Hihi.

Then at this point, Mr. NILSSEN-LOVE started. Immediately i had to raise an eyebrow: "hey, what's going on here? why do i hear Paal ON TOP of Per Oddvar who is right IN FRONT OF ME? why the drums of Per Oddvar seems suddenly MADE OUT OF PLASTIC? æhhh??".

Well you got the whole picture. Paal got the whole fcking Orchestra under his shoe just like that. When he stopped playing: the whole stuff was taking a break. When he was picking up: everybody was picking up, and that went really to some extremes! Sometimes i had the feeling that people were "falling out" the ones after the others just trying to follow Paal's bursts of energy. Bugge? you could hardly hear him. The wind section: OUT one after the other, forget it. Only Møster was keeping on. Still in the tracks of Paal: Per, Ingebrigt, and Anders. I had really a great time at this gig, sometimes it was real chaos!!

They played one long set, a smaller piece and an encore. I think they have to rename the band Paal's Crimetime Orchestra. Hehe :-)

Just that Saturday at VossaJazz was worth the travel.

Anne

(pictures: Crimetime Orchestra. (c)festivalfoto.no)

Links:
VossaJazz
pics of some of the gigs

Jazzahead festival, Bremen, Germany 23rd-26th March

2006-03-29T22:36:00.000+02:00

I was visiting Jazzahead festival and also "messe" this weekend in Bremen. Suprisingly i was not the only "representative" from Norway, a bunch of "officials" were also travelling, so a round of "shaking-hands-look-at-my-face" was unavoidable. In the lot i met the programme leader of Moers festival, Reiner Michalke, a really cool guy, and the boss of this jazz club in Münich "Unterfahrt" recognized me again from when we met at the jazzland sessions in 2004 (Christiane Böhnke-Geisse). Rather unformal atmosphere, so it was nice to have a chat with some of these people and see how they developed their own projects...

The most interesting for me was a showcase Saturday afternoon called "German jazz meeting", where bands of younger people had 20 minutes to present their music. Some extremely good stuff and musicians in the lot. I could then imagine that the jazz scene in Germany is huge, and that is a problem to see who is making interesting stuff in jazz nowadays in that country. Each city has a scene, so basically you would have to travel all around Germany to have an idea... So in that respect the Jazzahead helped to point towards a few bands.

NattJazz already booked one of these bands, a very interesting trio called [em]. The pianist Michael Wollny is a name to remember. Another great band that afternoon was the project "sublim" of saxophonist Angelika Niescier. Her compositions were really punchy and "incisive", and the whole band was great to listen to, very fresh.

About Bugge Wesseltoft and his Jazzland Special: it was good, but nothing of the extraordinary. Some really nice parts though. IMO they didnt push the limits far enough, and they really had the right crew to do that. Some sounds/textures where a bit like "ah, i have heard that 100 times already", but a few moments sounded a bit more going "off track". Not enough of these moments to really make the whole thing take off, unfortunately. The idea to put together jazzland musicians from different bands is indeed interesting, but sometimes, i had the feeling that it was a bit too much of this "jazzland-beatpuré" without much punch in it...

Bugge said after the gig that it was rather a "difficult audience", it was many representatives, so people who are listening with both ears wide open and very critical ones. So not really a dancing crowd right in front of the stage (it was chaired).

Other gigs i have seen: Bobo Stenson Trio (very interesting, but the sax guest didnt catch much of my attention), and Maria Joao and her band. That time she had Mario Laginha on piano and that was something else than this boooring Jan G Hoff. She also had a great drummer, he truely impressed me, very creative and "open" in his playing, even including some free jazz elements in his south american jazz rhythms (Alexandre Frazao).

Yepp jazzahead was worth the visit, definitely keen to pay a visit to Unterfahrt jazz club in Münich!

Anne

Links:
Jazzahead
Moers Festival
Unterfahrt Jazz Club, Münich

Swedish Jazz Celebration, Nalen, Sockholm 15-18.03.06

2006-03-20T10:49:00.000+01:00

(pictures from Heiko!)

This weekend i was visiting the Swedish Jazz Celebration, which happens each year in a different city. This year it was in Stockholm at a venue called Nalen. Nalen is situated in the vicinity of Glenn Miller Café, and has several concert rooms on two floors.

The programme staff made obvious efforts to present the young front guard of the jazz scene in Sweden nowadays. That was a very good idea indeed. Many bands with young people. A quality in compositions that was high level, with fresh and challenging ideas, and great wind sections. Several names to keep an eye on, for sure!

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Friday 17th:
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The Stoner
Nils Berg – saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, effects
Jonas Östholm – piano
Nils Ölmedal – bass
Jon Fält - drums

Great rhythm section (Jon Fält is also in Yun Kan 5 and Bobo Stensson Trio), very interesting compositions, mainly from band leader Nils Berg. A name to remember: the young pianist Jonas Östholm. Nils Berg: great on bass clarinet!

Paavo
Sofia Jernberg – vocals
Cecilia Persson – piano
Jonas Knutsson – baryton sax
Nils Berg – tenor sax, bass clarinet
Thomas Backman – alto and baryton sax
Clas Lassbo – bass
Gustav Nahlin - drums

Compositions are mainly from Cecilia Persson and also Sofia Jernberg. Very nice wind section, very dynamic! Names to remember: Cecilia Persson, and the youngest sax player Thomas Backman (excellent!). Sofia Jernberg: working with her voice some non-conventional singing, which combined very well with the sax section. Very interesting, surprising and refreshing gig indeed. My second favourite of this weekend.

YUN KAN 5
Fredrik Ljungkvist – saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Klas Nevrin – piano
Per-Åke Holmlander – tuba
Mattias Welin – bass
Jon Fält - drums

I saw only one gig of YUN KAN 5 before, about two years ago at Fasching in Stockholm. And i also know Fredrik from the band ATOMIC... the concert of tonite was a REAL KICK! A very strong rhythm section, with Fält being very creative: playing around with rhythms and using various material as percussion, interacting very much with the bassist and the pianist (luckily Fredrik couldn't see the smiles they made to each other all the time, trying to trick one another constantly). Klas Nevrin on the piano is just fantastic: from very melodic to very percussive, improvising and very often challenging my ears, his playing was never boring. Per-Åke (also in Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet) on the tuba was a bit more discreet, but when given the space, he went into some improvisations that captured all my attention. Extending the limits of his instrument: breathing effects, clapsing sounds (is that English?), moanings, groanings, (sometimes i wondered if a baby elephant had not entered the stage, hehe). Well, on top of that already great musicians, add Fredrik Ljungkvist. What a energy storm, phew. He used tenor sax, clarinet and bass clarinet. While he plays full power (especially on the tenor), he stamps and gesticulates as there is just too much that has to get out of him. Still, he has full control, and the coordination between his part and the piano player was amazing to hear. Even if Jon Fält can be extremely pushy, Fredrik was steering the whole machinery, so that it was not exploding in front of our very own eyes. He was catching his breath again in calmer parts with beautiful and melodic playing, mainly on clarinet and bass clarinet. Fredrik has no doubt reached a master level with his band. I was expecting a very good gig, and we got something excellent in all matters. This concert is truly a top ten year list candidate. YUN KAN 5 deserves definitely more attention! Best gig of the whole weekend!

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Saturday 18th
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Oskar Schönning
Niklas Barnö – trumpet
Nils Berg – clarinet and bass clarinet
Mats Äleklint – trombone
Jonas Östholm – piano
Oskar Schönning – bass
Sebastian Voegler – drums
John Eriksson – vibes and percussion
Linnea Olsson – cello

Again a band with young talents. Compositions from Oskar Schönning and Jonas Östholm. Very nice and refreshing gig: all the musicians truly enjoying playing together, and contaminated the audience with their positive energy and "go ahead spirit" (how to translate "pågangsmot", somebody tells me). Names to remember: fantastic trombonist Mats Äleklint, and again the pianist Jonas Östholm. Oskar Schönning's band already released three records.

Sheriff
Magnus Granberg – guitar and vocals
Henrik Olsson – drums and percussions

Ah, at least one band where my brain had the time to process each sound/chords. Hehe.

Anders Persson Trio
Anders Persson – piano
Palle Danielsson – bass
Terje Sundby – drums

Palle Danielsson on bass: amazing and beautiful. With time, i will completely forget about the two other guys, but i will remember Mr. Danielsson, no doubt about it. One of these old generation "zen" player, whose playing seems so easy and fluent, it almost killed me. Another master.

Lars Danielsson quartet
Lars Danielsson – bass and cello
Jon Christensen – drums
Bugge Wesseltoft – piano
Jan Bang – sampling

Interesting gig with some names here. Honestly, the one that i liked best was Jan Bang. His live samplings are just amazing. I still wait to be impressed by Jon Christensen: everybody tells me he is so damn good, but sorry, i have still not been convinced. Maybe he _was_ great, but nowadays... Lars Danielsson: i need to see him another time with one of his "regular" bands. Had the feeling he had many ideas, maybe a bit too many. Bugge had some really nice interactions with Jan Bang, but it seems he was afraid to get too much in front. General feeling is that all were a bit "reserved", and the gig, although with nice parts, never really took off (one set of 45 minutes). Okay, i have to admit: maybe a bit too much "fjord jazz" for me...

Goran Kajfes
Goran Kajfes – trumpet and sampling
Per Ruskträsk Johansson – alto and baryton sax
Per "Texas" Johansson - saxophones, contrabass clarinet
Kjell Nordeson – drums
Johan Berthling – bass
Salem Al Fakir - Fender Rhodes
Crille Olsson - keyboards, percussion, effects

Last gig of the weekend: some great electro grooves that made me want to dance (but the room was chaired). Goran is a fantastic trumpet player, and for the first time in my life i saw a contrabass clarinet player, hehe, really tough. Kjell Nordeson on drums is excellent (what else?), and Johan Berthling really kicked me with his bass playing (a bit ala Ingebrigt). In terms of grooves and atmosphere, this gig reminded us of Bugges NCOJ.

Note that the Swedish radio P2 recorded all the gigs. Probably they will broadcast most of them throughout the year (and at least a chance for me to catch up with the YUN KAN 5, since i messed up my tape...)

Links:
Swedish Jazz Celebration
P2 jazzradion
About Jonas Östholm (in Swedish)

New CD of ATOMIC "Happy New Ears" (japanese release)

2006-03-01T19:16:00.000+01:00

Today i got a nice little package in my mail: the japanese release of the last cd of ATOMIC "Happy New Ears!". The cd will be released in Europe in April.

Actually i got that one from Norway (still sealed and everything), and no, not from one of the band members (i tried that of course, but it didnt work out).... well, anyway.... ;-)

Fredrik Ljungkvist - saxophone & clarinet
Magnus Broo - trumpet
Håvard Wiik - piano
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - bass
Paal Nilssen-Love - drums

Track listing:
01-Roma (5:26)
02-St Lureplass (6:48)
03-Cosmatesco (4:20)
04-Two Boxes Left (7:04)
05-Soundtrack (5:52)
06-Poor Denmark (8:43)
07-ABC 101 B (5:54)
08-Sooner Or Later (5:59)
09-Crux (9:15)
10-Closing Stages (5:32)

The cd came along with a little booklet in Japanese.

And of course it is KICKASS, BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT!

Double Duo gigs in Stockholm, 24th and 25th feb

2006-02-26T21:27:00.000+01:00

pictures: Heiko Purnhagen

Mats Gustafsson (saxophones, flute)
David Stackenäs (acoustic table guitars and effects)
Paal Nilssen-Love (drums&percussion)
Ken Vandermark (reeds)

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Double Duo at Ugglan, Stockholm, 24th of February
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The Double Duo project had their first gig 16th of February at Sting JazzKlubb in Stavanger, to continue with several gigs in Norway and Sweden (Stockholm). The first gigs were organized like this: duo Paal NL and Ken Vandermark (as their project "Dual Pleasure"), and then Mats Gustafsson and David Stackenäs (as their project "Blues"). Then a "finale" with everybody together. But of course, the duos were crossed over (any combination), and a trio was also formed (Paal, Ken and David). I saw a total of three gigs, and all the combinations possible.

Great to have another opportunity to see the Double Duo project, this time in Stockholm at a venue called Ugglan. The venue is like a big cellar with several rooms or spaces, like one with the bar, one for the gigs (with only candles as light), one for playing "boules" and table tennis, one restaurant and a couple of others for sitting down and chat. There are paintings and posters hanging on the walls (Jan explained us that the posters were in polish because there is a sister club in Poland), and the general atmosphere is a place to hang around and meet your friends, which is exactly what we did, and that was good to catch up a bit with Lars and to get to know Jan, who is also running after free jazz/music gigs...

Just before the gig, Ken shortly told me that they swapped the duos...

So first Paal and Mats started. Paal had a little drum set, no bass drum and a limited number of cymbals. Mats used his baryton and slide saxophones. Tough to start with these two, you really have no introduction, it is right to the point. So i needed some time to catch up. Mats is a sprinter and Paal dont let him run away, for sure. They are running side by side trying to take over each one, and dont slow down to take a breath. Paal's playing is reflecting Mats': very impulsive and blasting. Mats' response is to switch to the next energy level, serving us the full palette of available clapping sounds on his baryton. While sitting there, you have a feeling to have a caffeine shock, and you dont have a choice to wait until it's going away... Half an hour of this energizing treatment, and Mats is dried out...

The second part was Ken and David. Ken was on clarinet, and David used the same set of acoustic guitars/effect as in Stavanger. Aha, immediately i got the feeling that we have a match here. This combination worked extremely well, and the way the two musicians interacted was very creative and like playing around with each other. For me, exactly the opposite as with the first duo. Lets put it this way: i was not over convinced by the playing of David last week (when he was playing with Mats), but now with Ken, i got a complete other view. Ken is playing with him, in a way that David has some more space for himself. Then i could really hear some elements of blues going on here. I had the feeling too that he got more determined, and maybe in a way, his playing was enhanced by Ken's. Well something was going on here, and some parts were really beautifull.

Then a break, time to continue catching up with friends and to get to know new friends of friends... :-)

Ken started the second part of the gig, in solo. First on tenor with "Goodbye Tom-B" of McPhee, then on clarinet with an improvised blues dedicated to Per Henrik Wallin, and the third one: "Love Cry" by Albert Ayler, on tenor again. I dont know how many gigs i have seen with Ken, but again he managed to blow my mind away. He has such a broad range in his playing, and he is always surprising me. After the gig, he said that sometimes he tries to head in one direction, but ends up on a very different path than expected... not that there is anything we can complain about... I dont know how he manages in terms of using his energy and staying so focused. Always he will play like his last hour has come, even if he looked quite tired... I also asked him how he manages this and how he is recovering his energy, and he said that it is important that he has time for himself to read, see an exhibition and the like. Yeah, well that dont seem enough for me. It's more like he seems to run on some extra batteries, and no clue who is handing those to him...

Last part of the gig was a trio with Paal, Ken and David. A really nice finale, and one more time the proof to me that these musicians are extremely flexible in their playing, and their way of communicating with music remains rather fascinating...

Yepp, some people could kick me, because i forgot my minidisk at Heikos on Friday. I had the mike with me though, very usefull :-/ but i am quite sure that somebody else documented this gig. I also had -finally- the chance to put my hands on a tape of the Chicago Tentet gig of last year at Blå in Oslo. I needed 6 months of patience and asking everybody around for it (i even asked the manager of the band, who reminded me that, btw, this is not exactly legal. So i told him "yes, but anyway, do you have a tape yes or no?")... Sometimes patience is just paying back! =:-P

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Double Duo + Lasse Marhaug and Henrik Rylander, New Music Festival, Nalen, Stockholm, 25th of February
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Saturday evening, the Double Duo played all together with noise artists Lasse Marhaug and Henrik Rylander. The venue was much larger, inside a theater, so much more distance and an elevated stage between the musicians and the audience. Everybody was amplified, except Paal who was IMO sitting too far back. Sitting in front (!) Ken and Mats with their saxophones, and yes, Mats stayed seated the whole gig (approx. 40 min). Basically, Ken and Mats were playing composed elements (from Ken) more or less on top of the noise and the chaos generated by the three others. The principle reminded me the cd of Territory Band-4 "Company Switch". Like two layers running in parallel, with here and there some connections, maybe Paal is the one shifting easily from one layer to the other, from the noise chaos to the composed music and vice-versa... but unfortunately his playing was a bit muffled because of poor acoustics in the room. One amazing duo between Mats on his slide saxophone and Ken on tenor, which ended in a coordinated explosion between the noise guys and Paal =:-P

Honestly, i feel lucky that i could have attended these three gigs with the Double Duo in only a bit over a week in very different venues. Every gig had completely surprising and amazing moments. I can only thank again these great musicians, so full of positive energy, innovating all the time on the fly, taking risks and exposing themselves.... just for the sake of MUSIC! THANK YOU!

Quotation for today...

2006-02-20T21:26:00.000+01:00

"Støy er forstyrrende og ødelegger opplevelsen av lyder vi ønsker å høre, som sus av vind, rasling i løv, fuglesangen og bølgeslag."

Utrag fra Kommuneplanen 2006-2021 in Stavanger Aftenblad, 20th of Feb.

Terry Nilssen-Love: Making Tracks in Barcelona, painting exhibition @ Stavanger kunstforening

2006-01-29T18:15:00.000+01:00

Terry NL is the father of free jazz drummer Paal. He is a drummer himself, but somehow he handed it over to his son to develop it further, and went on with the painting instead. It seems that it worked quite well...

Terry's paintings are abstract and painted on canvases from about 1 by 1m to 1.5 by 4m. He uses acryl paint. He decided to have a background theme: the city of Barcelona (where his other son, Carl, lives). For some paintings, he magnified some parts of the city map, so that it gives a recognizable structure, and for others, he just followed his impressions of the city atmospheres. Like going free mapping. Carl walked around plaza Real in Barcelona centre, recording as he walked. The tape is played at the exhibition.

A few words for a general impression: colors, movements, layers, structured/unstructured, ensemble/details, ENERGY. Terry listens to music while he paints, mainly free jazz. No wonders. To the question if he could paint without music, he answered that while he would manage one painting, he was very unsure if he could manage several big canvases...

Watching the paintings while having free jazz from my iPod is a real kick. First i tried with The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (with amongst others: Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri, Pharoah Sanders, Cecil Taylor, Carla Bley, Steve Lacy...). The energy of the music ensemble was matching the color explosion of the paintings. During the quiet parts, i could hear the street sounds of Barcelona taped by Carl in background, reminding me the paintings' common theme. I came in front of the big canvas "Raval", after having watched three smaller street structured canvases. Wow. Being a cartographer myself, i pretty got the notion what means "going free mapping": Terry went beyond the map limitations to paint his own version of "Raval". A mental map based on feelings and intuition. The street network becomes broken tracks of blue paint, the map elements are transfigured into complex layers and patterns. Still one has the feeling that the painting can be viewed like any map: one can search for the spaces one wants to explore.

Today i went again to the exhibition, and this time i listened to the last solo cd of Paal "27 years later". The name of the cd is referring to a solo concert that Terry gave 27 years ago in Molde. In 2002, Paal was artist in residence of the Molde International Jazz Festival, and gave a solo concert, which was recorded and released on cd... I was standing in front of the painting "Barceloneta", when i started the record on my iPod. Immediately i got caught by the details of the painting, the small movements of the brush matching the ultra rapid drumming of Paal. This strike on the cymbal matching a strike of Terry's brush. The green transverse stripes matching energyfull sequences of Paal. I walked close to the painting to have a detailed view of a very color intricated part. Impossible to tell in which order Terry applied the colors and the pattern mix. The exact same feeling while trying to perceive all the sounds played by Paal: something which can't be solve with reason only. One has to open his/her mind and let the information flow in, and let intuition act as guide...

Terry and Paal connections are giving an extra dimension to their artistic expression...

Terry's exhibition is going until 26th of February at the Stavanger kunstforening. Paal is touring in many different projects, mainly in Europe and USA.

More about Terry, Paal's webpage.

(picture by Heiko Purnhagen)

Paal Nilssen-Love/Mats Gustafsson/Peter Brötzmann @ Blå, Oslo 25th jan

2006-01-27T18:21:00.000+01:00

The trio is new, not that they have not played together before (they are all in The Chicago Tentet), but never just the three of them. They were supposed to play their first gig in Wuppertal two days before, but Paal NL got stuck in Køpenhaven airport because of a pilot strike... I was flying from Stavanger just to see this gig, and it was well beyond all the troubles with the hotel. The general feeling would be like to come into a heavy training without warming up: just to catch up the best one can...

They started with Mats Gustafsson on baryton, Peter Brötzmann on alto and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums. You think Brötzmann is getting old and will never be able to follow the energy full and blasting Mats? Well, think again... Two sets of 45 minutes where i was several times wondering, how Brötzmann is managing such powerful and sustained energy? Like he and Paal where running a marathon sprinting each other all the time, and Mats had sometimes to slow down and catch up later. The whole gig was extremely rich and intensive. Solos, duos, energies building up and collapsing for a short break only. Mats shifted back and forth from baryton to tenor and Peter had several clarinets, his alto and a tenor as well. I don’t know between Paal and Peter who was triggering the other. But they never took it easy for long. Who was pushing the other??

Here how it goes, second piece of second set:

Paal solo (starting with mallets), building up tension - Brötzmann joins in and goes solo with tenor, more and more energy - Paal and Mats join in (Mats on baryton), slowing down after a while - Mats goes duo with Paal, picking up again the energy (Paal goes really loud, hitting the drums like a frantic) - Brötzmann sneaks in, takes over Mats and the whole thing takes off to next level (do I hear people scream here?), Paal is pushing everybody further and further up - Mats and Peter continue in the frenzy while Paal is gearing down in energy - everybody gears down, Mats and Peter duo - Mats and Peter building up again, without Paal, then level off to the end of the piece. 18 minutes.

A really amazing gig, a true candidate for the top ten list of the year...

(the gig was taped with MD Sony MZ-N910, and mike: Sony ECM-719. Transfer via audio with Audacity. Editing/mastering with Audacity and WaveLab).

Gigs of the week

2006-01-21T23:15:00.000+01:00

Last week-end i travelled to Oslo to attend the ALL EARS festival.

All Ears is an improvised music festival: all-ears.no

When you know who are the organisators (Paal Nilssen-Love, Maja Ratkje, Kjetil Møster and Lasse Marhaug), you have a better idea of the profile of the festival: expect the unexpected... It started in 2001 and for the edition of this year, they decided to have people that never played at the festival before. Therefore they invited a strong delegation of japanese people (which were also mixed with scandinavian and others in "ad-hoc" concerts), whom i had never heard of before. Very nice to wait for the gigs to unfold without having a clue what it will be..... quite some suprises =:-)

I liked many gigs, but my favourite one was the solo of John Butcher, whom i had never seen live. He played two pieces, one with tenor sax and one with soprano, and i wondered several times if the saxophone was not alive itself... quite amazing.

All the gigs happened at the club Blå, and the atmosphere was excellent. The audience was listening very carefully and in the most quite parts, you could hear a pin drop. All Ears is a festival i can only recommend!

Yesterday it was the first gig of the year at Sting JazzKlubb. We had MoHa! with Anders Hana on guitars and Morten J. Olsen on drums and supercollider. Yes, i also wondered what this supercollider stuff was. Morten is connecting his drums to his laptop, generating sounds on top of the regular drum sounds. The gig was short but VERY intense. They managed to bring the stormy weather we had the last days inside the club!

MoHa is touring in Norway for the release of their new cd "Raus aus Stavanger", at rune grammofon: link to review.
Both musicians are very young (under 25 years old), many projects going on, also abroad, check out the n-collective webpage.

Let's see what's coming up next week...

First post

2006-01-21T22:21:00.000+01:00

This is my first post in my brand new blog. I am just learning how to set this up... :)