Frode Gjerstad, Paal Nilssen-Love
Gromka
Label: NotTwo Records, 2010
Catalog No: MW 839-2
Format: CD
Tracks:
1. Svirel [32:24]
2. Klopotec [09:29]
3. Ragija [25:19]
Line-up:
Frode Gjerstad - Alto saxophone, Bass & Bb Clarinet
Paal Nilssen-Love - Drums
Recorded:
live on June 10th and 11th 2008 at Klub Gromka, Lubljana
About:
FRODE GJERSTAD was born in Stavanger, Norway, 24-03-1948. He started
trying to play improvised music as a trumpeter in 1968. When he moved to Lund in
Sweden (1971 to 1975) he got a chance to meet, talk and play with musicians
interested in this music. He had at that time started playing tenor saxophone
(1969). After he came back to Stavanger in 1975 he started collaborating with
keyboardist Eivin One Pedersen. Together, they explored many different aspects
of improvised music, as a duo or with others, but it was not until 1981, when
they first played with John Stevens, that he had a real chance to feel what a
dedicated musicians can do to the music-making. At the early stage of his
career, he choose mainly to play with international musicians because there was
no tradition in Norway for the free music. However, after the club Blå opened in
Oslo in 1996, a good number of younger musicians are now picking up on the
music.
His relationship with British drummer, John Stevens which started in -81 and
lasted up until his death in -94, was of great importance both musically as well
as on a personal level. Through Stevens, he was introduced to some of the finest
British improvisers and got to know their way of playing. Together, they led the
trio “Detail” starting with Johnny Dyani on bass. And after Johnny died in -86,
with Kent Carter. He has also been active, running a larger group of mostly
Norwegian musicians, the Circulasione Totale Orchestra. He started the group
using electric instruments and modern rock-oriented rhythms. He has used the
band to present his own compositions as well as a workshop and a place for young
people to get to know free music. The band presented a commissioned work at the
Molde Festival in -89 with a 13 man band combining free improvisations,
compositions as well as rapping and scratching.(Three horns, three bassists,
three drummers, accordeon, guitar a rapper and a DJ). The Circulasione Totale
Orchestra is a powerful ever-changing band. But it´s not easy to keep such a big
group together. In 1998 he decided to keep the core of the band which at that
time was Paal Nilssen-Love on drums and Øyvind Storesund on bass and try to
develop that sound. It became Frode Gjerstad Trio. So far the trio has toured
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Polen, Italy, Austria, Portugal, England, Canada and
the United States.
He has received several grants from various foundations and has been very active
in the Norwegian Jazzmusicians Federation as well as in the committee for the
Norwegian Contemporary Music Federation. Voted Jazz Musician of the Year in
Norway, 1997. Part of the price was a concert where he could freely choose which
musicians to use. This was the first meeting with Hamid Drake and William
Parker. The concert became a tour of Scandinavia in -97 and the US in 2000. US
Pianist Borah Bergman has also been important to Frode. They first met in -94
and have played as a duo and also as trio with Evan Parker and later Peter
Brøtzmann. Borah has been a great inspiration and a challenge over the years!
English bassist Nicholas Stephens first played with Frode in 1984. He played
electric bass at the time, but it was not until after John Stevens died in 1994
that they started working together as “Calling Signals”. First with a tour of
England in 1995 with Paul Rutherford and Terje Isungset. And in 1996 with Louis
Moholo and Danish guitarist, Hasse Poulsen. The latest version of the group has
been with accordionist Eivin One Pederesen and Paal Nilssen-Love or Tony Marsh
on drums. Frode also met and worked with US percussionist Kevin Norton in 2004
and they have found a common ground. They have a trio with Nicholas Stephens:
Instinctual Eye.
Electronic music started to make an impact when he met Lasse Marhaug. They have
played some concerts together and made some recordings. Lasses sounds have
opened up a whole new territory of possibilities and came at a time when Frode
started playing clarinets. A very fruitful combination! Another side of the
electronic thing was the group Ultralyd which was Frodes idea: to bring in a
loud powerful electric bass with drums, guitar and reeds. After about a year, he
left the band because the sound level was unbearable for the old man.! And he
left it to the youngsters to decide how loud the band should be. Still, he has
continued playing with Morten, Anders and Kjetil in other projects. His latest
project is a quartet with US reed-man Sabir Mateen, Paal Nilssen-Love and Danish
electric bassist, Peter Friis-Nielsen.
*****
PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE was born in Molde, Norway, Dec 24. 1974, and raised
at a jazz club in Stavanger, run by his parents. It was natural to choose his
fathers drums as his instrument and jazz as his work. From 1990 on he took
actively part in the jazz milieu in Stavanger and joined bands with established
musicians such as trumpeter Didrik Ingvaldsen and saxophonist Frode Gjerstad. In
many ways, these collaborations were essential as they pointed out the
directions for Paal’s later musical development and career. During his studies
at the Jazz dept at the University in Trondheim, where the first self initiated
bands were established, things developed really fast – and Paal was nationally
acknowledged at the age of 20. The forming of the quartet Element in 1993 in
many ways represented the start of a new phase in Paal’s musical life. Element
musically became a platform for several other groups with bassist Flaten and
pianist Wiik, and lead to collaborations with Iain Ballamy and Chris Potter,
amongst others. Paal moved to Oslo in 1996, where he joined and/or took part in
the forming of bands like Vindaloo, SAN, Håkon Kornstad Tio, The Quintet and
Frode Gjerstad Trio. He later on got more into self initiated projects and
collaborations with Swedish musicians, such as pianist Sten Sandell and
saxophonist Mats Gustafsson.
Paal played his first solo concert in 1999, and since then the solo concept has
been an important part of his work: “Everyone should try doing some solo work,
just to feel who you really are and what gets you going”. His solo album “Sticks
and stones” was put out in 2001 on SOFA Rec. Being active in several bands at
the same time has always been Paal’s deliberate working method. He is constantly
conscious about the projects he is in, as his participation in each and one of
them is fully dedicated. Playing is not about getting from start to goal, but
rather being in an everlasting process, a continuous movement where each new
piece of music performed is a prolongation of the latest. Hence, keeping focused
and concentrating all energy around what’s happening there and then is of
greatest importance – as is the freedom in the music, the ability of being free
within the expression.
All bands, although various styles and musical versatility in general, represent
important pieces that make up a total, and all bands are formed or joined with a
clear vision. Today Paal’s portfolio includes Atomic, School Days, The Thing,
Frode Gjerstad Trio, Sten Sandell Trio, Scorch Trio, Territory Band, FME, and
various duo projects such as with reedmen Ken Vandermark, John Butcher, Mats
Gustafsson, organist Nils Henrik Asheim and noise wizard Lasse Marhaug. And not
to forget the recently joined Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet.
Before turning 30 Paal has stated his position as one of the most profiled
drummers in Europe today, he has made numberless performances at festivals and
clubs in Europe and USA and participated on more than 50 recordings. He runs his
own annual festival – All Ears – for improvised music in Oslo, which is an
important part of his musical life, and he plans to start his own recording
label for vinyl productions. Like Pat Metheny put it in 2002, after having
played with Paal at Molde International Jazz festival: “He is simply one of the
best new musicians I’ve heard during the latest years!” And after having heard
Paal in 9 different settings at the same festival, Down Beat reporter Dan
Quelette stated: “His week at Molde proved a revelation: Nilssen-Love is one of
the most innovative, dynamic and versatile drummers in jazz!”
Reviews:
This duo recording with fellow-countryman and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, was
recorded a year ago at Klub Gromka in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Both musicians had
already toured before this performance and that can be heard. the interaction is
quite fun to listen to, rapid, telepathic even at moments, which is even clearer
in an environment where everything is left to in-the-moment decisions. Gjerstad
does fall back quite a lot on the higher registers, making music like excited
birds in the trees, as said before. As Gjerstad describes it himself on his
blog, about this performance : "Since we last played as a duo which was in
August last year in the US where we played 13 gigs, I think the music has become
more focused and freer. I have to admit that I think this has to do with the
fact that I have been practising a bit more than before and therefor feel more
relaxed when playing….". (freejazz-stef.blogspot)
*****
It is hard to choose which duo partner of drummer Paal Nilssen-Love to favor
over another, as there are simply so many to pick from. There are his
collaborations with Ken Vandermark, heard on their Chicago Volume and Milwaukee
Volume (Smalltown Superjazz, 2009); the fine Peter Brotzmann session, Woodcuts
((Smalltown Superjazz, 2010); Mats Gustafsson’s Splatter (Smalltown Superjazz,
2007); or, a personal favorite, Joe McPhee’s Tomorrow Came Today (Smalltown
Superjazz, 2008). Nilssen-Love can also be heard with Magnus Broo, Nils
Henrik Asheim, John Butcher, Lasse Marhaug, Anders Hana, and, perhaps his
longest sustained partner, multi-reedist Frode Gjerstad. The two have been
collaborating for nearly 20 years in the Circulasione Totale Orchestra, the
longstanding Gjerstad trio with bassist Øyvind Storesund, and in duo
performance. The two Norwegian players speak the same language: free jazz.
This date—a live session from Club Gromka in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in June
2008—delivers a torrent of forcefulness and passion which will not be surprising
to their followers. As a drummer, Nilssen-Love eschews the jazz canon for
a more disheveled pulse. He’s like a dinner guest that comes wearing a tuxedo
with his shirt untucked and three days growth of beard. His beats are dynamic,
yet asymmetrical. Paired with Gjerstad the sound is animated and buzzing.
Gjerstad favors the upper registers here—even on his bass clarinet which, at
times, is difficult to distinguish from his alto saxophone. With this music, the
themes are dynamism and passion, and the two charm the crowd with their constant
mutable nature. Gjerstad feels no need to tether Nilssen-Love’s playing to the
ground. And likewise, the drummer responds to Gjerstad with his jumbled flurry
of sticks and beat. This is music that grips by the throat from the first note.
(Mark Corroto)