FrodeGjerstad.com

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!

We are playing some gigs next week:

Oslo, Nasjonal Jazzscene, April 29th,    

St. Johann, Austria, April 30th,   

Wien, Porgy & Bess, May 1st,  

The Ulrichsberg festival in Austria May 2nd. 

Zurich, Taktlos/Rote Fabrik , May 3rd

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.

…………………………

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….

Thanks again for the Buddy!

http://www.jazzforum.no/nyheter/buddyprisen-2008-til-den-norske-improjazzens-gudfar-frode-gjerstad

This is from a tour in Enland in December -08

Part 1

Part 2

Here is a clip from Kongsberg -07

part 1

part 2

part3

Here is a clip from  Toronto!