Jazz Articles about Frode Gjerstad

Frode Gjerstad - Han Bennink: Frode & Han

by AAJ Italy Staff
July 19, 2010

Il bello dell'improvvisazione è che basta “poco". Un sax e un clarinetto, una batteria, due come Frode Gjerstad e Han Bennink, una serata primaverile in riva a un fiordo [...Scandinavia da cartolina...], un registratore acceso e un'etichetta disposta a pubblicare il tutto. Che altro... Ah, sì, la fatidica scintilla. E quella scatta o non scatta, soprattutto in situazioni inedite. Già, perchè Frode e Han prima del 2007, strano a dirsi per due giramondo tanto prolifici, non avevano mai calpestato lo ...

Frode Gjerstad: A Feral Storm from Norway

by Clifford Allen
May 31, 2010

In February 2010, Norwegian alto saxophonist and clarinetist Frode Gjerstad took the collective Circulasione Totale Orchestra to the United States for a few select performances, the first time the multinational group had been convened on American soil and a massive undertaking and feat of organization for the 62-year-old improviser. The orchestra consists of musicians from Norway, England, South Africa and the United States and grew out of a desire on Gjerstad's part, in the 1980s, to bring some of the ...

Circulasione Totale Orchestra: Bandwidth

by AAJ Italy Staff
March 31, 2010

Reportage sonoro di un tour che l'ha portata a zonzo per l'Europa tra la fine del 2008 e i primi mesi del 2009, Bandwidth racconta le gesta epiche della Circulasione Totale Orchestra. Partorita dall'infaticabile mente del norvegese Frode Gjerstad e attiva fin dal lontano '84, la band ha visto sfilare nei suoi ranghi decine di musicisti più o meno giovani, più o meno scandivi, funzionando come una sorta di laboratorio permanente sull'improvvisazione. Considerando il quarto di secolo di vita, non ...

Circulasione Totale Orchestra: Open Port

by Glenn Astarita
February 1, 2009

This largely high-impact orchestra launched in 1984 by Norwegian multi-reedman Frode Gjerstad is more of a collective, where young and veteran jazz-based improvisers pass through to abet the unit's continual evolution. It's an acoustic-electric format that might be analogous to a histogram amidst the abundance of pointy spikes and steady-state flows.

It's an international gala indeed, featuring vibraphonist Kevin Norton, cornetist Bobby Bradford and drummers Paal Nilssen-Love and Louis Moholo, who augment the thirteen-piece gathering of like-minded improvisers. ...

Frode Gjerstad: A Sound Sight

by Andrey Henkin
January 16, 2008

Even for a musician of Frode Gjerstad's stature--he has been active internationally since the early 1980s with a panoply of improvising brethren--New York can still be a tough town. Coming in as part of a short Christmas, 2007 tour, his gig at Jimmy's was unceremoniously cancelled. So he was to be found Dec. 11th packed into the back of Downtown Music Gallery with bassist Øyvind Storesund, drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and guest Steve Swell, playing to a sizeable and appreciative crowd ...

Frode Gjerstad - John Stevens - Derek Bailey: Hello Goodbye

by Glenn Astarita
May 4, 2002

Familiar notions of melody and structured rhythmic foundations are brushed aside throughout this splendid outing recorded to a DAT machine, two years prior to drummer John Stevens' untimely passing. Alto saxophonist Frode Gjerstad had apparently lost the tape, but he subsequently found it and cleaned it up. Fortunately, the music presented here is pristinely resurrected, much to our delight.

One of the overriding attributes of this production resides within Gjerstad’s rustling and somewhat elusive lines atop Stevens’ ...

Frode Gjerstad Trio: Ultima

by Derek Taylor
April 1, 2000

Witnessing this trio in concert is an unforgettable experience. This disc, released in tandem with their recent North American tour, is as close as it gets to hearing them in the flesh, outside of being fortunate enough to catch one of their gigs in person. The trio’s first recording Remember to Forget on Gjerstad’s own Circulasione Totale label captured a similar level of cathartic energy and works as an ideal companion piece to the one at hand. Set consuming improvisatory ...