In 1996, Bugge Wesseltoft founded the Jazzland record label to launch his New Conception of Jazz, a project he had been working on for the previous three years. Little did he know that when he released his album of the same name it would notch up huge sales in the European jazz underground, help launch Norwegian Nu-Jazz or that Jazzland would develop into one of the key independent jazz labels in Europe with a roster of artists that today include some of the most exciting musicians on the Norwegian jazz scene.
So in 2006, he understandably wanted to do something special to celebrate the label’s 10th anniversary. But what? Typically he was not much interested in celebrating the past, despite the label's considerable achievements during its first decade, but was more interested in celebrating the present. So he came up with the idea of taking some key Jazzland artists out on the road.
Dubbed the Jazzland Community, the idea was to give audiences a taste of what the label was up to in the here and now. More particularly, Bugge wanted audiences in Norway to hear where the label was doing because despite Jazzland artists gaining a worldwide following (thanks to the label’s association with record giant Universal), they had not played as often as they would have liked in their homeland.
"I wanted to do several concerts in Norway," recalls Bugge. "In the end we played 20-25 concerts, which was great. The tour worked really well, it felt good, we felt everyone had a chance to do their thing, and also the stuff we did at the end of every concert [when the everyone comes on stage to jam] sounded really good."
Such was the success of the concerts and the positive feedback from them that it didn’t seem right to wind the Jazzland Community project up after just one tour. So it was quickly decided to go out on the road more often and plans were put in hand for further tours.
Jazzland Community: Live, is taken from their European tour later in 2006, with most of the album recorded live at Hamburg's Fabrik club. "The tour was going really well, good crowds and they were really into the music, so we decided to do a live album," continues Bugge. "The album is pretty much like the concerts, where I start out doing something by myself - I've been doing solo more and more since I gave up "New Conception..." and I'm working on a solo album. I just start to play and try to work as improvised as possible, trying to do everything from scratch. Then Eivind [Aarset] comes on, playing music from his latest album, sounds really great I think, as it always does with him.
Endless Summer! Hi. back from an endless summer:) Had some superb moments traveling around. New York was among the highlights. Did four ... by Bugge Readmore...
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All About Jazz
Read top quality reviews of Jazzland and other releases here
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SONIC UNIVERSE
"Transcending the world of
jazz with eclectic, avant-garde takes on tradition"
This webcast features a great eclectic mix of music, and includes regular appearances by your favourite Jazzland artists, not only in the recordings you already know, but in unreleased concert recordings as well. You can also find many Jazzland associates and collaborators in their work and projects for other great labels such as Smalltown SuperSound and Rune Grammofon.
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Aarset-Kornstad Tour Germany & Switzerland
Two of the most exciting musicians in the Norwegian jazz scene embark on a double bill tour! Håkon Kornstad opens each night with his saxophones and loop machines, presenting the jazz saxophone in a hauntingly new way. Eivind Aarset’s band will follow with music from his latest album, Sonic Codex. Discover the new sounds of the electric jazz guitar in 2008! Finally, Kornstad and Aarset’s band join forces on stage, meshing their unique styles into an untraditional finale.
Eivind Aarset is one of Norway's most in-demand guitar players. He’s a regular member of Nils Petter Molvaer's group, and also appears on the trumpeter's landmark albums Khmerand Solid Ether, which introduced the sound of the Norwegian jazz underground to Europe. Eivind has performed on over 150 albums - with musicians as diverse as Bill Laswell, Brian Eno, Mike Mainieri, Jon Hassell, Abraham Laboriel, Marilyn Mazur and Jan Garbarek.
In 1998 he released his debut album Electronique Noire, hailed as "One of the best post Miles electric jazz albums" by none other than the The New York Times. (Jazz Times, America's leading jazz magazine, and the UK's Jazzwise also raved.) 2007 saw the release of his latest album, Sonic Codex, to further critical acclaim. "Sonic Codex represents some significant changes for a Norwegian artist who has become the most important guitarist to emerge from Scandinavia since Terje Rypdal in the early 1970s," wrote AllAboutJazz.
After a decade of experimentation, collaboration and recording in groups like Kornstad Trio, Wibutee, Bugge Wesseltoft's New Conceptions of Jazz and Anja Garbarek bands, Håkon Kornstad has finally emerged with his first fully-fledged solo endeavor, Single Engine (Jazzland, 2007).
Kornstad received extensive praise for his range of expressive moods and soundscapes for tenor sax, and for his bold combinations of percussive beats and sweetly melodic sounds. His adventurous explorations on the sax are tempered with a well-honed musicality, communicating and never excluding those listeners seeking to discover new territories of sonic expression. Says Down Beat about his live performance in Moers, 2008:"Another festival fave was young Norwegian saxophonist Håkon Kornstad, who took up where Jan Garbarek left off, presenting a ravishing solo set." And AllAboutJazz on his Punkt 2008 solo performance: "Kornstad - now 31 years old - has, in the space of a few short years, emerged as one of the most exciting young saxophonists, not just on the Norwegian scene, but on any scene."
