The Thing with James Blood Ulmer at Moldejazz

Moldejazz 2015 is over and here is a video from one of the highlights from the festival:
The Thing with James Blood Ulmer!

As usual the weather was shitty and the music was great! The festival economy has been pretty strained the last years, and after this year we might see a change, since they have decided to end the outdoor concerts. These concerts were supposed to draw huge audiences that probably wouldn´t turn up for the regular jazz concerts and finance the other stuff happening (and perhaps get some to attend other concerts they didn´t mean to visit). They have had Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Antony, Leonard Cohen and Stevie Wonder (to name a few) but the tactics have failed these last years (due to weather, programming, higher costs and so on), and D´Angelo not showing up for his concert Friday last week due to disease (on extremely short notice) was probably what did it for the festival.

Perhaps we will get a more focused festival the years to come. Might be a good thing in the end.

This year I attended The Thing + Ulmer concert (what power!), Zanussi 5 (please check out this band!) , Trondheim Jazz Orchestra with Espen Reinertsen doing a "Forgaflingspop" project (sweet!) and artist in residence Mats Gustafsson´s tribute to the Norwegian skier Petter Northug (crazy!).

Moldejazz 2015

The Moldejazz 2015 festival is happening 13 - 18 July.

Today we learnt that Mats Gustafsson is this year´s artist in residence, and his choices are:
Fire! Orchestra, Gustafsson & Stetson, The Thing & James Blood Ulmer (!), Petter Northug Tribute Unit - New Instruments in Jazz and Sport (Northug is a master Norwegian skier famous for teasing the Swedes) and the early morning concert Break of Day in Molde with Barry Guy, Maya Homburger, Mats Gustafsson, Erik Carlsson and Anders Nyqvist.

And check out the rest of the program too, with D´Angelo, Jack De Johnette - Made in Chicago, Sly & Robbie with Nils Petter Molvær, Møster!, Zanussi 5 and lots of others!

Pretty good?

December Video Festival 2014

- Evan Parker, Peter Evans, Charles Evans @ The Stone 9-10-14
- Frode Gjerstad Trio (Gjerstad, Strøm, Nilssen-Love) @ Inage Candy 24 May 2014
- Supersilent @ Dokkhuset (Trondheim) 2014-11-17
- The Thing & Ken Vandermark @ Music Unlimited Wels, Austria, 2014-11-08
- Paal Nilssen-Love, Jim O'Rourke, Lasse Marhaug @ Inage Candy 19 January 2013
- Alan Silva, Mette Rasmussen, Ståle Liavik Solberg @ Dome of Visions, Copenhagen, October 23rd, 2014
- George Russell and the Big Bang Band of 1967 @ Circus in Stockholm (1), !Sweden
What an intro! What a gang! Jump to next video after 29 min.!
- George Russell and the Big Bang Band of 1967 @ Circus in Stockholm (2), Sweden
- Vashti Bunyan & Gareth Dickson @ Jazzhouse, Copenhagen, 18 November, 2014
- Charles Bradley in the backyard of Daptone's House of Soul, featuring Menahan Street Band
- Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings - "White Christmas"

The Thing - Call the Police

It´s Saturday evening, and here they come, The Thing playing the zydeco tune "Call the police" at DOM Cultural Centre (Moscow) on 7 November 2014.

And if you don´t know how to move your body to this one, read "How to Do the Zydeco Dance" over at eHow.

Action Jazz, Copenhagen

It is 31 October and halloween folks, and I have had two big pieces of pumpkin pie with my tea to celebrate.

It is also the last night of Paal Nilssen-Love´s series "Action Jazz" at Jazzhouse, Copenhagen.

We already had a post on Digital Primitives from "Action Jazz" and turns up the volume on a night like this, with The Thing and PNL Large Unit. See more videos from the Jazzhouse on Jazz Peter´s YouTube.

The Thing at Harpa, Reykjavik

The Thing at Harpa, Reykjavik, 20 August 2014.

It says part 1 on YouTube, so we better wait for more from Iceland and Paal Nilssen-Love, Mats Gustafsson and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.

Added 2 September:
And here is Part 2, a version ov John Coltrane´s "India".

The Thing at La Dynamo France, Feb. 2014

The Thing - Mediawave, May 2 2014

Unfortunately I missed this spring´s The Thing concert in Bergen, and I missed their concert at Blå in Oslo this week, not being able to attend even if I was near by.

Here at least we get a short video from the Mediawave International Film and Music Gathering in Fort Monostor, Hungary, 29 April - 3 May

The trio:
Mats Gustafsson - bass saxophone
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - bass guitar
Paal Nilssen-Love - drums

And if you want to hear them at the club Blå in Oslo, you may listen to (as a lot of you know of course) the album "Live At Blå!", released in 2005, recorded in 2003.

The Thing Live at Bergen Jazzforum February 2014

Even if I never tire of The Thing´s energetic music (both on records and live!), I couldn´t make it to the concert at Bergen Jazzforum yesterday (21 February 2104).

Thanks to Egil Andersen´s Youtube account we may at least enjoy 13 minutes of the concert (fades out at the end there, unfortunately, but still!).

The Thing: Paal Nilssen-Love (dr), Mats Gustafsson (sax) and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b).

The Thing XXL live at Jazz em Agosto 2013

Check out The Thing XXL live at Jazz em Agosto (Portugal) 2013, playing "India".

Mats Gustafsson - Sax
Peter Evans - Trumpet
Mats Äleklint - Trombone
Terrie Ex - Guitar
Jim Baker - Keyboards
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - Bass
Paal Nilssen-Love - Drums

The Thing & Joe McPhee in Brazil

The Thing & Joe McPhee dedicated Mongezi Feza´s beautiful "You Ain't Gonna Know Me 'Cos You Think You Know Me" to Nelson Mandela, when they played in Santos, Brazil (27 June 2013) (YouTube).

The Thing & Otomo Yoshihide

Ah! Watch and listen to The Thing with Otomo Yoshihide, in this video from Austria in 2010!

Otomo Yoshihide is touring with Paal Nilssen-Love these days, and here is (part of?) the route they will follow (taken from PNLs web site):

02/05/2013

Yoshihide/Nilssen-Love

Taxitakeaway/Oslo/NO


03/05/2013

Yoshihide/Nilssen-Love

Bergen Kjøtt/Bergen/NO


04/05/2013

Otomo Yoshihide/Paal Nilssen-Love

Copenhagen Jazzhouse/Copenhagen/Denmark


A few days later Yoshihide will rule Cafe Oto.

Neneh Cherry & The Thing ''A Tribute to Don Cherry''

I have posted several clips from this one earlier in the blog, but here is the full "A Tribute to Don Cherry" concert with Neneh Cherry & The Thing, from Heineken Jazzaldia 2012!

Track list from YouTube:

1. Dream Baby Dream (A. Vega & M. Rev)
2. Golden Heart (D. Cherry)
3. Sudden Moment (M. Gustafsson)
4. Cashback (N. Cherry)
5. Dirt (J. Osterberg, R. Asheton, S. Asheton, D. Alexander)
6. Accordion (D. Dumile & O. Jackson)
7. Call the Police (S. McDee)
8. Wrap your Troubles in Dreams (H. Barris)

The Thing with Thurston Moore @ Cafe Oto 10.2.13

Holy smokes!

The Cherry Thing Remixes

I have not bought my copy of Neneh Cherry & The Thing: "The Cherry Thing Remixes" (Smalltown 2012, release 12 November) yet, but the stuff on SoundCloud sound good.

Any remix experts out there, who care to share their views?

Here is a list of all the tracks, and from the top in this blog post, you may listen to track number 1,5,2,3 and 6:

01 What Reason Could I Give (Kim Hiorthøy remix)
02 Dream Baby Dream (Four Tet remix)
03 Accordion (Hortlax Cobra remix)
04 What Reason Could I Give (Carmen Villain remix)
05 Accordion (Jim O’Rourke remix)
06 Cashback (Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas remix)
07 Sudden Moment (Merzbow remix)
08 Golden Heart (Nymph remix)
09 Dirt (Kurzmann remix)
10 Golden Heart (Poole Blount Legacy Dub) (Lasse Marhaug remix)

A November Festival

- Stian Westerhus - Birmingham 2012.
- Maja S.K. Ratkje and Ikue Mori - LUFF 2012.
- Evan Parker, Peter Evans and Okkyung Lee - Unlimited, Wels 2012.
- Fred Frith, Jordan Glenn and Jason Hoopes - Berkeley Arts Fest 2012.
- The Thing - Blue Tomato 2012.
- Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Konfrontationen 2012.
- Nils Bech - Henie Onstad Kunstsenter 2012.

Neneh Cerry & The Thing remixes

Smalltown posted two remixes from the Neneh Cherry & The Thing album on Soundcloud.
Working on a full remix album?

First one out here is Lindstrøm and Prince Thomas with their remix of "Cashback", followed by Kim Hiorthøy´s "What Reason Could I Give".





Added 22 September:
A remix EP is on the way! See Pitchfork, and here is the track list

01 What Reason Could I Give (Kim Hiorthøy remix)
02 Dream Baby Dream (Four Tet remix)
03 Accordion (Hortlax Cobra remix)
04 What Reason Could I Give (Carmen Villain remix)
05 Accordion (Jim O'Rourke remix)
06 Cashback (Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas remix)
07 Sudden Moment (Merzbow remix)
08 Golden Heart (Nymph remix)
09 Dirt (Kurzmann remix)
10 Golden Heart (Poole Blount Legacy Dub) (Lasse Marhaug remix)

Neneh Cherry & The Thing "A Tribute to Don Cherry"

Please check out Neneh Cherry & The Thing at the 47th Heineken Jazzaldia - Festival de Jazz de San Sebastián 2012!

And don´t forget "The Cherry Thing" (Smalltown Supersound 2012).

Metal!

The Thing is Paal Nilssen-Love (dr), Mats Gustafsson (sax) and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b). You all knew that. Most of you also know this is one of the toughest trios around, but have you heard their new double vinyl on No Business, with Barry Guy (b)?

It was released some months ago, and only 600 copies are pressed, so just get one as soon as possible. Seems like there is no digital release.

How many people buy albums like this? 600 copies might not be that few, or what do you think? "Limited edition" releases often make me shop, but then I see the same records for sale several years later (still no regrets from me!).

The album is called "Metal!", and the tracks (except a cover of Lightning Bolt´s "Ride the sky") are named after metals, and are organized after rising atomic numbers, from Lanthanum (track one) (57) to Dysprosium (66).

I have probably mentioned this several times, but I really like The Thing when they go full speed, and we get that, but also lots of more relaxed improv (if "relaxed" may be used about The Thing?).
My favorites are two duo improvisations (the whole of side 2) with Barry Guy and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten ("Praseodymium"), and Mats Gustafsson and Paal Nilssen-Love ("Neodymium").

The recording was done in Saint Catherine´s Church in Vilnius, and please watch the two videos below.
You might also benefit from a close study of The Perioddc Table, for a full understanding of this music.

Moldejazz 2012 - Friday

Things you may experience on a Friday at Moldejazz:

- Jazz historian Bjørn Stendahl had invited Evan Parker and Alexander von Schlippenbach to talk about European Free Jazz at the Festival Academy. Avantgarde, free jazz, creative music, progressive jazz, call it whatever you like, these guys have been there, and seemed to enjoy talking about it too!

- Lasse Marhaug turned the volume up at visual artist Kjell Bjørgeengen´s festival exhibition, also bringing some more action to the screens. Good stuff!

- Alexander von Schlippenbach (p), Paul Lovens (dr) and Evan Parker (sax) were in a bit of hurry, and had to finish their trio concert after 50 minutes, because two of them had a plane to catch.
Seeing Evan Parker and Paul Lovens several times this week, has been the festival highlight for me.

And since it was Friday night, i was allowed to stay out after midnight to see Neneh Cherry and The Thing! Even if the sound was not perfect from the word go, at least where I was hiding (close to one of the walls), things got much better (or I was relaxing more in the club atmosphere?) and the show was great (music, sound, lights etc)!
My back was hurting like hell after standing on my feet for almost two hours, but that did not feel too bad after all, when I heard that the poor people of the band had to get on a night ferry after the concert, to reach their venue in Austria in time for the Saturday concert! What happened to stars and posh parties?

"Fire Flate" uploaded a video from the Schlippenbach/Lovens/Parker concert. More videos here.