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Jazz Articles about Bugge Wesseltoft
Rymden + KORK: Rymden + KORK
by Gareth Thompson
The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (aka KORK) performs each year at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. By contrast, it has also twice provided backing to the Eurovision Song Contest in Norway. Intriguing then to find them linking up with Bugge Wesseltoft, leader of Rymden and a pianist-composer whose work is both learned and accessible. Both parties create music that hammers at the spine, whilst also tingling it. The name of Wesseltoft's trio means outer space" or universe," whereas KORK is an ...
read moreBugge Wesseltoft: Be Am
by Gareth Thompson
In a 2008 interview, Bugge Wesseltoft spoke of his despair at seeing civilians suffer throughout history, unable to protect their families and children from wars. He also noted that watching such events unfold from the safety of his Norwegian homeland was painful. Wesseltoft had recently released his superb album IM (Jazzland Recordings, 2007) which found him on reflective form at the piano. Come the pandemic of 2020, Wesseltoft was caught in a similar climate of fear to those ...
read moreRymden: Space Sailors
by Gareth Thompson
Outer space and cosmic jazz have long been a match made beyond heaven. The latest act throwing their hat into Saturn's rings is the excellent Norwegian band Rymden, featuring keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft. The trio has clearly boned up on Sun Ra and Lonnie Liston Smith, but rockier influences are present too from the likes of Hawkwind, The Doors, Soft Machine, even Throbbing Gristle, with Marc Moulin's acid jazztronics in there as well. Closer to home, you can hear ...
read moreRymden: Reflections And Odysseys
by Tyran Grillo
Reflections & Odysseys gifts to the listening world the debut of pianist Bugge Wesseltoft's new triocalled Rymdenwith bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström. The rhythm section, best known as part of e.s.t. (led by the late Esbjörn Svensson), serves Wesseltoft with fresh purpose, at once grateful for what came before and eager to chart maps ahead. It's a dual aesthetic embodied not only in the album's title, but also in its approach to crafting sound as a realm in ...
read moreJazzkaar Interviews: Bugge Wesseltoft
by Martin Longley
Your scribe witnessed the Nordic supergroup Rymden three times during 2019, illustrating how much this new constellation (in Norwegian, the word means 'space,' as in cosmic space) has expanded almost uncontrollably since making their debut. Even as an abstract concept, the combination was tantalising in the extreme. Purely acoustic piano and electronically distressed keyboards from Bugge Wesseltoft, combined with the bass and drums of Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström, previously two-thirds of the Swedish e.s.t. Those Rymden appearances ...
read moreAkBank Jazz Festival 2019
by Francesco Martinelli
AkBank Jazz Festival Istanbul, Turkey October 18-25 2019 I arrived in Istanbul during the world-wide outrage that followed the United States pull-out from Syria and the consequent military intervention by Turkey. The new humongous airport looked rather empty compared to the crowded spaces of the old one; the trip to city centre was long in kilometres but on a rather free road, and the light traffic made for a transfer that was not longer ...
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