Refuting the traditional
standards of the jazz, Scandinavian artists such as
Jan Garbarek, Nils Petter Molvær or Bugge Wesseltoft
have in the last thirty years, redefined the genre by
basing their music on textures and space rather than
beat and melody, bringing new sounds to a audience in
constant demand of challenges, with labels such as ECM,
Rune Grammofon or Jazzland providing them with the necessary
support. Following on their footsteps, a new breed of
musicians constantly rewriting the rules only to ditch
them again, considerably expanding the scope of their
repertoire in the process.
With seven dates in the UK, the Midnight Sun mini-festival
was giving the opportunity to experience the incandescence
of this innovative scene first hand, with DJ Strangefruit,
Arve Henriksen, Sidsel Endresen Trio and Supersilent.
After shows in Exeter, Bath, Belfast, Salisbury, Birmingham
and Liverpool, Midnight Sun landed in London for one
night only, at 93 Feet East for the last in the series
of gigs.
Welcoming the crowd to the music hall, Pål Nyhus,
aka Strangefruit was playing a mix of chill out pop
and classy instrumentals, including tracks from his
forthcoming Jazzland album. A long time collaborator
of Nils Petter Molvær, Nyhus also regularly broadcasts
on the Norwegian equivalent of BBC Radio 1. His blend
of downtempo atmospheric music offered the perfect introduction
to trumpeter Arve Henriksen’s first ever UK solo
set.
An active member of the Norwegian jazz scene, Henriksen
released his first solo album, Sakuteiki, to
critical acclaim last year on Rune Grammofon. If trumpet
is his instrument of predilection, he is also known
for his use of the shakuhatchi flute, a traditional
Japanese instrument used by Buddhist monks. After graduating
from the renowned Trondheim Conservatory Of Music, Henriksen
has played with a wide range of musicians including
Audun Kleive, Molvær, Edward Vesala or the Cikada
String Quartet. He is also a member of Iain Belamy’s
Food project. Approaching his instrument in a radically
new way, focussing on textures and unusual sonorities,
Henriksen has become a well respected musician. After
settling on his stool, Arve, alone on stage, started
improvising on a unique ten-to-twelve minute piece,
progressively building his composition by recording
melodic lines on a sampler, then using the loops created
to form the underlying structure of his performance,
continuously bringing more texture to his creation.
Tearing the silence, his music created a reflective
mood, only broken toward the end by the monotonal ring
of a mobile phone. Not one to get destabilised, Henriksen
concluded his piece by reciprocating the ring tone,
much to the crowd’s amusement.
After a short break, legendary singer Sidsel Endresen,
by far the most established artist performing on this
tour, walked on stage, accompanied by Christian Wallomrød
on keyboards and Jan Bang on electronics. First noticed
in the eighties as part of the Jon Eberson Group, with
whom she recorded five albums and won two Norwegian
Grammy Awards, she has recorded with many musicians,
but she is best known for her solo work and her on-going
collaboration with keyboard player and head of Jazzland
Records Bugge Wesseltoft. The pair recorded two albums
together in 1994, and another one, Out Here. In
There. was released last year and recently got
awarded yet another Norwegian Grammy. Wesseltoft was
also responsible for producing her superb first album
for Jazzland, Undertow, in 2000. Her husky
voice, placing her somewhere between Marianne Faithful
and Lorie Anderson, is an instrument of incredible versatility
and complexity. Singing mostly in English, she also
sometimes perfoms in her native language and proves
to be a very adventurous vocalist. Together with Wallomrød,
an accomplished pianist who has released records on
ECM and BP Records, and Bang, she gave the most emotionally
charged performance of the night. Kicking off with a
beautiful accapella, she lined up song after song, each
one morphing into the next, barely giving her time to
rest in between. After performing a couple of songs
taken from her two most recent albums, including a stunning
version of Undertow, she moved on to more experimental
territories, using a form of scat typical of her style,
first mixing it with the words “outside”,
“inside”, “downstairs”, “television”,
“upstairs”, “bed” to build a
surprising clear story, then leaving recognisable sounds
behind to merge her voice with statics loops created
by Bang for one of the most impressive sonic and vocal
experiences possible. Gently introducing a massive sub-bass
robotic pulse, Bang took over for a moment before Sidsel
resumed layering vocals on the mechanical beat. Returning
to more common territories, the Sidsel Endresen Trio
concluded their fifty-minute set under rapturous applauses.
During the necessary interval to prepare for Supersilent
to come on, Strangefruit took over the decks again,
bringing a more lively set to a crowd by then already
won over. As he faded his mix out, it was time for one
of the most successful Scandinavian bands to take their
place on stage. Arve Henriksen (trumpet), Jarle Vespestad
(drums) and Ståle Storløkken (keyboards)
originally formed a trio called Veslefrekk, before being
joined by Helge Sten, better known as Deathprod, on
synth and tape manipulation. The formation’s first
appearance was for a free improvisation during the Bergen
Jazz Festival in 1997, before recording their debut
triple album a year later. Known for barely speaking
to each other between recording sessions and live appearances,
the four have established new standards in improvised
music. All facing each other, they rarely exchanged
even a look during their hour-long performance, with
Vespestad keeping his eyes closed most of the time.
While Henriksen had returned to the position he occupied
for his solo performance, Storløkken was sitting
sideways with Deathprod turning his back on the audience.
Kicking off with the opening track of their latest album,
6, the band went on to build on the originally quiet
piece, with Vespestad slowing increasing the pace and
intensity of the piece, finally reaching an impressive
climax about eight minutes in, which the quartet subsequently
maintained for a good few more minutes. The second piece,
towering at well over fifteen minutes, was equally impressive
in the way each musician interacted with the rest of
the formation, able to both listen to each other’s
lines and contribute in equal measure. It is clear seeing
them live that there are no leaders in Supersilent.
Despite not communicating in obvious ways, the four
musicians have reached an incredible level of symbiosis,
and this reflects greatly on the impact of their music.
Sometimes changing direction without apparent notice,
they always remained perfectly in synch with each other
while bringing their own experimentations and interpretation
on board. After a more subdued and reflective improvisation
as their third piece, Supersilent concluded with an
explosive tribal session. The level of noise was by
then reaching phenomenal proportion, with one of Storløkken’s
feedback speakers deciding to literally add its own
touch to the piece twice in the space of two minutes,
leaving the keyboard player baffled by such arrogant
behaviour.
Bringing the evening and the UK tour to a close, Supersilent
proved to be an extremely challenging, yet exhilarating
and satisfying band, and together with Henriksen’s
solo performance, Strangefruit’s moody set and
Sidsel Endresen’s intense performance, Midnight
Sun was without a doubt an event to remember in years
to come. |
