Birmingham Jazz is running something of a Norwegian season these days; Tord Gustavsen was at the CBSO Centre in autumn 2009, Nils Petter Molvaer brings the music of his latest album Hamada to the Hare & Hounds on Feb 26th and Humcrush, the duo of drummer Thomas Stronen and keyboard player Stale Storlokken of Supersilent will also be at the Hare & Hounds on 14th April (this one is a co-promotion with Caspule). The Norwegian scene has been for some time arguably the most interesting scene in Europe and we at Birmingham Jazz are very keen to be able to present the best of Norway in Birmingham Indeed, we have entered into partnership with the Norwegian Embassy in order to be able to do this.
Nile Petter Molvaer has produced some excellent albums for the ECM and Universal labels in recent years, notably Khmer, Solid Ether and np3, but he now seems to be recording for his own label Sula, named after his birthplace. Nils’ music always brings together jazz, Scandinavian folk music and contemporary dance rhythms, hip hop, electronica and blends them into an intense but beautiful whole. The latest album Hamada shows the same mix, but there are more of the uptempo numbers and this bodes well for the live show at the Hare & Hounds. Nils is touring with drummer Audun Kleive and guitarist Stian Westerhus, the latter known for his high energy contributions to the British band Fraud when they played at Cheltenham and toured UK a couple of years ago. Both these players will undoubtedly take the music further in the direction of a strong rhythmic pulse and powerful solos.
All this should work really well in the excellent informal surroundings of the Hare & Hounds.
Tickets are £10 ( £8 concessions) and available on the door on the night or at www.theticketsellers.co.uk or 0844 870 0000 until 3pm today.
For further details see Nils Petter Molvaer’s website.
Supported by:
Tags: Audun Kleive, Birmingham Jazz, Capsule, ECM, Hamada, Hare & Hounds, Humcrush, Nils Petter Molvaer, Shula Records, Stian Westerhus, Tord Gustavsen, Universal
