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Nils Okland
Nils Okland Band: Kjølvatn
by David Bruggink
A seasoned solo performer, sideman and leader, Nils Økland is a frequent ECM Records contributor capable of playing expressively across multiple styles. His hardanger fiddle and violin can range from poised and elegantsee Lysøen -Hommage à Ole Bull (2011), his collaboration with pianist Sigbjørn Apelandto raucous, as on the Dirty Three-esque Lumen Drones (2014). For Kjølvatn, he assembles a quintet capable of evocative textures as well as hushed austerity. ECM mainstay Mats Eilertsen plays double bass; Sigbjørn Apeland ...
read moreGalway Jazz Festival 2019
by Ian Patterson
Galway Jazz Festival 2019 Various venues Galway, Ireland October 2-6, 2019 Bat song may be a first at a jazz festival, but then they do things differently here in Galway. Bats were in and plastic was out. No plastic laminates or cable ties, no plastic on outdoor advertising, no plastic wrapping on backstage food, and no plastic bottles were permitted by the organizers of GJF19. With carbon footprint awareness the name of the ...
read moreNils Økland Band: Kjølvatn
by Mark Sullivan
Norwegian Hardanger fiddle specialist Nils Økland has a broad range of musical interests, as illustrated by his eclectic discography. His solo album Monograph (ECM, 2011) spotlighted his lyrical, folkloric side; Lysøen--Hommage à Ole Bull (ECM, 2011) with keyboardist Sigbjørn Apeland payed tribute to the Norwegian classical tradition; Lumen Drones (ECM, 2014) found him making trance music with two rock musicians; and the recent Felt Like Old Folk (Smeraldina-Rima, 2016) collaboration with the Belgian duo Linus was almost completely improvised. He ...
read moreVossa Jazz 2016
by Ian Patterson
Vossa Jazz Various venues jny:Voss, Norway March 18-20, 2016 Perched high on the mountain side, the weather-beaten wooden farm houses of the Voss folk museum command a truly impressive view of the town below, ringed by snow-capped mountains, interlocking valleys and ice-covered fjords that stretch to the four points of the compass. Founded in 1917the same year the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded the first jazz recordthe museum's bric-a-brac of bygone days and ...
read moreNils Økland: Kjølvatn
by Karl Ackermann
The significance of the Hardanger Fiddle--a homespun Norwegian variation of the violin--is that while it is played on four strings, as a similar string instrument would be, it has four or five additional strings under the fingerboard which vibrate during playing. Though its use has been limited in modern music, Nils Økland has not only mastered it, but has expanded its scope across non- traditional folk styles from rock, trance and classical to jazz. On Kjølvatn he plays an assortment ...
read moreNils Okland, Per Steinar Lie, Orjan Haaland: Lumen Drones
by Vincenzo Roggero
Violino, chitarra elettrica, batteria, i suoni spaziosi della ECM, i riferimenti più eterogenei -noise, folk, ambient, free, minimalismo, post rock-e Lumen Drones è servito. Loro sono tre musicisti norvegesi dal background alquanto variegato, che si incontrano occasionalmente nel 2008 in sala d'incisione, si ritrovano a condividere lo stesso palco ma con formazioni differenti nel 2010, decidono di formare una band ed entrare in sala d'incisione l'anno successivo. Il risultato è questo splendido Lumen Drones, album da subito ...
read moreNils Okland / Sigbjorn Apeland: Lysoen: Hommage a Ole Bull
by John Kelman
The problem with being tagged as traditional is an inherent and immediate perception as being somehow retro or backwards-looking when, in truth, traditions ought to be living, breathing things whose definable frames of reference aren't necessarily confined by them. Norwegian violinist Nils Økland and pianist/harmonium player Sigbjørn Apeland know this better than most; in their 1982 trio, with drummer Øyvind Skarbo, they mine a most contemporary kind of free improvisation that can't help but be informed by the traditional Norwegian ...
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