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Hakon Kornstad

Saxophonist Hakon Kornstad has enjoyed critical praise not only for his performance technique and emotional intelligence, but also for his willingness to experiment in a wide range of different expressive moods. Combining soundscapes and percussive beats and layers with a melodic sensibility, there's always been a sense of awe when listening to his recordings. In his newest offering, Dwell Time (Jazzland, 2009), we are again presented with his well-honed musicality, but this time the performances are all his own, in a scaled-down setting. It is a solo effort in every sense of the word. In eight pieces we are offered a variety of expressions. From Still One, which seems to convey a reflective solitude, to the cool hipness of Oslo and the aptly titled Noir, Kornstad astounds us with his ability to masterfully grasp a spectrum of emotional output through his tenor sax, bass sax, flutonette, flute, in addition to his live looping. Recorded in the Sofienberg Chruch in Oslo, the album is produced by Kornstad as well. "When I recorded 'Single Engine' in 2007, I was eager to show variety," Kornstad states. "With Dwell Time it was different. I simply wanted to get into one mood, dwell on it - and hit the record button. Insert the expression 'free improvisation' here if you like; the music was created there and then, and without overdubbing or serious editing. The Sofienberg Church in Oslo provides some excellent and inspiring acoustics, and this album was the result of a couple of nights there in January, followed by a serious cull of many of the little darlings. Enjoy the survived ones here." Kornstad, who spends the gist of his time in New York and Oslo, was born in Oslo on April 5th, 1977. He began playing the clarinet in grammar school at a young age, eventually leading to studying saxophone formally at the Trondheim Jazz Conservatory. "Stan Getz was an early influence and I used to listen to my father's albums. I also heard Coltrane but thought he was too weird - I just didn't get him at the time. It wasn't until after I got into Jan Garbarek and Keith Jarrett's 'Personal Mountains' album that I think this opened up Coltrane for me," Kornstad says about his impressionable years. Its often noted about him, though, that while others stop at emulating Coltrane, Kornstad has continued on to develop his own particular style and tone, using his influences as a springboard rather than as platform to rest on.

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Album Review

Bugge Wesseltoft: Be Am

Read "Be Am" reviewed by Gareth Thompson


In a 2008 interview, Bugge Wesseltoft spoke of his despair at seeing civilians suffer throughout history, unable to protect their families and children from wars. He also noted that watching such events unfold from the safety of his Norwegian homeland was painful. Wesseltoft had recently released his superb album IM (Jazzland Recordings, 2007) which found him on reflective form at the piano. Come the pandemic of 2020, Wesseltoft was caught in a similar climate of fear to those ...

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Extended Analysis

Hakon Kornstad: Symphonies In My Head

Read "Hakon Kornstad: Symphonies In My Head" reviewed by John Kelman


Håkon Kornstad Symphonies in My Head Jazzland Records 2011 Amidst a nation of musicians who fearlessly and seamlessly find ways to marry music and technology on the most human of terms, Håkon Kornstad still stands alone. Armed with an array of saxophones, flutes and weird hybrids like the flutonette (a clarinet mouthpiece on a flute body)--and a vintage looping device that may be limited compared to newer ones on the market, but is ...

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Album Review

Hakon Kornstad: Symphonies In My Head

Read "Symphonies In My Head" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


The third consecutive solo album from Håkon Kornstad is an exemplary, creative work. The Norwegian saxophonist expands an already remarkable palette of sounds and technique from Single Engine (Jazzland, 2007) and Dwell Time (Jazzland, 2009) with musical references that continue to grow and surprise. As before, he manages to turn his improvisations into small symphonies, arresting in their structure and deep emotional impact. As with Dwell Time, Kornstad uses the excellent acoustics of Oslo's Sofienberg Church as ...

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Album Review

Hakon Kornstad: Dwell Time

Read "Dwell Time" reviewed by Andrey Henkin


32-year-old Norwegian saxophonist Håkon Kornstad continues to skirt the competing modern Scandinavian jazz aesthetics of Jan Garbarek and Mats Gustafsson. In 2008 he participated in the stunning Elise (Compuctio, 2008), a delicate acoustic duo exploration with bassist and countryman Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. Kornstad's Dwell Time is, in many ways, a companion piece to that disc in its sheer beauty and deliberateness. But where that album existed in the ether of resonating wood and metal, Dwell Time is unaccompanied, using live ...

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Album Review

Kornstad: Dwell Time

Read "Dwell Time" reviewed by Chris May


Norwegian saxophonist and flautist Håkon Kornstad began to acquire an international profile in the mid-2000s as a member of the electro-acoustic band Wibutee, and with burgeoning guest appearances with the likes of nu jazz auteur and keyboard player Bugge Wesseltoft and singers Sidsel Endresen and Anja Garbarek. What made Kornstad's playing so refreshing then, and continues to make it so in 2009, is the distance he stands apart from other Scandinavian saxophonists. On Wibutee albums like Playmachine (2005), the group's ...

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Album Review

Kornstad: Dwell Time

Read "Dwell Time" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


Prolific Norwegian reed player Håkon Kornstad is known for his conceptual and genre-bending work, beginning with the free improvising Kornstad Trio, experimenting with electronics on Wibutee, exploring chamber Jazz with fellow countryman, pianist Håvard Wiik and bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, or collaborating with hip vocalist Anja Garbarek. On his second solo release he follows but still diverts from Single Engine (Jazzland Recordings, 2007). Whereas the latter focused on a variety of musical gestures and a wide spectrum of emotions and ...

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Album Review

Kornstad: Dwell Time

Read "Dwell Time" reviewed by John Kelman


Since emerging in the 1990s with Wibutee, saxophonist/flautist Håkon Kornstad has gradually evolved into one of Norway's most exciting and innovative players--a description that would, no doubt, be applied by a broader international audience were he to recieve the exposure he so richly deserves. In recent years, combining unparalelled extended technique on his instruments with equally imaginative use of live electronics, Kornstad has become a solo artist like no other. Single Engine (Jazzland, 2007) demonstrated this intrepid player's ability to ...

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US reviews
The Norwegian saxophonist Hakon Kornstad has a deeply focused tone and a dazzling command of expressive effects. He puts it all to good use on "Dwell Time" (Jazzland), his serene but potent new solo album.
Nate Chinen - New York Times

Adventurous, yet undeniably accessible, Single Engine is another rung on a ladder that Kornstad’s been climbing for the past few years. Along with Seim, he’s part of a new generation of Norwegian reed players regularly pushing the boundaries of the instrument, finding limitless potential through persistent experimentation.
John Kelman - AllAboutJazz (US)

Norwegian saxophonist Håkon Kornstad has been one of the central figures on the new Norwegian scene that aspires to break new vistas beyond the almost codified ECM representation of the Nordic scene (...) A Beautiful and impressive statement.
Eyal Hareuveni - AllAboutJazz (US)

Kornstad has conceived a singular approach to the saxophone, fully realized on this solo effort

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Be Am

Jazzland Recordings
2022

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Symphonies In My Head

Jazzland Recordings
2011

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Hakon Kornstad:...

Jazzland Recordings
2011

buy

Dwell Time

Jazzland Recordings
2010

buy

Dwell Time

Jazzland Recordings
2009

buy

Single Engine

Jazzland Recordings
2008

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