Særingfest
Særingfest is a full evening of music and sound in all forms and varieties, food and drink, mingling and summer atmosphere - quite simply a festival within a festival!
18:00 Open bar, food on the grill and a delicious atmosphere inside and outside
19:30 Concert start
Besides being very active musicians, Paal Nilssen-Love and Ståle Liavik Solberg book concert series and festivals such as Blow Out! and All Ears in the capital. Now they are taking action to create a Særingfest at Smeltehytta, and for those who take the chance on a trip a couple of blocks down Green Dolphin Street, the following delicious treats in various formats are on the menu:
KING
BRAND/SANDERS DUO
PASCAL NIGGENKEMPER SOLO
PAN-SCAN ENSEMBLE
KING
Konge is an essential playing piece in the strategy laid out for this evening to end in victory. The Danish saxophonist Signe Emmeluth is currently studying jazz at NTNU in Trondheim and has shown himself to be particularly skilled, both as a composer and as an improviser - especially in the excellent duo Tigerfish & Lioncats.
On yet another sax we find none other than Swedish Mats Gustafsson, who can otherwise note on his CV bands such as The Thing, Swedish Azz, Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet - and certainly not least in some way; the role of band leader for the giant Four! Orchestra.
On bass, straight outta Brønnøysund, Ole Morten Vågan. No matter what constellation he performs with, it sounds damn fat. He has made great and well-deserved success with composer assignments for the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and through records and extensive touring activities with great bands, of which Motif is one of those that must be mentioned.
Another representative for Denmark can be found in drummer Kresten Osgood. He otherwise does his thing in various projects with Europe's most important musicians in improvisation and free jazz. But he is also a guy who has traveled in a so-called love caravan across Denmark with the avant-gardists in "Og Hva Er Klokken".
Together they make up a union we have strong faith in!
Signe Emmeluth (sax), Mats Gustafsson (sax), Ole Morten Vågan (bass), Kresten Osgood (drums)
Brand/Sanders Duo
The Wire wrote about English Sarah Gail Brand that she was "the most exciting trombone player for years". Since the beginning of the nineties, she has played with prominent people on the scene both in and outside her home country - such as John Edwards, Evan Parker and Steve Beresford - and she has been at the head of her own sextet.
One of the more permanent collaborators over several years has been the drummer Mark Sanders, also from the island kingdom in the south-west. Sanders has worked with raw names such as Derek Bailey, Peter Brøtzmann, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide and Jah Wobble, as well as our own Sidsel Endresen. The two are "a match-made in improv heaven", to borrow another The Wire quote.
Sarah Gail Brand (trombone), Mark Sanders (drums)
Pascal Niggenkemper Solo
The German/French double bassist Pascal Niggenkemper has been living in New York in recent years. Among other things, he has played and released records with old acquaintances of free music's friends over there, such as Nate Wooley, Dave Rempis and Chris Corsano, but also stands on his own. Niggenkemper treats the instrument in a way that appears unconventional even among the most blasé and hardened free jazz enthusiasts, and we look forward to a solo set with him this evening.
Pascal Niggenkemper (double bass)
Pan-Scan Ensemble
And then to the bunch of raisins in an otherwise jam-packed musical sausage: the newly established Pan Scan Ensemble.
Here you will find saxophonist Lotte Anker, who has a long history behind her as one of Denmark's most innovative and exciting composers and musicians in terms of contemporary music, as well as a performing improvisational jazz player. Associated people include Nils Petter Molvær and Arve Henriksen, in addition to most of the slightly more obscure names that we like to drop.
On the same instrument and from the same country of origin comes Julie Kjær, who currently resides in London, where, to our undivided joy, she has teamed up with the city's best, such as Steve Noble and John Edwards. Otherwise, she is a member of the London Improvisers Orchestra and is active in a number of powerful constellations.
Nothing will be spared here, and from Sweden comes another saxophonist, Anna Högberg. She has garnered a lot of well-deserved positive attention in her home country in the last couple of years, i.a. through the group Dog Life and not least and as part of the massive and top team of Mats Gustaffson, Fire! Orchestra.
More Swedes: Goran Kajfeš is an extraordinarily skilled trumpet player, who in addition to many of our free jazz favorites has played with everyone from Monica Zetterlund via Freddie Wadling and Håkan Hellstrøm to Janet motherfucking Jackson (!).
Trumpeter Emil Strandberg usually works in Stockholm, but has with some frequency visited Norway in various contexts, where e.g. Hot Four, Mellotone and Swedish Polyphony have been responsible for memorable moments.
Pianist Sten Sandell is one of Europe's leading improvisational musicians and eternally current with his own trio, with the above-mentioned Swedish Polyphony, never to forget GUSH who represented one of the most unforgettable moments at last year's Blow Out festival, and in our lives in general.
Over to Norway and exotic Grenland; trumpeter Thomas Johansson has excelled in several acclaimed groups in recent years: The Way Ahead, Cortex and the fantastic All Included.
Last but not least; Særingfest's two organizers behind each battery: Ståle Liavik Solberg and Paal Nilssen-Love. In addition to the arranging activities, Liavik Solberg also plays concerts and releases records with a breakneck frequency. Among the highlights of recent years, his duo with John Russell - and Will It Float? where the two play with John Edwards and Steve Beresford.
Nilssen-Love must be said to be among the Norwegian free improvisation's foremost and most decorated front-line soldiers in the last couple of decades, duly proven through groups such as Atomic, The Thing and most recently, the formidable orchestra Large Unit.
It's going to be strange and difficult and it's fun!
Lotte Anker (sax), Julie Kjær (sax), Anna Högberg (sax), Goran Kajfeš (trumpet), Emil Strandberg (trumpet), Thomas Johansson (trumpet), Sten Sandell (piano), Ståle Liavik Solberg (drums), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums)
