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http://freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/2011/11/circulasione-totale-orchestra-philaoslo.html
By Stef
This double-CD by Frode Gjerstad’s large ensemble starts with the horrendous electronic screeching of Lasse Marhaug, but then gradually the music develops, harsh, raw, intrusive, overwhelming, overpowering, with the triple drums of Louis Moholo-Moholo and Paal Nilssen-Love and Morten J. Olsen, accompanied by the acoustic bass of Nick Stephens and the electric bass of Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, the full rhythm section picking up rhythm and Børre Mølstad’s tuba accentuating it with a repeated tone, yet the behemoth gradually slows down for Bobby Bradford’s cornet to bring the first clear tones, played in his bluesy tone over Kevin Norton’s vibes, and Sabir Mateen and Gjerstad himself adding the sax and clarinet lines. On the seventy-one minute long first disc, recorded in Philadelphia, the band shows its real strength by moving as one, not only in the exuberant parts, but especially in the quiet moments, in which sounds bubble up organically like sounds from nature waking up at dawn, all different yet painting a great common canvas of surprise and purity. But of course madness erupts again, with screeching electronics, disrupting every notion of possible comfort, to be altered by steady rhythm and great soloing, “electric Miles”-like at moments.
The second disc is recorded in Oslo, and features the same band, except for two changes : Per Zanussi plays the electric bass and Anders Hana joins on electric guitar. The piece is a few seconds shorter only, and offers the same joyous wildness, and it is hard to say which is best, and possibly nobody can, and that’s probably the reason why we get both in one package. The electric Miles elements are a little more accentuated because of the electric guitar, but that’s just a little touch, the rest is as rambunctious, boisterous, booming, cacophonous, clamorous, crashing, deafening, deep, ear-piercing, ear-splitting, emphatic, full, heavy, high-sounding, intense, piercing, powerful, raucous, blustering, roaring, rowdy, sonorous, thundering, tumultuous, turbulent, uproarious, vehement, vociferous … in short capable of waking up the dead … and real fun at that.
Yet the great power of the album is its variation, and other moments are delicate, gracious, restrained, ritzy, sensitive, sophisticated, subtle … resulting in a bewitching, captivating, entrancing, hypnotic, mesmerizing performance.
I hope you get the gist: free and wild and adventurous and deep?
“MIR” came from the factory while we were touring the US. It´s a concert performance with Paal and Jon Rune (my trio) from September 2010. In fact it´s the first time we played together! Recorded at Cafe MIR in Oslo. Circulasione Totale
“East of West” arrived just after I came back from the US. It´s a session recorded over two days when we rehearsed before our tour in May 2012. Because we had the time to try out different things, this is a different record. Circulasione Totale
“PhilaOslo” is a double CD by Circulasione Total Orchestra in concert. One CD is from Philadelphia (January 2010) and the other from Oslo (March 2011). On the Phila CD, Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten is on bass and electronics and Anders Hana, our guitarist, is missing. While on the Oslo CD, Per Zanussi plus bass and Anders is back, full throttle! Circulasione Totale
“Tipples” is a CD with Kevin Norton on vib, drums, gongs and percussion, David Watson on electric guitar and myself. We recorded this in Kevins basement in New Jersey, October 2009, so Kevin could use all of his percussion stuff. Which he did! A CD with thunder and wisper side by side….FMR
“VCDC” is a CD with vocalist Stine Janvin Motland, drummer Ståle Liavik Solberg, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and myself. Recorded in 2010. Hispid
“A Winters Tour” with Nick Stephens, bass, Paal Nilssen-Love, drums, Jon Corbett, cornet and myself. This was done in the middle of a UK tour in December 2009. Another incarnation of “Calling Signals”. Loose Torque.
“From Cafe Sting” is Calling Signals in Stavanger, Norway, at Cafe Sting. March 2007, with Nick stepehns, bass, Eivin One Pedersen, accordion, Louis Moholo-Moholo, drums and myself. the accordion adds a new sound/dimension to the music. Loose Torque.
• Paal Nilssen-Love, drums
• Jon Rune Strøm, bass
• Frode Gjerstad, clarinets, alto sax
After two decades of trios with various international musicians, this is Frode Gjerstads first all-Norwegian trio. And it is a significant move towards a Nordic improvised sound. In the past, he has played in trios with Hamid Drake, William Parker, John Stevens, Johnny Dyani, Kent Carter, Wilber Morris and Rashid Bakr.
This trio has made 8 recordings so far: “Last First” on the US label, Falcata-Galica. A studio-recording from November -99 when the group was quite fresh. Then came a live recording from September 2000 in Oslo, “The Blessing Light” on Cadence Jazz Records. This CD is dedicated to the late British drummer, John Stevens. “Sharp knives cut deeper” with Peter Brøtzmann on the Italian label Splash came in-03, “St.Louis” is a live recording from our 2002 US tour that came out on FMR in -04 and in 2005 we recorded “mothers & fathers”. In 2007 we recorded “Nothing is forever” at a concert in Oslo. Then there is “MIR” recorded in 2010 at cafe MIR, Oslo. This was the first try out for the new trio. And the “East of West” was recorded in April 2011 and this is also our latest recording.
The trio has so far toured and/or played festivals in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Poland, Germany, Slovenia,Kroatia, Italy, USA and Canada.
Ben Watson, Hi-Fi News:
This trio has a freshness which the big names in London and New York find it hard to muster these days.
Glenn Astarita, All about Jazz:
This band often performs with a distinct sense of spiritualism to coincide with an abundance of hearty soloing and curiously interesting three-way dialogue.
Paal Nilssen-Love first started playing with Frode Gjerstad when he was 15. Since then, he has become one of the most active musicians of the new generation in Norway. He has also played and recorded with international sax-players Mats Gustavsson, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark and many, many more! He is now traveling the world and also is a permanent member of the Brøtzmann Tentette.
Check out www.paalnilssenlove.com
Jon Rune Strøm now plays bass in the trio. We first played with him last September in Oslo at the MIR club. A CD form the gig will be out soon, called MIR. Then we did a tour in May with him. Before the tour, we rehearsed a couple of days and also recorded. So another CD is on it´s way “East of West”. I feel very excited playing with Jon Rune and I think we are moving into something else…
Frode Gjerstad/Paal Nilssen-Love: Duo
We sometimes play as a duo as well. We did 13 concerts in the US and Canada in August -08.
Check out the video from Toronto….
The Circulasione Totale Orchestra started in 1984 and the idea was to play with local musicians so I could try out compositions and also be a place for younger musicians to meet and to try to improvise. At that time I was playing with Johnny Mbizo Dyani and John Stevens in the group”DETAIL” and I felt it was important to bring on some of the things I learned from playing with them, to younger musicians.
The name of the band indicates that people will come and go and it was created ot of a night with some red wine and some quasi Italian language-ideas. A bit stupid, but at the same time a name which most people could understand the meaning of.
Over the years, many musicians have passed through – I think we have had 11 bassplayers….. We had two bassists most of the time and sometimes also 2 drummers banging along!. The band would be around 10 people and and in 1989 we played at the Molde Jazz festival with 13 people: 3 bassists, 2 drummers, percussion, guitar, keyboards, three horns, a DJ and a rapper. We used some of my songs and freely improvised of the rest. So the DJ and rapper who did a fantastic free-style rapping. People went crazy, dancing on the tables etc. This version of the band was called CTO “Dancemble”. Unfortunately, I thought it was going to be a disaster, because the rehearsals were horrible, that I said no to the state radio to record the concert…..It would have been a very early example of mixing free music and rapping.
We have made 5 CDs with various versions of the band:
- ACCENT, (Stevens, Kleive etc. 10 musicians) Odin, Oslo-89
- ENTEN ELLER, Circulasione Totale, Stavanger-93
- Recycling Grieg. Circulasione Totale.Stavanger -96
- Borealis, Cadence, USA, -98
- Open Port (12 piece international band) ) Circ. Totale, Stavanger -08
- Bandwith. 3-CD box. Rune Gramofon, Oslo -09
- PhilaOslo 2-CD. Circ. Totale, Stavanger -11
- Music sample
The current version of the band includes some of my musical friends from over the years
The line-up is:
- Louis Moholo-Moholo, drums , South-Africa
- Morten J. Olsen electronics, drums , N
- Anders Hana el.guitar , N
- Frode Gjerstad sax,clarinets , N
- Nick Stephens acoustic bass, UK
- Paal Nilssen-Love drums , N
- Ingebrigt H. Flaten acoustic bass , N
- Børre Mølstad tuba , N
- Sabir Mateen, sax and clarinets, USA
- Kevin Norton vibraphone , USA
- Bobby Bradford, cornet , USA
- Lasse Marhaug electronics, N
- John Hegre, soundman, N
It is an acoustic-electric band. Which to me, means that there will be many influnces put together: some well known acoustic sounds and some sounds very far from the acoustic area. I have in the past mostly worked from an acoustic platform, but I am also looking for other musical avenues to explore and have worked with electronics.
In the CTO I would very much like all these influences to come together as one. And I need musicians who would bring their own identity to the table so we can cook a great meal together.
This is a celebration of the free improvised music.
Stavanger, my home town, is European cultural capital in 2008 along with Liverpool.
Stavanger 2008 have given me a n opportunity to present a band at the MaiJazz festival in May 2008.
After playing the MaiJazz festival, we flew to the Moers Festival in Germany the following day and played for a big audince that received us really well.
In July, we played at the Molde Festival and we did the Tampere Jazz Meeting in November.
In 2009 we will play:
Oslo, Nasjonal Jazzscene, April 29th, St. Johann, Austria, April 30th, Wien, Porgy & Bess, May 1st, the Ulrichsberg festival in Austria May 2nd. Zurich, Taktlos, May 3rd
…………
Open Port. A review in All About Jazz. By Glenn Astarita
Circulasione Totale Orchestra This largely high-impact orchestra launched in 1984 by Norwegian multi-reedman Frode Gjerstad is more of a collective, where young and veteran jazz-based improvisers pass through to abet the unit’s continual evolution. It’s an acoustic-electric format that might be analogous to a histogram amidst the abundance of pointy spikes and steady-state flows. It’s an international gala indeed, featuring vibraphonist Kevin Norton, cornetist Bobby Bradford and drummers Paal Nilssen-Love and Louis Moholo, who augment the thirteen-piece gathering of like-minded improvisers. Here, Morten J. Olsen and Lasse Marhaug provide the existential overtones via electronics, while Olsen also employs an arsenal of percussion instruments to align and complement the drummers’ asymmetrical pulses. The orchestra looms as a multidimensional powerhouse, teeming with interesting contrasts and knotty sojourns. With jangling percussion, supple interludes and blistering crescendos, it elicits notions of a subterranean environ. This is partly due to Borre Molstad’s understated tuba lines on the second movement of the lone piece, dedicated to Gjerstad’s former band-mates in the group Detail, titled “Yellow Bass & Silver Cornet (In Memory of Johnny Mbizo Dyani And John Stevens).” Gjerstad then accelerates the variable cadences with his wily clarinet phrasings atop Anders Hana’s blistering rock guitar lines. At times, the musicians perform as though they’re possessed by spirits, with the intentions of rising to a state of divine fulfillment. In alternating regions of sound and scope the artists execute a barrage of soul searching motifs, firmed up with free-form exchanges and weaving horns choruses. But they also mix it up with scrappy interplay, creating a mind-altering experience that is incredibly powerful and intense. Gjerstad and friends prove, beyond a doubt, that free improvisation coupled with synergistic interplay yields substance. It’s a 360 degree panorama of rapidly-moving themes, underscored by gobs of imagery and the instrumentalists finely tuned improvisational faculties. Track listing: Yellow Bass & Silver Cornet (In Memory of Johnny Mbizo Dyani And John Stevens. Personnel: Louis Moholo-Moholo: drums; Morten J. Olsen electronics, drums; Anders Hana el.guitar; Frode Gjerstad sax,clarinets; Nick Stephens: acoustic bass; Paal Nilssen-Love: drums; Ingebrigt H. Flaten: acoustic bass; Borre Molstad: tuba; Sabir Mateen: sax, clarinets; Kevin Norton: vibraphone; Bobby Bradford: cornet; Lasse Marhaug: electronics; John Hegre: soundman. Style: Free Improvisation/Avant-Garde Published: February 01, 2009
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