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Frode Gjerstad

FRODE GJERSTAD was born in Stavanger, Norway, 24-03- 1948. He started trying to play improvised music as a trumpeter in 1968. When he moved to Lund in Sweden (1971 to 1975) he got a chance to meet, talk and play with musicians interested in this music. He had at that time started playing tenor saxophone (1969).

After he came back to Stavanger in 1975 he started collaborating with keyboardist Eivin One Pedersen. Together, they explored many different aspects of improvised music, as a duo or with others, but it was not until 1981, when they first played with John Stevens, that he had a real chance to feel what a dedicated musicians can do to the music-making.

At the early stage of his career, he choose mainly to play with international musicians because there was no tradition in Norway for the free music. However, after the club Blå opened in Oslo in 1996, a good number of younger musicians are now picking up on the music.

His relationship with British drummer, John Stevens which started in -81 and lasted up until his death in -94, was of great importance both musically as well as on a personal level. Through Stevens, he was introduced to some of the finest British improvisers and got to know their way of playing. Together, they led the trio “Detail” starting with Johnny Dyani on bass. And after Johnny died in -86, with Kent Carter.

He has also been active, running a larger group of mostly Norwegian musicians, the Circulasione Totale Orchestra. He started the group using electric instruments and modern rock- oriented rhythms. He has used the band to present his own compositions as well as a workshop and a place for young people to get to know free music. The band presented a commissioned work at the Molde Festival in -89 with a 13 man band combining free improvisations, compositions as well as rapping and scratching.(Three horns, three bassists, three drummers, accordeon, guitar a rapper and a DJ). The Circulasione Totale Orchestra is a powerful ever-changing band.

But it�'s not easy to keep such a big group together. In 1998 he decided to keep the core of the band which at that time was Paal Nilssen-Love on drums and Øyvind Storesund on bass and try to develop that sound. It became Frode Gjerstad Trio. So far the trio has toured Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Polen, Italy, Austria, Portugal, England, Canada and the United States.

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8
Album Review

Frode Gjerstad with Matthew Shipp: We Speak

Read "We Speak" reviewed by John Sharpe


While the combination of reedman Frode Gjerstad--the godfather of Norwegian free jazz who dwells about as far from the so-called Nordic sound as you can get--and pianist Matthew Shipp -whose lineage can be traced back through what he terms The Black Mystery School, which takes in Thelonious Monk, Mal Waldron and Randy Weston among others--might seem unlikely, it makes perfect sense when you hear it. From the first piece “About Music" on, it is clear that this pairing is not ...

1
Album Review

Frode Gjerstad / Kent Carter / John Stevens: Detail - 90

Read "Detail - 90" reviewed by John Eyles


The group Detail first played together in December 1981. After a short period when the Norwegian pianist Eiven One Pederson was a member, it stabilised as a trio comprising Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad, South African bassist (and one-time Blue Note artist) Johnny Dyani, and British drummer John Stevens; these three recorded the group's first album, Backwards and Forwards (Impetus, 1983), in Norway, in October 1982. More albums followed, with Ness (Impetus, 1986) featuring guests Bobby Bradford, Harry Beckett and Courtney ...

7
Album Review

Frode Gjerstad: Day Two

Read "Day Two" reviewed by John Sharpe


Detail was a band ahead of its time. The co-operative trio formed in 1981 by Norwegian reedman Frode Gjerstad and English drummer John Stevens, was completed in its first incarnation by South African bassist Johnny Dyani. Day Two was recorded in Gjerstad's hometown Stavanger, and as the name suggests, it was the result of the second day in the studio, following on from the session which generated Backwards And Forwards (Impetus, 1982). Originally released by Gjerstad as Okhela in cassette ...

10
Album Review

Frode Gjerstad / Fred Lonberg-Holm / Matthew Shipp: Season of Sadness

Read "Season of Sadness" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Norwegian multi-reedist/composer Frode Gjerstad has been active in free jazz and avant-garde music across five decades. Among his collaborators are Paal Nilssen-Love, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, William Parker, Sabir Mateen and Johnny Dyani. Gjerstad has toured and played festivals extensively, in Europe and North America, and composed commissioned work for the historic Moldejazz festival. For Season of Sadness he is teamed with long-time associate and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and celebrated pianist Matthew Shipp. A staple of ...

Album Review

Frode Gjerstad: Bop Stop

Read "Bop Stop" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala


A cavallo tra gli anni Settanta e Ottanta, quando nella scena jazz norvegese la presenza dell'etichetta germanica Ecm stimolava e indirizzava le scelte di tanti musicisti, il sassofonista Frode Gjerstad si volgeva a un altro panorama, cercando il contatto con le odissee procellose dell'improvvisazione storica europea, volgendosi soprattutto all'area britannica. Qui collaborò con grandi maestri che fin dagli anni Sessanta avevano messo in fermento il mondo musicale del Vecchio Continente. Tra questi, il batterista John Stevens, che nel 1966 aveva ...

7
Album Review

Frode Gjerstad Trio + Steve Swell: Bop Stop

Read "Bop Stop" reviewed by John Sharpe


The bones of Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad's Trio go back a long way. He first co-opted drummer Paal Nilssen-Love into his Circulasione Totale Orchestra when he was still a teenager. Although bassist Jon Rune Strøm is a more recent recruit, he has still been on board since 2011. As such the consistently high quality interplay they generate should come as little surprise. The addition of trombonist Steve Swell to supplement the trio is a bonus, providing a foil for Gjerstad ...

1
Album Review

Detail: At Club 7

Read "At Club 7" reviewed by Vic Albani


Questo disco è tratto da una registrazione su semplice e storica audiocassetta, effettuata nel leggendario Club 7 di Oslo nel settembre del 1982. I Detail, l'unico vero free-jazz group del tempo in Norvegia, erano stati chiamati a fare da set di apertura della band Masqualero, guidata dall'eroe locale Arild Andersen (con Jon Christensen, Nils Petter Molvaer e Tore Brunborg), che aveva appena pubblicato un disco per la ECM. Esattamente una settimana dopo questa registrazione, il pianista Eivin One Pedersen lasciò ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

We Speak

Relative Pitch Records
2023

buy

Detail - 90

NoBusiness Records
2021

buy

Season of Sadness

Iluso Records
2019

buy

Day Two

NoBusiness Records
2019

buy

Bop Stop

Clean Feed Records
2018

buy

At Club 7

Not Two Records
2017

buy

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