Results for "Norway"

Article: Album Review

Bugge & Henning: Last Spring

Read "Last Spring" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
September 5, 2012

With such a focus on jazz, it's easy to forget that, at the end of the day, all music is--or, at least, comes from-- improvised music. Whether drawn from the ether and performed in real time or written down on manuscript, it's still drawn from the ether. Classical music has its own history in improvisation, ranging ...

Article: Album Review

Stian Westerhus: The Matriarch And The Wrong Kind Of Flowers

Read "The Matriarch And The Wrong Kind Of Flowers" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
September 4, 2012

Beyond his reputation as Norway's “hardest working guitarist"--an éclat supported by, amongst many others, ongoing membership in Nils Petter Molvær's trio and assuming the producer's role for the trumpeter's Baboon Moon (Sula, 2011); collaborating with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra for Ripples, raptures and disbelief (a Molde Jazz Festival commission screaming for release); and, with Didymoi Dreams ...

496

Article: Live Review

Oslo International Jazz Festival 2011

by John Kelman
August 31, 2011

Oslo International Jazz FestivalOslo, NorwayAugust 15-20, 2011 There's always an eager sense of anticipation when returning to Norway, whether it's the barren but beautiful north of Svalbard, the stunning, mountain-surrounded Molde, the picturesque Kongsberg, the fjord-gateway of Bergen or the rugged beauty surrounding Kristiansand. But going back to Norway for the ...

1,189

Article: Live Review

Norwegian Road Trip, Part 7: Molde Jazz, Days 5-6

by John Kelman
July 27, 2010

2,010

Article: Live Review

Norwegian Jazz 101b: JazzNorway in a Nutshell 2010

by John Kelman
June 8, 2010

2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 Norway may be a country that, more than most, aims to expose people from around the world to its culture through annual events like JazzNorway in a Nutshell, but as rich an experience as attending that junket is, returning to it on a regular basis is an ...

476

Article: Album Review

Acuna/Hoff/Mathisen: Jungle City

Read "Jungle City" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
December 5, 2009

While some accuse the musical innovations taking place in Scandinavia as diluting “America's art form," there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. Many of the artists regularly stretching jazz's boundaries by introducing outside references can play in the tradition; they just choose not to. With Finding Nymo (ACT, 2009), Norwegian trombonist Helge Sunde and his Ensemble ...

845

Article: Extended Analysis

Soft Machine: Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971

by John Kelman
November 11, 2009

Soft Machine Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre 1971Reel Recordings2009 It's a curious thing, but live performances can be issued all the time in the jazz world without the suggestion that there are too many of them, while in the rock world the release of too many similar programs will ...

931

Article: Live Review

Punkt Festival 2009: Day 4, Kristiansand, Norway, September 5, 2009

by John Kelman
September 7, 2009

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 For its fifth year, Punkt Festival's evening programming was, more than any other, organized around clearer thematic lines, although that still meant a considerably broader purview than most other festivals--and, of course, there was the occasional exception. The first day spotlighted up-and-coming talent; ...

1,255

Article: Live Review

Punkt Festival 2009: Day 3, Kristiansand, Norway, September 4, 2009

by John Kelman
September 6, 2009

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 With the musical laboratory that's Punkt Live Remix, it's sometimes possible for a remix to actually surpass its source performance. With (for the most part) Punkt Co-Artistic Directors Jan Bang and Erik Honoré listening to each performance while it's in progress ...

1,085

Article: Live Review

Punkt Festival 2009: Day 2, Kristiansand, Norway, September 3, 2009

by John Kelman
September 5, 2009

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 One of Punkt's many definers is its fearless avoidance of stylistic boundaries. Some festivals are expanding their stylistic purview out of necessity; Punkt has always been style-blind by definition. So it's not uncommon to find a program where some of today's greatest experimentalists ...