THE ETERNAL TALENT SCOUT

Text and photo: Irene Mjøseng, Volunteer in KJF

THE ETERNAL TALENT SCOUT

He is the festival's heart, soul and memory. He is the festival's past and future. But now Tor Dalaker Lund is doing the unthinkable. He will quit as head of the program committee.

- After 30 years, it was time, he believes. 

- I wanted to give up before I got bored. I think it is good for both me and the festival that there will be a change. Not just with a new jazz manager.

When Kai Gustavsen resigned from his position in the spring, there was great excitement about who would take over. It was Ragnhild Menes, who has worked at the jazz festival in the past and who then had a close collaboration with Tor. She has also been part of the program committee for years. Therefore, he is not afraid that jazz will suffer too much now that he is retiring. But he promises not to disappear completely.

He also runs the jazz club Jazz Evidence, and will continue to do so. In addition, he expects to contribute where needed in what has become Norway's biggest jazz festival, also in the years to come.

- How did it happen that you ended up in the jazz festival all those years ago?

- I joined the so-called PR group in the late 1980s. Someone there asked to write a bit for Laagendalsposten, since so few tickets were sold. At the time, the PR group had a representative on the program committee, and it was me.

According to him, it is not only the size of the jazz festival that has changed.

- It has gone from being introverted to being extroverted. And it started with Tore Flesjø. He was festival manager for 11 years, and did a lot of good for the festival. I am also satisfied that we have managed to make the festival a part of the city. 

He highlights the use of the various venues around the city. The ones we now take for granted, but who weren't there from the start. 

- Mølla has become the heart of the festival! This is also where we have the jazz club, and jazz cafes at weekends. Many of the musicians say that they enjoy themselves so much at Mølla. Then I think we have succeeded, he says.

After working on yet another jazz program, he has one ritual he really appreciates.

- The biggest reward is when I go out into the city quite tired and tired, late at night during the festival. And get to experience that the musicians have a good time on stage together with the audience. It is the very best jazz experience I can have, he says and smiles.

But there is one thing he does not tolerate when he is at a concert.

- I hate going to a concert with a lot of talk and noise! But then I go, that is. I don't want to be a part of that. 

But the jazz audience is usually quiet and listening, he adds.

In addition to Mølla, there is also one venue he is a little extra keen on. Namely the Jazzbox. It is also becoming an important part of the festival tradition. Although it is one of the newest additions to venues. Perhaps it is symbolic that it is located at the crossroads in the center of the city, which is completely unregulated. There are no traffic lights, no marked pedestrian crossings or anyone watching how to drive. You have to figure it out yourself, in interaction with the other road users you meet on your way. And perhaps this is exactly the core of jazz. 

Especially for the new musicians, who will find their way into the wonderful world of jazz. Here, it is the musicians themselves who find their own direction. Without too much outside influence, from established norms and rules. Tor has always been keen to find new, young talents that he can give gigs at the festival. It can be in Jazzgata, or in recent years in the Jazzbox.

- We try to present the young musicians as much as we can. With the hope that they like playing there, he says.

- Those who play in the Jazzbox get a day pass as a fee, and then the young musicians get more concerts. And there are many who discover the festival that way.

When he started, they had regular meetings in the program committee. And they were happy to call the musicians directly from the meetings. And if anyone wanted to show what they were up to at the time, they were happy to send cassettes and LPs.

- Our work in the program committee has also changed enormously. Now most things take place by e-mail, and we have few meetings anymore. Now there is YouTube and a link we can click on to hear new things. 

Tor Dalaker Lund's many years of tireless efforts for jazz also started somewhere.

- My eldest brother bought jazz records and he took me to my very first jazz concert in a sports hall in Oslo. That was the start for me.

- But after I became a student in Oslo, it completely took off. There was a jazz club in the student town in Sogn, and there I met Arild Andersen, Jan Garbarek and Jon Christiansen when they were young. 

But from talking about the old jazz heroes, Tor does as he usually does. Namely to draw the lines up to today, and all the talented musicians who have emerged in the years since. Among those he mentions are Kongsberg-based Krokofant, with Tom Hasslan and Aksel Skalstad as frontmen. Hasslan plays the guitar. Skalstad drums. They have also made a name for themselves outside Kongsberg's borders, with good reviews and great public appeal. 

- They are so good! I am constantly working for them to come here and perform here as often as possible. Now they have moved on, and find other constellations to play with. I look forward to following them too, in the future. 

His interest in finding new jazz talents never diminishes. That is why he has worked for the Kongsberg Jazz Festival to award a separate award to those who are young and most promising. That is why the Recruitment Award has been awarded since 2005. It is awarded every year, to those under the age of 25. - It has been important to me, and important to give musicians from Kongsberg a push forward in their further music careers. 

The prize is awarded during this year's Jazzweekend, and a new one at this summer's jazz festival. 

- That has been my task, and the festival must be able to afford it. A lot of good musicians come from here, and we have to support that.

Among those who have received the award are Tom Hasslan, Aksel Skalstad, Håvard Aufles and Lindis Bottolfsen. 

- The purpose of the prize is that they will continue to drive and establish themselves as musicians. That is also the hope. 

Now the Oslo press is starting to take notice of several of our musicians, too. But as usual, everyone they write about has played here for many years before they discover them, he says with a sly smile.