Festivalgata concert program // Saturday
In collaboration with Quality Hotel Grand, we welcome the public to experience the festival atmosphere!
11.00: Ruud / Krogh Jazzgroup
12.30: Vintage Radio
14.00: BUVUS
15.30: Blue in Green
17.00: Peik Jazz Band
18.30: Tarmac
20.00: Funkelia Groove Company
22.00 p.m.: DJ Ole K
Pictures and reviews:
Ruud / Krogh Jazzgroup consists of six driven and experienced hobby musicians who are fond of jazz and improvisation, and have played together for 20 years with almost the same line-up. Although some in the group must be said to be well into adulthood (eldest man 85 years old!), the joy of playing is great and the swing foot is absorbed. Marianne Tovsrud Knutsen (vocals), Finn Krogh (tenor sax), Vebjørn Ruud (trumpet), Vidar Rogstad (guitar), Bent Østebø Johansen (piano), Gunnar Nilsen (bass) and Thomas Bjørndahl (drums)
Vintage Radio forms a completely new union between blues, soul, jazz and rock. They have a love for the traditional blues and convey honest lyrics along with energetic riffs, intense guitar solos and a sensitive vocal. The band takes inspiration from artists such as Melody Gardot, Beth Hart, Joe Bonamassa and BB King. In the autumn of 2017, they released their debut album and have been relevant with several concerts at, among others, Herr Nilsen, where they have been well received in the jazz and blues milieu.
BUVUS – Buskerud and Vestfold youth big band - is a jazz orchestra that plays both old hits and new, originally written music. In BUVUS, grooves, strong melodies and lots of improvisation are at the fore. The band members come, as the name suggests, from Buskerud and Vestfold, and they meet five weekends a year to rehearse, play, jam and play concerts under the direction of Andreas Rotevatn and Steffen Granly.
Blue in green makes songs known by vocalists such as Nina Simone, Gladys Knight, Sara Vaughan, Janis Joplin and Radka Tonef and performs it with a jazz sextet and a sense of jazz's closest musical relatives. Genre; standard jazz developed with soul, blues and funk. They are looking forward to visiting Festivalgata again and are betting on the same good atmosphere as in 2016.
Peik Jazz Band consists of young people aged 14-16 who have recently discovered jazz. They came out of the school band at Skøyen in Oslo, Peik, and they have been playing together for almost a year. But even if the band has a relatively short tempo, there is still a lot of energy, joy in playing and musicality to be found in the expression of the band! The instructor for the band is Andreas Rotevatn. His aim is for the young people to become familiar with the history of jazz through the Peik Jazzband. Since this is the young people's first encounter with jazz, they mainly play well-known standard songs from the first half of the 1900th century, such as Basin St. Blues, Caravan and Misty.
Asphalt plays instrumental music inspired by Jaga Jazzist, Shining and Elephant9. The quintet has its roots in Drammen and Lier, but also Iran and Bulgaria. Through different musical backgrounds and ethnic origins, the band distinguishes itself with a wide spread of genres and expressions, as well as dynamic and musical variety. The core, however, lies in jazz's harmonics dressed up in rock's expression.
Both Friday and Saturday evening entrances Funkelia Groove Company stage as the last number on the program. Soul and funk are the landscape in which they move, and it is difficult to keep the dancing feet still when these 12 musicians fire up. Kompet is ably led by the band's young and driven talented drummer, and the brass band consists of some of the city's most experienced musicians. When the vocal lineup is fronted by one of the city's rawest vocalists, there is no doubt: this group must be experienced!
Ole K has been a DJ around Norway since the end of the nineties, mainly in bars and clubs in Oslo, Stavanger and Tromsø (also some late nights at Circa Cafe in Kongsberg, early 2000s.) He plays a blissful mix of (largely older) soul, funk, yacht rock, disco and pop. Not too weird, not too straight, but very dance-friendly.
