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Jan Bang: Narrative from the Subtropics

By John Kelman
September 6, 2013
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There are times when it seems everything that has come before suddenly coalesces, reaches critical mass and engenders near-exponentially increased success and opportunity. For Jan Bang and

Erik Honore

samples / effects
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Erik Honore, their Punkt live remix festival has evolved, since its early inception in Kristiansand, Norway, into a musical aesthetic brought to other festivals like Mannheim's Enjoy Jazz and Estonia's Jazzkaar. In nine years it's become a multinational event of world renown, its ever-expanding "Punkt Family" including a network of musicians that has— beyond Norwegian stalwarts like

Arve Henriksen

trumpet
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Arve Henriksen,

Eivind Aarset

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Eivind Aarset and

Sidsel Endresen

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Sidsel Endresen—also welcomed British avant-songsmith

David Sylvian

vocals
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">David Sylvian, Estonian guitarist Robert J��rjendal, Japanese composer Dai Fujikura, and Spanish guitarist David Soler, amongst many others.

But Punkt's success and growing collective has not just impacted live performance; since 2011, Bang—first gaining international attention as live sampler in

Nils Petter Molvaer

trumpet
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Nils Petter Molvaer's group—has not only delivered a superb leader debut, ...and poppies from Kandahar (SamadhiSound, 2011), he's also released equally fine collaborative efforts with Honor��, including Uncommon Deities (SamadhiSound, 2012) and, together with Henriksen and bassist/orchestrator Gaute Storaas, Knut Hamsun's Victoria (Jazzland, 2013). Bang and Honor�� also co-produced Henriksen's critically acclaimed Cartography (ECM, 2008) and, perhaps even more significantly, the trumpeter's follow-up, Places of Worship (Rune Grammofon, 2013)—significant, because it's being released on September 6, 2013, the same day as Bang's Narrative from the Subtropics and a double-CD Release Concert at Punkt's ninth annual festival in Kristiansand.

It's wholly appropriate that Narrative shares both release date and concert with Places of Worship; while Bang is the sole producer of Narrative and, therefore, clearly reflects a more personal vision, it can still be considered, in addition to a logical successor to ...and poppies and Uncommon Deities, one half of a greater whole completed by Places of Worship. As different as the two records are, neither would have come to exist without the other. Beyond the superficial—shared personnel that, in addition to Bang, Honor�� and Henriksen, also include Aarset and bassist

Lars Danielsson

bass
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Lars Danielsson- -Henriksen's record is more intrinsically lyrical across its entire program. Bang, on the other hand, juxtaposes moments of equally profound and spiritual beauty—the orchestral "Sinking Ship," featuring Henriksen at his most haunting, and the subterranean groove of "Funeral Voyage," with Molv?r at his most sensual—against the more angular, avant "Melee of Suitcases," highlighting Endresen's stuttering and, despite being unprocessed, underwater-textured vocalizations, and the even more oblique, concr��te- informed "Flooded Corridors."

More than Places of Worship, Narrative's expansive personnel- -Estonians J��rjendal and singer/kantele player Tuule Kann alongside Henriksen and Armenian pianist

Tigran Hamasyan

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Tigran Hamasyan on the folkloric "Singers Childhood"— is further evidence of how Punkt—and, by definition, Bang and Honor��—has engendered new and rare cross-cultural collaborations. Punkt could not have happened without Bang and Honor��''s initial vision; but nine years later it has assumed a life of its own, and impacted the Punkt Family in ways it could never have envisaged. The cinematic tales of Bang's extraordinary Narrative from the Subtropics represent just one more example of how Punkt has not just changed the way music is created, it's changed the lives of all those it has touched.

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Track Listing

Iron Balcony; Singer's Ashes; Tide; Smashing Windows; The Deep Serene; Singer's Childhood; Funeral Voyage; Interlude (Night Creatures); Melee of Suitcases; Artificial Reeves; Sinking Ship; Flooded Corridors; Lifeboat.

Personnel

Jan Bang

live sampling

Jan Bang: Akai sampler (1-13), programming (1-7, 9-13), synthesizer (3, 5), mpc (7), dictaphone (7), kaoss pad (10); Nils Chr. Moe Repstad: voice; Eivind Aarset: sampled guitar (2), guitars (3, 5, 7), bass (7); Sidsel Endresen: vocal (3, 9); Lars Danielsson: double bass (3); Undark: organ (3); Erik Honor��: field crickets (3), synthesizer (7); Arve Henriksen: sampled trumpet (4), trumpet (6, 8, 11); Tuule Kann: vocal (6), kannel (6); Tigran Hamasyan: piano (6); Robert J��rjendal: guitars (6); Stian Westerhus: sampled guitar (6), guitar (8); Nils Petter Molv?er: trumpet (7); Dai Fujikura: piano (9), electronics (9), cello samples (12); David Soler: sampled guitar (11).

Album information

Title: Narrative From The Subtropics | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Jazzland Recordings

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