Jazz Articles

Jaga Jazzist: '94 - '14

by John Kelman
February 27, 2023

It's hard to believe that Norway's Jaga Jazzist is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, in 2014. Not that there aren't other groups that have lasted as long, but look for a group whose primary composer was just 14 when the whole thing began, find a band where five out of its eight current members were there when everything started in 1994, and scope out one that has managed to remain as stylistically enigmatic and impossible to categorize as... well, ...

Jaga Jazzist: Live with Britten Sinfonia

by Phil Barnes
November 25, 2013

Norwegian collective Jaga Jazzist don't sit comfortably within genre boundaries. Their earlier UK Ninja Tune releases like A Livingroom Hush (2001) and The Stix (2003) suggested a marriage of jazz texture with glitchy, breakbeat driven electronica in a way that was both diverting and interesting, if likely to incite the wrath of the more traditional jazz fan were it to be described as more than “jazz influenced." Later records such as 2005's What We Must and 2008's One Armed Bandit ...

Jaga Jazzist: Live with Britten Sinfonia

by John Kelman
May 10, 2013

Norway's Jaga Jazzist has always been difficult to pigeonhole. Despite the word “jazz" in the nonet's moniker, its principle writer, multi-instrumentalist Lars Horntveth, has cited everyone from Steve Reich, Rick Wakeman, Dungen and Spirit to Fela Kuti, King Crimson, MGMT and Air as influences on the group's last studio record, One-Armed Bandit (Ninja Tune, 2010). Horntveth is also a fan of jazz arrangers/composers like Gil Evans, so it's not that Jaga Jazzist doesn't have jazz in its DNA; it's just ...

Jaga Jazzist: Bananfluer Overalt

by John Kelman
August 9, 2010

At a time when the amount of new music being released each and every month is at an all-time high, it's hard enough for artists to get their music heard, let alone maintain momentum between releases. For many, gigging is the only way to ensure their names remain on the radar, but for bands like Jaga Jazzist, that's no small challenge. Hovering between a nonet and dectet, and featuring some of Norway's busiest young players, the cost of touring--and finding ...

Jaga Jazzist: One-Armed Bandit

by John Kelman
February 23, 2010

After a five-year break from recording, Jaga Jazzist is back. The Norwegian group's Molde Jazz 2009 performance—its first in four years, barring a single 2007 date in Singapore—provided clear evidence that the touchstones defining this sibling-run group remain intact (multi-instrumentalist Lars Horntveth writes all the music; percussionist Martin Horntveth is the onstage spokesperson for the band; and sister Line Horntveth, in addition to tuba, flute and vocals, acts as the publicity face for the group). But there have been some ...

Cinematic Orchestra: Ma Fleur

by James Taylor
July 15, 2007

Cinematic Orchestra traverses that narrow divide between acoustic jazz and the electro-infused acid jazz of predecessors and contemporaries like St. Germain, Groove Collective and DJ Greyboy. But the Orchestra treads new ground with Ma Fleur. Jazz breaks become atmospheric compositions of grand proportions, soulful grooves become haunting melodies and the “orchestra of Cinematic's moniker becomes ever more apparent.

Producer and Cinematic mastermind J. Swinscoe's last effort was Man With A Movie Camera (Ninja Tune, 2003), and Ma Fleur, picks up ...

Skalpel: Skalpel

by AAJ Staff
April 14, 2004

Not too far into Skalpel , a radio voice quietly allows, “Let them play their jazz records, and dance all night if they want to." And that's as good an introduction as any to this jam-oriented collection, which draws its strength from two years of record-hunting by Wroclaw producers Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo. One might not imagine that Poland would have a rich jazz heritage, especially given the communist decrees against the destabilizing properties of the American art form. ...

Various Artists: Zen: A Ninja Tune Retrospective

by AAJ Staff
March 6, 2004

Back in the day, my very first exposure to the electronic/chillout label known as Ninja Tune came in the form of Coldcut, a duo of Jonathan More and Matt Black. Let Us Play (1998) was a discovery of the highest order, an audio CD matched with an interactive CD-ROM. More and Black, the founders of Ninja Tune in 1995, had something very seriously groovy going on. To quote from “More Beats & Pieces,"

Honey, I got rhythms I ...

Jaga Jazzist: The Stix

by AAJ Staff
October 7, 2003

Judging by the sound of Jaga Jazzist, you wouldn't necessarily guess it was a big band. (That is, if ten players earn that classification. It works for me.) Sure, you've got your trumpet, vibes, tenor, flute, clarinet, trombone, bass, and drums. Stuff like that. But then you have to take into account the keyboards, electronics, and effects. And, yes indeed, a drum machine.

Now that all the hard-swinging old timers have left the room, let's get down to ...

Cinematic Orchestra: Man With A Movie Camera

by AAJ Staff
October 7, 2003

Without expounding beyond than a pure and direct statement of identity, the Cinematic Orchestra distinguishes itself by a fixation the relationship between image and sound, and specifically how that relationship can evolve over time in live performance. TCO never plays the same thing twice, and the group's devotion to improvisation renders each viewing (literally) a new experience. To their credit, they've supported independent cinema--plus their own visual creations--for several years.

With the re-emergence of a relatively obscure Russian ...