By Ken Pickering, Coastal Jazz's Artistic Director
Part Three: Ken Pickering goes to Molde Jazz (Norway)Where were we? Artistic Director on the road or in the air to somewhere - oh yeah! Here’s where we left off. A hellish day of travel but Rainbow and I finally arrive in Norway. Our final flight from Oslo to Molde was packed with musicians and friends – In the Country, Larry Appelbaum, Eivind Aarset and more! New day, new country, new festival - jet lag anyone?
Great view from Reknes Park - overlooking Molde, the fjords and islands
Molde is one of the world’s truly gorgeous towns and within that town resides one of my favourite festivals. Not only does the town itself remind me an awful lot of Vancouver (ocean, mountains, magnificent scenery and cleaner air than we’ve got), the programming aesthetic and over arching vision is very much sympatico with the VIJF.
Tone Martinson and Jan Ole Otnaes (head chef of Molde Jazz)
Sister cities, partners in crime, that’s Molde! One of my favourite people and a fellow (IJFO member) that I consider to be one of my best friends on the scene, Festival Director Jan Ole Otnaes is the mastermind and creative sorcerer behind Molde Jazz and he’s clearly done a fantastic job in revitalizing one of the world’s oldest festivals since he took the reins in the early 2000’s. The program exudes vitality and creativity, and while Otnaes certainly has a passion for his work he always has a firm hand on the wheel.
Jan Ole Otnaes and his niece Victoria (listening to John Gilbreath!)
It’s well known (especially by music fans) that Norway has become a very wealthy country in the past 50 years (Northsea oil). Wait a sec – that coincides with the festival’s 50th anniversary that we were all there to celebrate – must be a link! Seriously; and more importantly this Nordic powerhouse continues to show strong support for all forms of cultural endeavours, both within the country and in export. With a tiny population of 5 million Norway is blessed with an incredibly deep pool of talent in the contemporary jazz/improv/indie worlds (great education programs).
Downtown Molde in the rain
And I must say the quality of venues available in this small town (pop 25,000 ) are enough to make a native Vancouverite mighty jealous. Well we won’t dwell on that point, given the massive cuts and disrespect for the arts currently being exhibited by our own BC provincial (emphasis) government. Norway can look very attractive. And did I mention the clean air (yes you did) and the incredible light during the day (except if it’s raining which it did for 4 days straight) that last until midnight and comes up again around 4am; making for some very late night hangs. The light is energizing and the Norwegians take full advantage of that – and often seem to rock around the clock with impunity! They’ve got all winter to hibernate.
A groovy hotel (not the one I was in!) that also featured a beautiful soft seat theatre and one of the nicest bars / views. Weather was still gray at this point. A 12,000 seat soccer stadium was 100 yards from this location! Heard Ketil Bjornstad there (with Marilyn Mazur, Andy Sheppard, Eivind Aarset etc).
The festival kicked into gear on July 19th and continued to July 24th. Upon arrival we quickly got booked into our hotel rooms, scored our festival passes, grabbed a quick meal and headed out for the “In the Country” concert. Beautiful as always, the luscious trio (Morten Qvenild, Roger Arntzen and Pal Hausken) were dreamy (performing music from their 1st two albums on Rune Gramophon), so much so that we almost floated away. The jet lag had taken over and conquered.
Andrea Lorena, Magnus Broo and Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten
The next day we were on the case and checking out the scene. Lots of friends and colleagues were in attendance – John Gilbreath (Earshot Jazz / Seattle), Peter Margasak (DB / Chicago), Minna Huuskonen (Helsinki Festival), Madli Liis Parts (Tallin, Estonia), Jan Granlie, Lars Mossefin, Andrea Lorena (in Nickelsdorf too!), Eric Addeo and many more plus tons of musicians – Ken Vandermark, Ingebrigt, Ab Baars, Ig Henneman, Tony Malaby, Havard Wik - great scene. Molde even has a daily jazz newspaper published under the watchful eye of Ann Iren Odeby.
Ann Iren Odeby and the daily jazz newspaper crew
Nils Petter Molvaer was artist in residence and performed numerous times throughout the festival, including a Saturday morning 7am concert “Break of Day in Molde” at Reknes Park (15 minute walk up the hill) that I actually managed to attend on 2 hours sleep, yet the standout Molvaer gig for me was on the final evening at the Molde Domkirke (church) with Norwegian traditional folk singer Sondre Bratland (amazing), Adam Rudolph (perc) and Eivind Aarset (guit). It was nice to accompany Jan Ole’s niece Victoria Liedbergius to the church and to walk back home with Jan Ole’s mother in tow! Felt like family for sure.
Nils Petter Molvaer @ 7am on Saturday morning - Break of Dawn in Molde - where did all these people come from and how did I manage to get up so early? - at least the cappuccino was waiting for me at 7:45 at our local coffee bar.
Other standout concerts included: the duet of Ig Henneman and Ab Baars (hard edged modern chamber duo for strings / reeds), IPA (killing post Ornette/Don Cherry vibe and one of my favourite concerts) with Magnus Broo, Atle Nymo, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten and Hadon Mjaset Johansen at the afternoon seris – Reknes – a venue that reminds me of a turn of the century school auditorium/lunch room. Heard that Paal and Brotz tore it up there too!
Ig Henneman
Ab Baars strikes a pose at the coolest hotel bar
Paal Nilssen-Love heads down the street to his solo gig at the gallery where is father Terri is showing his art (see below).
The Core tore it up with great fiery post bop that was elevated by saxophonist Kjetil Moster who has rejoined the band. This cat is a monster. A highly anticipated concert by Terje Rypdal, Miroslav Rypdal and Gerald Cleaver never really caught fire. The music seemed lack luster and disjointed although Cleaver as always sounded great but as a trio they couldn’t find the ignition key.
Victoria Liedbergius and Eric Addeo at 4 am - see - it's getting light out!
Rainbow caught Hairy Bones agai at the Kulturhuset and reported that it was easily the equal of their burning Nickelsdorf gig. There was a lot on offer – Sonny Rollins, Jeff Beck, Herbie Hancock were some of the high profile events, while acts such as Sidsel Endresen and Stian Westerhus performed an intricate duo at the small theatre called, Forum. Tony Malaby’s Palomo Recio (with Nasheet Waits, Eivind Opsvik and Ben Monder) had a great set there as well. Other notable shows included Gretchen Parlato, Aki Takase / Silke Eberhard (performing music from their Intakt disc), a great set from a brand new trio with Ken Vandermark, Chad Taylor and Havard Wiik.
Ken Vandermark and Chad Taylor (Havard Wiik missing ..to the left of KV)
It’s never less than fascinating to attend a seriously programmed festival such as Molde. A beautiful location, great staff, hotels close to the venues and an atmosphere that kept a intoxicating high energy buzz in the air for the entire week. We were a little bit sad that the festival was coming to an end, but hey, exhaustion was kicking in. It was time and Vancouver was calling! (check the airport departure photo!)
Minna Huuskonen (of Helsinki Festival) at 5am
At the airport on Sunday morning with: Kim Chung-Nam (South Korea), John Gilbreath (Earshot/Seattle), Rune Kristoferson (Rune Grammofon) and Peter Margasak (Chicago)
(All photography by: Ken Pickering)
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