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Vossa Jazz 2015
VOSSA JAZZ
Voss
March 28 -29, 2015
Vossa Jazz, founded in 1973, an annual three-day event with a great variety of groups and acts, is a highly prestigious jazz festival in Norway. Thanks especially to its commissions and awards, it has an important national and international function. In 1983 the festival became the first in Europe to start assigning commission work. After more than 30 years the series has become an impressive list including
Arild Andersen
bass, acousticb.1945
My first visit to the festival was restricted to Saturday and Sunday, March 28 and 29. Yet even these two days alone offered such a great diversity of events and acts, that it was impossible to attend and cover them all—like the performances of
Carsten Dahl
pianob.1967
Julia Biel
vocals
Peter Evans
trumpetAmbience
Voss is a municipality of about 14,000 inhabitants in Hordaland county, 100 kilometres east of the city of Bergen, right in between the southern Hardangerfjord and the northern Sognefjord. Situated in the valley at lake Vangsvatnet it offers magnificent mountainous scenery with an ever impressive continual theatre of light. It is surrounded by snow-capped mountains, forests, lakes, and fast flowing white water rivers. Since the 1960s it has developed into a notable center of skiing, water sports, skydiving, paragliding, and other adventure sports. The area hosts the annual Ekstremsportveko, the Extreme Sports Week (in combination with a lot of music) in the last week of June, which is regarded as the world's premier extreme sports festival.
Character
The annual jazz festival always takes place in the weekend before Easter and is a high level Scandinavian affair presenting only a few non-Scandinavian musicians and groups. This year a Portuguese group, two British groups, and one solo-act from the United States were among some 30 programmed acts. There were two mixed groups with predominantly Norwegian proportions, such as The Young Mothers of Norwegian bassist
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
bassb.1971
Manu Katche
drumsb.1958
It was the festival's 42nd edition and the 8th of current director Trude Storheim. Storheim, who is the same age as the festival, is intimately inter-grown with the festival's history and the area where it is held. She is one of the real vital global locals. This is clearly manifested in the programming and documented by recordings of festival productions on internationally renowned labels. The profile of the festival, according to Storheim, is jazz combined with folk music—both the Norwegian version of folk music and world music in a strong, innovative and trendsetting way.
Storheim heads an all female staff aided by a highly motivated troupe of 200 volunteers of all genders. They ensured smooth running for the festival and achieved the same ticket sales as the year before. There were exceptional weather conditions for traveling to Voss (blizzard in Oslo) but even the Ekstremjazz performance, —one of the special items besides jazz for kids and for elders—happened as planned with pianists
Jon Balke
pianob.1955
Andreas Ulvo
pianob.1983
Smalahovemiddagen
Embedded into the rich variety of activities is smalahovemiddagen, a genuine old Voss traditional mouton head dinner —'smala' the (old) Norwegian word for sheep and 'hoven' the word for head. Nowadays lamb is used for this dish. The skin and fleece of the head is torched and the brain removed, then the head is salted, sometimes smoked or dried. The head is then boiled or steamed for about three hours. It is served with mashed rutabaga (turnip) and potatoes. Every person is served one integral head. First the ears have to been eaten, then the rest. The big treats are the eyeballs and real heroes also suck the fat lying behind the eyes of the skull. A smalahove meal is not only accompanied by large amounts of beer and aquavit but by telling stories and singing (old) songs. This time, Bj?rn Tomren aka Polkabj?rn gave a wry comical demonstration of virtuosic yodelling and overtone singing. Still more impressive was the closing bard singing of Jon Skjerdal, the director of Bergen's Nattjazz Festival.
Diversity, interconnectedness, climate change
Folk music and jazz were the obvious but nonetheless challenging keywords for the commission of the opening concert. The connection had previously been done with great success by, among others, bassist Arild Andersen with his commission work Sagn from 1990 with folk singer Kirsten Br?ten Berg (ECM, 1994). Jazz pianist, composer and arranger Erlend Skomsvoll was chosen this year to unite a star team from both genres to perform at the festival opening.
Skomsvoll is a musician who has participated in many collaborations in the fields of classical music and rock (three albums with prominent Norwegian rock band Kaizers Orchestra). Last year he earned the prestigious Spellemansprisen in the Classical Music category, for his rendition of Grieg's Holberg Variation s (Simac, 2014), called recompimprovariations by himself.
He worked with his own group Come Shine for a long time, acted as a conductor and arranger for Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and collaborated with top international names like
Pat Metheny
guitarb.1954
Chick Corea
piano1941 - 2021
Ole Morten Vågan
bass, acousticThe first—not attended—phase of the festival was full of incentive diversity. There was young country singer Ida Jenshus with her group and a couple of duos and trios, such as the duo of sPacemoNkey (pianist
Morten Qvenild
piano
Gard Nilssen
drumsb.1983
Espen Eriksen
pianoGunnar Halle (tr)
trumpetWell-known trio In The Country presented its collaboration with outstanding singer Frida ?nnevik on poems of Hans B?rli, documented on the brand-new album Skogenes Sang (Grappa, 2014). Young bassist/singer Ellen Andrea Wang, one of Norway's biggest upcoming talents, recently took a step out as solo artist and presented the trio of her debut album Diving (Propeller Recordings, 2014).
The trio Supersonic (saxophonist Petter Frost Fadnes, guitarist
Chris Sharkey
guitar, electricIt went on with the quartets Fluxed Markings with pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach,
Fredrik Ljungkvist
saxophone, tenorb.1969
Saxophonist
Trygve Seim
saxophoneWhat you see is not only augmentation of jazz by pop, rock and folk acts, but a high degree of diversity and interconnectedness of musicians operating in different genres crossed in one group or between groups. It is also quite remarkable that this year's Vossajazzprisen was awarded to pop singer Thea Hjelmeland (1987). With her second album Solar Plexus (TheaH Music, 2014) she was already awarded the prestigious Spellemannprisen (the Norwegian Grammy), in the Indie Pop category last year.
Commissions play an important role for Vossa Jazz Festival, with Tingingsverket, the main commission, one of the most prestigious assignments in Norwegian jazz. This year's commission—supported by generous funding from Norwegian Art Council—was, however, the first one in the history of the festival not to be recorded and broadcast by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. It was the first time the P2 department, with its own jazz employees, did not attend the festival. Editorial cuts of NRK culture has hit P2 jazz coverage of NRK. From four permanent weekly journalistic jazz programs in 2009, NRK P2 cut back to one weekly fixed magazine program about jazz. As a result, the public no longer benefits from productions realized through considerable public funding. At first glance it seems a question of money, but in fact it is a clear sign of cultural climate change.
Live Maria Roggen
This year's commission of Tinkingsverket was assigned to revered vocalist Live Maria Roggen (1970) who composed the work entitled "Apokaluptein—The Uncovering." Her career as a musician is as impressive as it is successful, with acts like Wibutee, and not least Come Shine, who played at Vossa Jazz last year to standing ovations. Roggen has gone the grades from a budding violin pupil as a kid to her current position as professor of vocal jazz at the Norwegian Academy of Music. In 2007 she won the Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen) with her album Circuit Songs.
For "Apokaluptein—The Uncovering" Roggen worked out her reflection and expression of extreme disturbance, breakdown, and devastation in people's life and their habitat in musical form. She did not do that as a doom scenario, but from the perspective of radical, uprooting change that causes the destruction of some things and the surfacing of others. 'Apokaluptein' for her means that something withdraws and something else appears, or is uncovered. The ensemble she chose to perform the work consisted of close collaborators from her musical past plus strong musicians who could create contrasts and resistance within the group during the turbulent process of shaping the opus. Like
Audun Kleive
drums
Sofia Jernberg
vocalsHilmar Jensson
guitar
Jim Black
drums
Trevor Dunn
bassManu Katché
Last time I spoke to French drummer Manu Katché, we talked about the sound of snow up in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Hence I guess Katché, an avid skier, felt comfortable at Voss and liked it there. Plus, he is pretty familiar with Norwegian musicians. His quartet started out years ago with the great
Jan Garbarek
saxophoneb.1947
Tore Brunborg
saxophoneb.1960
Luca Aquino
trumpetb.1974
Jimmy Watson
b.1922Rodrigo Amado
The next act,
Rodrigo Amado
saxophone, tenorb.1964
Miguel Mira
celloSavage Rose
Savage Rose is one of the oldest still existing and active European/Scandinavian rock bands, founded in 1967 by Thomas and Anders Koppel, famous jazz drummer
Alex Riel
drumsb.1940
Nils ?kland
Violinist
Nils Okland
violin
Mats Eilertsen
bassb.1975
Sinikka Langeland
Kantele player and vocalist Sinikka Langeland from the Norwegian area of Finnskogen is a regular at Vossa Jazz. This year she performed with her reorganized group with viola-player Lars Anders Tomter, one of Norway's most distinguished classical soloists, saxophonist Trygve Seim and percussionist
Markku Ounaskari
drumsThe performance was accompanied by visuals of Per Manning and Dag Alveng. As an introduction the visuals gave an impression of the entanglement of person, nature, and movement accompanied by Ounaskari's latent deep and dark sounds from a single, big base drum. This turned into enchanting interplay of Langeland's kantele and Ounaskari's bells and cymbals. It conjured up a magical sylvan spirit that radiated into the next pieces animated by Tomter's steady and gently sounding viola. Tomter's playing was of such natural authority that the music seemed to play itself. Whereas Langeland's voice and kantele brightened it all up, Seim's saxophone merged into both voices, Tomter's and Langeland's, transmitting sensations of the dark ground and the wandering moose.
The music retained its natural balance and tension throughout, without lapsing into nice rippling. The far and deep reach of Tomter's viola together with the constant coloring of Langeland, Ounaskari and Seim gave this performance an unforgettable momentum and met a grateful, enthusiastic audience in Gamlekinoen, the old cinema.
Real Ones with Sigbj?rn Apeland: "Missa Criolla"
Real Ones is a popular five piece folk rock band from Bergen, founded in 1994, consisting of David Chelsom Vogt (violin, vocals, keyboards), Ivar Chelsom Vogt (guitar, vocals, keyboards), J?rgen Sandvik (guitar, vocals, sitar), ?ystein Skj?laaen (bass, vocals), K?re Opheim (drums, vocals). Other jazz festivals might invite them just to attract 'other' than a jazz audience but a for a festival like Vossa Jazz this would not be an option and would not suffice. There has to be something special that provides a good reason to have them playing the festival. The majority of the band members went to the Steiner school in Bergen and with their twenty years of common experience as a worldwide touring band they had the desire to perform again their junior high school project, the choir piece "Missa Criolla" by Argentina's most popular composer, Ariel Ramirez (1921-2010). The mass is based on folk genres such as chacarera, carnavalito, and estilo pampeano, with Andean influences. Real Ones brushed up even more on their already widely known vocal harmonies. Concerts in the Cathedral of Bergen and Culture Church Jacob in Oslo proved highly successful, not least with organ virtuoso Sigbj?rn Apeland on church organ and harmonium. That was reason enough to invite them to perform this popular opus, written 50 years ago and premiered at Düsseldorf in 1967, in the beautiful Vangskyrkja church of Voss together with organist Sigbj?rn Apeland on church organ and harmonium. This event was a good example of the ongoing process in Norway of making new refreshing combinations of music and musicians with a wonderful joyous outcome. A big pleasure to watch and listen to, and see Apeland rushing from the church organ on first floor to the harmonium down in the nave. And for aficionados of Swedish jazz pianist Bobo Stenson the music was familiar territory and a treat. In Bobo's work and recordings Ramirez is a recurrent figure.
Anneli Drecker
Vossa Jazz is an amazing affair of known names in new combinations and completely new names in combination with mainstays and known names. Vocalist and actor Anneli Drecker from Troms? of legendary duo Bel Canto and associated with R?yksopp finished this year's festival with a high calibre band and pieces from her upcoming album Rocks And Straws on Rune Grammofon. Rocks & Straws is very much an acoustic album, based on recording techniques from the '70s and recorded with guitarist
Eivind Aarset
guitarIn Norway Drecker is a name so that the program description could be brief. People from outside need a series of collaborations, recognizable names as context. Besides her long tenure with Bel Canto on Crammed Disc and R?yksopp, Drecker worked and recorded with Hector Zazou, Jan Bang, Motorpsycho, Jah Wobble, Gavin Friday, DJ Krush, Tim Simenon, Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins), Guy Sigsworth, Ketil Bj?rnstad and joined A-ha on two world tours as their guest singer. She has also recorded three albums based on poems by John Donne and Hart Crane.
Drecker showed clear authority as a band leader and dynamically presented strong quality songs in various stylistics ranging from unadulterated rock to acoustic ballads, with a band that played flexibly on a high level. The music proceeded varied und nuanced. It was a good convincing start with high potentials, especially in her rendition of the title song "Rocks And Straws." In this performance, The Arctic Philharmonic on the album had to be substituted by keyboards and electronics which rendered a different quality, a quality that opened the music up again such that the new pieces can grow toward each other in live performances. As a gesture Drecker took the risk and performed the tune "Little Tree" from the new album with her nine year old daughter Luna. Seeds of trust were sown, as curiosity in Drecker's new expedition was evoked by the performance.
Conclusion
Just one and half days at Vossa Jazz brought an intensity, variety, impressively high quality and a manifestation of cross-fertilization that far exceeded my expectations that were fed by the word of mouth information of colleagues and musicians. The festival offers a dizzying but never hectic multitude of events and activities. It is a small-scale and survey-able affair with a wide impressive panorama at the same time. It was a place of real openness going hand in hand with appeal, enjoyment, and delight. The programming choices made a lot of sense, the commitment was high, and the diversity had inspiring effects. The festival and the scene is still a well- oiled machine running on strong, tacit consensus. Yet apparently some dark shadows are falling on the scene, indicating shifts and change. Next year's festival will show. It will be held March 18-20.
Tags
Arild Andersen
Live Reviews
Henning Bolte
Norway
Bergen
Carsten Dahl
Julia Biel
Peter Evans
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten
Manu Katche
Jon Balke
Andreas Ulvo
pat metheny
Chick Corea
Ole Morten V?gan
Morten Qvenild
Gard Nilssen
Espen Eriksen
Gunnar Halle
Chris Sharkey
Fredrik Ljungkvist
Trygve Seim
Audun Kleive
Maja Ratkje
Sofia Jernberg
Hilmar Jensson
Jim Black
Trevor Dunn
Jan Garbarek
Tore Brunborg
Luca Aquino
Jim Watson
Rodrigo Amado
Miguel Mira
Alex Riel
Nils ?kland
Mats Eilertsen
Markku Ounaskari
Eivind Aarset
Rune Arnesen
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