Jazz Articles about Frode Kjekstad
Frode Kjekstad: A Piece of the Apple

by Geno Thackara
There's no telling just when or why a certain place will sink its hooks into you. However active Frode Kjekstad remains in his native Norway, he's clearly left his heart in jny: New York City. The bustling personality of the metropolis can be felt all over his bop-and-blues compositions and fleet fretwork. With a classy full-bodied tone and innate feel for that most snazzy kind of swing, he honors the lineage of jazz guitar from Grant Green to Kurt Rosenwinkel ...
read moreFrode Kjekstad: The Italian Job

by Ian Patterson
The sound of a Hammond organ has the knack of automatically resetting your watch to 1960-something, just as wah-wah guitar unfailingly conjures the 1970s and the dreaded synthesizer, the 1980s. And whilst Norwegian guitarist Frode Kjekstad's organ trio unequivocally revives the spirit of organists Jack McDuff and Jimmy Smith on The Italian Job, his trio--with organist Marisco Alberto and drummer Enzi Zirilli--swings with a bluesy delight that's hard to resist. Kjekstad previously recorded with organist Dr. Lonnie Smith and drummer ...
read moreFrode Kjekstad Italian Job Trio: London, UK, November 19, 2012

by Ian Patterson
Frode Kjekstad Italian Job TrioRonnie Scott's Jazz ClubSoho, London, EnglandNovember 19, 2012The London Jazz Festival may have ended for another year the day before, after 10 exhilarating days, but jazz never rests at 47 Frith Street Soho, home to Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. Monday night was business as usual, as it has been pretty much every night--bar a three-month closure for refurbishment in 2006-- since 1959. Following singer Mario Biondi's sold-our early show, it fell ...
read moreFrode Kjekstad: New York Time

by Jack Bowers
Guitarist Frode Kjekstad is a Norwegian who makes himself at home in the Big Apple on this splendid album with New York companions Dr. Lonnie Smith, Byron Landham, and special guest Eric Alexander. To me, there are few musical alliances more pleasing than a guitar/organ/drums trio that sounds terrific and swings like a metronome, as this one does. If there's anything that could enrich the partnership, that would certainly include inviting an eloquent and powerful tenor saxophonist such as Alexander ...
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