Articles by Ray Comiskey

12 Points! Jazz Festival, Stavanger, Norway: Europe's New Jazz

by Ray Comiskey
March 1, 2010

Unless you're into the downtown jazz scene in Gothenburg, chances are that the name Naoko Sakata won't mean a thing to you. And Mari Kvien Brunvoll? Again, you wouldn't have a clue unless you had your ear to the ground, figuratively speaking, in Molde, home of Norway's best-known jazz festival. Or Trio VD? They're named after Valentine's Day, which is rather more romantic than a social disease, though their music is decidedly unsentimental. They come from Leeds, in the UK, ...