Paal Nilssen-Love & Vestnorsk Jazz Ensemble

The premiere of this specially commissioned work took place at this year's Nattjazz in Bergen and was warmly received by both audiences and critics. In his review, Jan Granlie of Salt Peanuts described the concert as “...a wonderful blend of the free and the structured. I felt that the music had its foundation in Nilssen-Love’s many travels, and we experienced Brazilian, Ethiopian and South African sequences combined with the bandleader’s ability to bring improvising jazz musicians together in a kind of unity with musicians who, for the most part, come from the contemporary music scene.”

The basic idea behind Vestnorsk Jazzensemble is similar to that of Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, with line-ups created according to the tonal requirements and personalities needed for the music being performed. Nilssen-Love explains that he has spent considerable time putting the ensemble together; searching for the right energies and expressions, and the right sound-makers who can also work together as a group. He has selected eight fellow musicians from Western Norway, some well-known, others he has never played with before – a completely new and exciting constellation of strong voices, with musicians from backgrounds in classical music, contemporary music, noise and jazz.

Paal hopes that audiences will leave the concert with a feeling of having experienced something completely unexpected, something inexplicably captivating – and asking themselves: “What on earth just happened?” Reviewer Granlie, however, had no difficulty putting it into words: “A brilliant concert that gave us yet another brilliant project led by Nilssen-Love. Let this not be the only concert!”

Alwynne Pritchard – vocals

Isach Skeidsvoll – piano/keyboards

Sergej Tchirkov – accordion

Daiyen Jone Castro – flute

Heidi Kvelvane – saxophone

Aksel Røed – saxophone

John Hegre – guitar

Jakob Bakkevoll – bass

Paal Nilssen-Love – drums and percussion

Ingar Hunskaar – sound

The concert is presented in close collaboration with nyMusikk Stavanger and Vestnorsk Jazzsenter.