On October 26th Rune Grammofon (www.runegrammofon.com) will release a 3-CD box by the Circulasione Totale Orchestra. We are really happy and looking forward to having the box in our hands!
We have recoded all our gigs and the music in this box is from our concerts last year and this year. This project started after our gig at the Molde Jazzfestival. Label owner Rune Kristoffersen came up to me after the concert and asked me if the concert was recorded and if so, could he release it….After that we have had a few meetings and listened to the mixes from the various concerts. In the end Rune wanted to go for a 3 CD box! I must admit I think this is a brave decision in todays declining CD market.
This is the fifth incarnation of Calling Signals. Previous members have been Paul Rutherford, Terje Isungset, Louis Moholo, Hasse Poulsen and Eivin One Pedersen. Besides the 1996 recording on Loose Torque, there are two recordings available from FMR.
The guest musician in the 2008 version of the group is a man whose shirts often match his looping, colourful style. Gentleman geezer, ‘The Bald Soprano’ the inimitable Lol Coxhill. I’ve played in many different situations with Lol, from John Steven’s big bands to a New Orleans style trio with Roger Turner, from Mike Cooper’s Hawaiian group to his own Before My Time and it’s always been a pleasure listening to him negotiate his own unique path through any music that he’s involved with - and I’ve seen the old TV clip of him playing tenor sax on ‘Walkin The Dog’ with Rufus Thomas.
While Calling Signals were in Birmingham, we found time to rummage around for a couple of hours in my old haunt, The Diskery, a shop that still specialises in Vinyl. I struck lucky with a recording of Jazz Reunion with Pee Wee Russell and Coleman Hawkins. Lol was quite envious, until he remembered that he probably had it lurking somewhere in his collection. I have always thought that there is something of Russell in Lol’s playing, the suprises, the wit and the nod to tradition, but he remains the one and only…
Frode Gjerstad, clarinets and alto Lol Coxhill, soprano Nick Stephens, acoustic bass Paal Nilssen-Love, percussion
Bobby Bradford, cornet, Paal Nilssen-Love, drums, Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten bass and myself have a new CD out: “Reknes”.It was recorded at the Molde festival last year. Nice music! Melodic free jazz with a good portion of straight jazz rhythms….We are going to tour with this group next summer in Europe. Released as Circulasione Totale CTCD 11.
“Bergen” was also recorded last year. At the Nattjazz festival in Bergen with John Edwards on bass and Mark Sanders, drums and myself. Released on FMR records in England
Han Bennink and I played a duo concert at the Molde festival in mid-July. Han was in good form and more or less managed to dismantle the complete drum-set during our performance. In fact, he did it so well, that at one point when he played the ride cymbal really heavy, it fell over and hit my right foot! Very painful indeed!
But as the real gentleman he is, he said he was very sorry, and we continued. I think this was our best performance together so far.
There is a duo CD coming out on Cadence Jazz Records soon. It was recorded last year at Inderøy, Norway, during a 6 days tour of Norway in March 2008.
I received two videos from our gig at the SKIF festival in St.Petersburg made by Grigoriy Boyarskiy (grifel at gmail dot com). Allthough they are a bit edited, it still gives you an idea of what we did.
Paal Nilssen-Love and I are playing 5 duo gigs. We startet in Oslo on Monday, June 8th at “Sound og Mu”, and played Klub Gromka in Ljubljana yesterday. We had a good crowd and the music was nice. We are doing it again tonight - at Klub Gromka. This club has very nice acoustics and the people here are very nice indeed!
Tomorrow, Friday we go to Wroclaw in Poland. And then we go home and end the tour at Cementen in Stavanger on Sunday,June 14th.
Since we last played as a duo which was in August last year in the US where we played 13 gigs, I think the music has become more focused and freer. I have to admit that I think this has to do with the fact that I have been practising a bit more than before and therefor feel more relaxed when playing….
We had a great tour! Thanks to all of the promotors who worked with us and to the audiences!
Stine Janvin Motland sang with us when we played Oslo! That was great. I am sure we will work together again. And of cause Hamid Drake did exactly what I was hoping for: 5 wonderful concerts. He inspired the band and so did Per Zanussi on electric bass bringing a new sound to the band . Together they helped us opening up some new doors. Which is what I am always hoping for when new musicians join the band.
Hamid and Morten Johan who played acoustic drums on the last 4 gigs instead of his usual electronic percussion, did some amazing things together. And when Louis finally joined us for the last two gigs, the drum department was hard to beat!
During the first concert, in Oslo, I felt something was missing because Paal and Ingebrigt were not there. I am so used to their sounds! But when I listened to the recording, I realised it was a different sound, also this time with a voice . In St. Johann I think the new band really came together and it was cooking! We did a multitrack recording there, but unfortunately, it was messed up with digital sync problems which means thousand of digital clicks….Useless. However, we made a nice recording at the Ulrichsberg festival - with Louis and Kevin included.
Again: thanks to the musicians, the audiences and to Mercedes for making the Vito vans - which we rented for the tour!
Paal Nilssen-Love and Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten will not be playing these concerts. They are on tour in the US with Mats Gustavsson. Instead we´ll have Hamid Drake on drums and Per Zanussi on electric bass. And in Oslo we´ll also have vocalist Stine Janvin Motland. So the idea of rotating (circulating) the band members, is still alive. Within a group like this, it´s impossible to have the original line-up on every gig. And I think it´s exciting to have a little change. It keeps us all on our toes!
I am going to Russia for the first time! The SKIF festival in St. Petersburg have invited me and drummer Ståle Birkeland to play as a duo on April 25th. We have played together for some time, but only done 1 gig. When we started, this was supposed to be more a rehearsal group than a performing group. Rehearsing steadily without having to think too much about the results, is a very good thing because we grow slowly towards something. So when this gig came up, not too long ago, I thought it would be a perfect for the duo.
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The trip to St. Petersburg was very nice. We met some very nice people, heard some nice music and had a chance to see a bit of this absolutely stunning city! And I thought we also played some nice music…
Thanks to SKIF and Natasha for a wonderful experince.
Last week, the Norwegian Jazzforum gave me their Buddy award.
The Peter Brøtzmann Chicago Tentette had a concert here in Stavanger and before the muisc startet there was a speach by the president in the Jazzforum who told me they had voted me as the Buddy winner of 2008. The Buddy which is named after Buddy Bolden, is a little statuate of Bolden plus a nice cheque!
I was not prepared for this and was absolutely baffled. I thought the music I was involved in was too small for them to consider for a Buddy. But now I am extremely happy….. but this is a prize for my wife Judith as much as it is for me! She has always been very supportive and helpful in every way all these years. Just having a house which at times is filled up with musicians, is quite something. And then cooking and making the beds on top of that, is another thing….
