Home » Jazz Musicians » Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen
Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen
Hedvig Mollestad & Trondheim Jazz Orchestra: Maternity Beat
by Gareth Thompson
Norwegian jazz-rock guitarist Hedvig Mollestad has never shied away from the big themes. Previous outings have seen her dabble with notions of Greek mythology and weather conditions, while channelling her love of guitar greats from Jimmy Page to John McLaughlin. Now with Maternity Beat, she offers a series of musings on the nature of family and social justice issues. Mollestad is backed here by the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, whose many credits include Chick Corea and Joshua Redman. It is Mollestad's ...
read morePer Oddvar Johansen: The Quiet Cormorant
by Neri Pollastri
Collaboratore di alcuni dei più importanti musicisti scandinavida Trygve Seim a Christian Wallumrød fino alla giovane Mette Henrietteil batterista norvegese Per Oddvar Johansen è qui alla guida di un trio completato dai connazionali Helge Lien al pianoforte e Torben Snekkestad alle ance, che in due brani si allarga a quartetto con l'ingresso della chitarra di Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen, per mettere in scena musica, che ha pensato e composto durante un ritiro sulle solitarie coste nordiche. Il risultato è ...
read moreHedvig Mollestad: Ekhidna
by Gareth Thompson
In 2003, the English writer John Murray published his Booker Prize-listed novel Jazz Etc. It narrated the life and times of a female guitarist, the improbably named Fanny Golightly, from working class Cumbria. One observer in the story describes Golightly's playing thus: I suppose jazz is the only name for it. It was as delirious as heavy metal, but far too complex to be any sort of rock. Most of the time she was playing as if she wanted to ...
read moreHedvig Mollestad Trio: Enfant Terrible
by John Kelman
While making noise with her debut, Shoot! (Rune Grammofon, 2011), it was with All Them Witches (Rune Grammofon, 2013)--and subsequent touring that took her from her home country of Norway, playing at festivals like the 2013 Molde International Jazz Festival, to a short North American tour this year--that guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen's career really took off. Alongside Pixel, Hedvig Mollestad Trio represents some of the most exciting music from a new generation of Norwegian musicians, though the two groups couldn't ...
read moreHedvig Mollestad Trio: All of Them Witches
by John Kelman
It may well be sexist to suggest that there are few female heavy rock guitarists. Still, as society moves towards greater equity among the genders, there are thankfully a lot more talented and intrepid women transcending conventional expectations of their place" in music--and few countries exemplifying this more than Norway. Sidsel Endresen may be a singer, but she's far from the norm; saxophonists like Frøy Aagre and Hanna Paulsberg are pushing their own jazz boundaries, as is trumpeter Gunhild Seim. ...
read more