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TD Ottawa Jazz Festival 2018
2018 TD Ottawa Jazz Festival Multiple Venues Ottawa, Canada June 21-June 26, 2018 For its 2018 edition, the 39th annual TD Ottawa Jazz Festival faced a number of significant logistical challenges. First, Confederation Park, which has traditionally been the location of its large, outdoor venue, a food court and number of shops where attendees can pick up CDs of the artist they just saw, T-Shirts and more, is currently under renovation and, therefore, ...
read moreIan Patterson's Best Releases of 2017
I'm always conscious of the fact that no matter how much new music you listen to in a given year it represents but a handful of stars in a teeming galaxy. These are a few of the brightest stars to have illuminated my 2017. The Firebirds Aladdin's Dream ILK Music The Firebirds, the Danish trio of drummer Stefan Pasborg, saxophonist/clarinetist Anders Banke and keyboardist Anders Filipsen recorded a brilliant tribute to the music ...
read moreMarius Neset: Circle of Chimes
It's not just the breath-taking scope and depth of saxophonist/composer Marius Neset's ACT Music releases, Lion (2014), Snowmelt (2016) and now Circle of Chimes (2017) that's remarkable, but the fact that such powerful waves of music have come from the thirty-two-year old Norwegian in the span of just three years.Stylistically diverse as they are, these recordings can be seen together as signposts along the way of Neset's probing journey into terrain where labels seem increasingly inadequate. So too, ...
read moreMarius Neset/London Sinfonietta: Snowmelt
That Marius Neset would eventually produce an extended orchestral-inspired work had been on the cards for some time. As early as his debut as leader, Suite for the Seven Mountains (Calibrated, 2008), the Norwegian saxophonist was incorporating strings into a contemporary jazz setting with a very personal stamp of authority. The extraordinary Birds (Edition Records, 2013) took the concept to exhilarating heights, with the addition of just a seven-piece chamber ensemble to his quintet producing complex, multi-layered sonic tapestries that ...
read moreLive From Birmingham: Marius Neset, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Death Shanties & The Apex Jazz And Swing Band
Marius Neset CBSO Centre April 10, 2015 Not an artist who's interested in stasis, the Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset spent most of two sets unveiling pieces from his new Pinball album, which was released at the beginning of 2015. It's his fourth recording, and Neset seems set on making this a pleasingly prolific annual event. The album features Jim Hart (vibraphone/marimba) and Petter Eldh (bass), but they were also joined for this gig ...
read moreMarius Neset: Pinball
Though Marius Neset thrives in small ensemble settings, his writing has increasingly exhibited orchestral ambition, as witnessed on the thrilling Birds (Edition Records, 2013), which saw his quintet augmented by brass, accordion and woodwind instruments to spectacular effect, and on Lion (ACT Music, 2014), a powerful outing with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. The aptly named Pinball sees Neset in equally expansive mood, navigating often complex charts with his core quintet bolstered on half the tracks by cello, violin and flute. ...
read moreMarius Neset/Trondheim Jazz Orchestra: Lion
Lion is a good name for Marius Neset's first recording with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, for like a great cat, the Norwegian orchestra purrs and prowls, roars and pounces. Regardless of tempo--whether cruising or charging--there's majesty in the collective voice. Commissioned for the Molde Jazz Festival in 2012, the momentum from that performance took Neset and this twelve-piece orchestra into the recording studio with spectacular results. In fourteen years, the TJO has become something of a Norwegian national ...
read moreLion
Despite having yet to make a breakthrough in North America, in the space of less than five years Marius Neset has gone from virtual unknown to one of Europe's hottest properties, gigging with his quartet all around the continent, including an incendiary showcase at the 2012 Jazzahead! trade show in Germany and an even more searing set at the 2014 Jazzkaar festival in Estonia. That this young Norwegian-born/Denmark-based saxophonist (still on the shy side of 30) has managed to achieve ...
read moreBirds
Norwegian saxophonist/composer Marius Neset's prowess as a powerful, inventive saxophonist is well noted, yet his trajectory as a composer has been equally fascinating to behold. His debut as leader, the impressive Suite for the Seven Mountains (Calibrated, 2008), demonstrated early compositional ambition with the use of violin, viola and cello. Neset's ongoing involvement in Jazz Kamikaze meant a follow-up solo recording would have to wait, but Jazz Kamikaze's oddly pop-centric, anthemic Supersonic Revolutions (Seven Seas Music, 2010) was also bolstered ...
read moreMarius Neset: Norwegian Woods
Marius Neset has become one of today's most talked-about saxophonists since the release of Golden Xplosion (Edition Records, 2011). The album, which also features pianist/keyboardist Django Bates, bassist Jasper Hoiby and drummer Anton Eger, has received widespread five-star reviews, and countless superlatives have been used to heap praise on the 26-year-old from Bergen. Neset has been described as the most important Norwegian saxophonist since Jan Garbarek and has been compared to tenor great Michael Brecker, which may be high praise ...
read moreMarius Neset Golden Xplosion: Golden Xplosion
Norwegian tenor saxophonist Marius Neset burst onto the jazz scene with JazzKamikaze while still a teenager, its debut--Mission 1 (Stunt, 2006)--revealing a saxophonist of remarkable maturity and imagination. He shook the life out of simple musical ideas, and in that respect his playing was reminiscent, even then, of the great tenor explorer Sonny Rollins. Traveling at the Speed of Sound (Stunt, 2007) and Supersonic Revolution (Seven Seas, 2010) provided further proof of his prowess within the bounds of this exciting ...
read moreMarius Neset Golden Xplosion: Golden Xplosion
The claim on the postcard that accompanies saxophonist Marius Neset's second CD is straightforward: “This album will simply blow you away!" A spot of marketing hubris, perhaps, but there are plenty of moments when Golden Xplosion matches this bold statement. Neset is a member of two of leading composer and musician Django Bates' ensembles, stoRMChaser and Human Chain, and has studied with the pianist at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, in Copenhagen. Bates has a strong presence on ...
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