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Frode Gjerstad Trio: Steam In The Casa
by Nicola Negri
Frode Gjerstad has been a key figure of Norway's free jazz scene since the 1970s. In 1981 he started a fruitful collaboration with John Stevens, who encouraged him to pursue his interests in free improvisation, eventually connecting him with a diverse range of important international musicians. A few years later he started working with a younger generation of promising Norwegian improvisers, meeting Paal Nilssen- Love when the drummer was only 15; since then they created a strong musical and personal ...
Continue ReadingBobby Bradford, Frode Gjerstad Quartet: The Delaware River
by Vincenzo Roggero
Sono più di trent'anni che le strade di Bobby Bradford e Frode Gjerstad si incrociano continuamente, dall'esordio nei Details di John Stevens per arrivare alla manciata di ottimi CD incisi in trio o in quartetto. Risulta così del tutto normale l'alto grado di intesa che si percepisce tra i due lungo i quaranta minuti scarsi di questa registrazione live del 2014, intesa esaltata ulteriormente dalla ritmica strepitosa composta da Frank Rosaly e da Ingebrigt Haker Flaten. Nulla ...
Continue ReadingBobby Bradford / Frode Gjerstad Quartet: The Delaware River
by John Sharpe
This live date from Philadelphia in 2014 forms the seventh in a string of releases by the Bobby Bradford and Frode Gjerstad quartet. Their association dates back to 1986 when cornetist Bradford first encountered Norwegian reedman Gjerstad as part of co-operative group Detail, convened by drummer John Stevens. All of that experience shows in the relaxed but practiced concision as they navigate through four seat of the pants negotiations on this limited edition LP. It's one of their best showings ...
Continue ReadingFrode Gjerstad: Kampen
by AAJ Italy Staff
Realizzato in un vinile a tiratura limitata dalla ottima No Business, questo lavoro testimonia un bel concerto norvegese del quartetto che vede il cornettista Bobby Bradford in compagnia di alcuni dei più significativi improvvisatori norvegesi di oggi, dalle ance di Frode Gjerstad alla ritmica di Ingebrigt Håker Flaten & Paal Nilssen-Love [The Thing].I primi riferimenti che vengono alla mente sono con il quartetto di Ornette Coleman [con cui Bradford ha suonato in differenti periodi tra gli anni Cinquanta ...
Continue ReadingBobby Bradford / Frode Gjerstad / Ingebrigt Haker Flaten / Paal Nilssen-Love: Kampen
by John Sharpe
If Kampen sounds like old friends settling down to chew the fat, then that's because that's exactly what's happening. Norwegian reedman Frode Gjerstad has waxed ten discs in the company of veteran American cornetist Bobby Bradford since they first met on tour with drummer John Stevens in England in 1986. However, this 46-minute live LP stands as one of their best since Through The Woods (CIMP, 1997). All four cuts are spontaneous compositions, the product of collective listening and playing ...
Continue ReadingFrode Gjerstad & Paal Nilssen-Love: Side by Side
by Glenn Astarita
Prominent Norwegian improvisers Frode Gjerstad (alto saxophone, clarinets) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) toured North America in 2008 sans a bassist, and recorded this album at a studio in upstate New York, accentuating their synergy via a largely rough and tumble implementation. Gjerstad shows a fondness for the upper-register and produces a myriad of microtonal and edgy sound-sculpting statements atop Nilssen-Love's bustling polyrhythms, infused with perpetual motion and resonating counter-maneuvers. Gjerstad's scathing tonal swashes and darting lines embody a ...
Continue ReadingFrode Gjerstad - Paal Nilssen-Love: Gromka
by AAJ Italy Staff
Hanno parecchio in comune Frode Gjerstad e Paal Nilssen-Love. Tanto per cominciare sono entrambi norvegesi. I due si frequentano fin dall'inizio degli anni Novanta, periodo in cui l'enfant prodige Nilssen-Love muoveva i primi passi in quella scena scandinava che già aveva in Gjerstad uno scafato veterano. Il sassofonista-clarinettista, nato nel '48, fu uno dei primi mentori del batterista classe '74. Gjerstad si accorse subito che il ragazzo, allora poco più che diciottenne, aveva stoffa: prima lo fece debuttare su disco ...
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