George Russell R.I.P.

Goerge Russell, the influential and very innovative jazz composer and theoretician behind such album classics as Ezz-Thetic, passed away earlier this week. More from jazz.com here, and Ben Ratliff of the New York Times here.

Edit: More thoughts from Darcy James Argue and Frank Kaplan.

Double Nickels 25th anniversary

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of my favorite albums of all time together with Mike Watt, Richard Hell, and Michael T. Fournier seems like a decent way to spend the evening to me. Too bad I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic to have any chance of joining in on the fun.

George Orwell got the year wrong, pt.1

Seems like me and Matos are on the same page.

Oh, yes!

Walter Cronkite, R.I.P

From the New York Times

It may seem strange to you that someone growing up in Norway would care a great deal about this, since his heyday was way before we had access to American TV, but even long before I started my North American studies Cronkite's voice and image was linked to several of the most notable events in US history (no doubt through documentaries aired over here) - I rarely think or read about the assasination of JFK, say, without picturung Cronkite announcing it on TV.

MoldeJazz '09, final pt.

Managed to see both Leonard Cohen and Mario Pavone Double Tenor Quintet yestereday, though as expected, I had to leave the Canadian early.

What to say about Cohen? Sound impeccable, very solid band (especially his Catalan classical guitar player and his bassist, their names escape me), most of his good songs done exquicitely, my favorites yesterday being "The Future" and "Democracy", perhaps because they have more groove the most of his other material and work a bit better in such a stadium context where the quieter moments can fizz out. "Dance Me to the End Of Love", "Ain't No Cure for Love" and "Tower of Song" were good too. Left just after the second set started.

Mario Pavone's men had played for almost half an hour when I arrived. Have to say I'm begining to like Pavone's music a lot. Although he has a foot in the loft swing/free bop tradition, his albums can vary a great deal in terms of attitude, tempo, sound and tone (Deez to Blues, for example, due to the addition of tuba and violin). He is also a solid, original but unflashy (and I mean that in a positive sense) bassist. His Double Tenor Ensemble reminds a bit of Reggie Workman's albums from the mid '90s, though this band adds a piano player in the mix, Peter Madsen. The rest of the group is Tony Malaby and Jimmy Greene on tenor and soprano saxophones (both) and Gerald Cleaver on drums. I like Green's playing in this band, he adds a certain funkiness to the rest of the bands more '60s post-coltrane vibe. Great gig to end my stay at this years MoldeJazz.

MoldeJazz '09, pt.3

Heard Leonard Cohen played 3 hours yesterday, meaning I'll miss Mario Pavone at 20.30 unless Leo cuts it short or I leave early, the latter more likely to happen.

Saw Fanfare Ciocarlia last night. Magnifique!

MoldeJazz '09 - Cecil Taylor, Frode Gjerstad & Han Bennik

Cecil Taylor played a solo gig on Wednesday evening. He was in good form, playing with great dynamism and verve, mostly concentrating on his percussive and rhtyhmically complex music, intercut by sudden quietude and pianissimo. I've heard it said that Taylor's so original that his style has yet to be picked up by younger musicians, but I dare say I hear some of his touch in the work of Vijay Iyer with Fieldwork, especially when it comes to the percussive elements, 'though the playing of Tyshawn Sorey in that same group may have influenced me in making that statement.



Multi reed player (he played clarinet, bass clarinet and alto today) Frode Gjerstad and Dutch drummer, comedian and contorionist (well, not really) Han Bennikk played a fun gig earlier today. Gjerstad is one of the country's best improvisational sax players (I'm quite fond of his work with William Parker and Hamid Drake). Han Bennik is nothing if not inventive - one of his more "normal" techniques involves using his foot to "mute" the drum skin - but that wouldn't matter unless he also had chops, which he does. His ability to go from all over the place to find forceful grooves is very enjoyable. He also is notorious for his antics, using found objects as percussion, which makes a musical experience with him humorous as well. But the antics sometimes distract from the music itself as the audience chuckle, and occasionaly today Gjerstad appeared to be overshadowed by Bennik. Most of the time, though, they played very well and make highly interesting music together. Oh, and Bennik dropped a cymbal on Gjerstad's foot. Ouch!

Molde Jazz '09

Apologies for the lack of updates. Been on the road for a while with only occasional internet access.

Missed the first two days of this years' Molde Jazz, 'though the only two gigs I may have attended are Atomic (seen them many times, so no big miss) and Thomasz Stanko. Will go and watch Frode Gjerstad and Han Bennik, plus possibly Supersilent and Fanfare Ciocarlia tomorrow. Got tickets for Leonard Cohen and Mario Pavone Double Tenor Quintet on Friday.

Just returned from a Cecil Taylor solo gig. Very enjoyable, probably better than the previous time I saw him. May write a few more words on that tomorrow. Plus, I need to step up the "music of the week" thingy.