Jazz Articles about Jørgen Bjelkerud

About Jørgen Bjelkerud

Album Review

Amalie Dahl's Dafnie: Live at Kafé Hærverk

Read "Live at Kafé Hærverk" reviewed by Daniel Mège

by Daniel Mège
September 25, 2026

There is a strange relationship between alto saxophone and marine biology. Akira Sakata, the breathtaking yet unsung altoist of torrential intensity and a marine biology researcher, specialized in daphnia (dafnie in Scandinavian languages), those tiny, endearing-looking crustaceans, as early as 1969; Amalie Dahl made them her orchestra. She knew nothing of this weighty legacy. Dafnie is made up of Jørgen Bjelkerud (trombone), Oscar Andreas Haug (trumpet), Nicolas Leirtrø (bass) and Patrycja Wybrańczyk (drums), standing in here for Veslemøy Narvesen. Dahl plays alto ...

Album Review

Amalie Dahl's Dafnie EXTENDED: Live at Moldejazz

Read "Live at Moldejazz" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
June 17, 2026

Over the course of a mere five years, Danish saxophonist Amalie Dahl has garnered well-deserved praise as a bandleader, improviser, and composer. A year after releasing the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Står Op Med Solen (Sonic Transmissions, 2024), Dahl expanded her quintet Dafnie to a 12- member combo. They appeared live at the Norwegian Moldejazz Festival. The resulting recording is at once earthy and sophisticated, with a sublime balance of stimulating dissonance and captivating mellifluence. The seven tracks are ...

Album Review

When I Return: The Weight of Bloom

Read "The Weight of Bloom" reviewed by Daniel Mège

by Daniel Mège
June 9, 2026

In an ample, John Coltrane-like gesture, the primordial song takes flight, ultimately culminating in the sublime “Part III: Rise." At this point, the sounds are capable of drawing us back to the beginning of the album. But let us rewind. When I Return is a septet whose singular voices met in the early 2020s in the legendary jazz bachelor programme of the University of Trondheim under the guidance of the revered Erling Aksdal. Driven by shared sensibilities and ...

Album Review

EVIDENCE: Evidence

by Daniel Mège
June 2, 2026

Evidence lives up to its title very well. A lot of music in this fairly short album that makes itself heard with surprising simplicity. EVIDENCE is a quartet: reeds, trombone, cello and drums. An unusual formation, but one that recalls Henry Threadgill's Zooid from 2015 onwards (without the guitar): In For A Penny, In For A Pound (Pi Recordings, 2015) and Poof. Sol Léna-Schroll (alto saxophone and clarinet) is Threadgill, Jørgen Bjelkerud (trombone) is Jose Davila, Joel Ring ...