Særingfest 2022
After several seasons of corona drought, Særingfesten is back at Kongsberg Jazz Festival. It is a very important part of the festival and is strongly instrumental in profiling the festival and giving it a distinctive character. This year's edition of Særingfesten follows the template from previous years with four different constellations.
Særingfest is an entire evening of music and sound in all forms and varieties, food and drink, mingling and summer atmosphere - quite simply a festival within a festival! The free jazz champion Ståle Liavik Solberg has put together the evening's programme, which offers some of the best in European improvisational music.
Frode Gjerstad Tuba Trio
Frode Gjerstad is the very Godfather of Norwegian free jazz and improvisational music. He has played with those of significant free jazz musicians, and he constantly appears in new constellations. Here he brings with him the Swiss tubaist Marc Unternährer, a musician who appears in a multitude of contexts - and always creates something interesting. He has played a lot with musicians from Chicago, and then we come to the third member of the trio, drummer Frank Rosaly. We know him from collaborations with people like Ken Vandermark and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.
Frode Gjerstad (sax & clarinet), Marc Unternährer (tuba), Frank Rosaly (drums)
AUK Trio
Flutist Henriette Eilertsen, guitarist Ferdinand Bergstrøm and bassist John Andrew Wilhite-Hannisdal make up this very special trio. It is distinguished by being both intense and low-key in its expression. Here the flute sound is not flimsy, but powerful, and in many ways Eilertsen controls the musical course. But it is still the whole that makes an impression - with thoughtful exchanges.
Henriette Eilertsen (flute), Ferdinand Bergstrøm (guitar), John Andrew Wilhite-Hannisdal (double bass)
Peter Brötzmann & Heather Leigh
Saxophone legend Peter Brötzmann has for some years now had a fruitful collaboration with Heather Leigh, who plays pedal steel guitar. They throw themselves into changing emotional waters in an interaction that can be both loud and brutal and sometimes lyrical.
Peter Brötzmann (sax & clarinet), Heather Leigh (pedal steel)
Party + 1
This is a brand new project consisting of John Butcher (sax), Lene Grenager (cello), Per Zanussi (bass), Tony Buck (drums and guitar) and Ståle Liavik Solberg (drums). These form the core of an improvising ensemble. +1 refers to the sixth musician which will vary from time to time and from project to project. Thus, the music will move in different directions depending on who this sixth musician is. The first musician to take on this role is none other than Pat Thomas on electronics.
