SET 1 - DUO

Ken Vandermark (US) - Saxophones & clarinets
Paal Nilssen-Love (NO) - Drums & Percussion

SET 2 - TRIO

Ken Vandermark (US) - Saxophones & clarinets
Paal Nilssen-Love (NO) - Drums & Percussion

John Edwards - Bass

“This is free improvised music of very high energy. Vandermark is stretching the tenor, baritone saxophone and Bb clarinet in a continuous flow of tones and timbres, whilst the Stavanger-drummer Nilssen-Love proves his reputation of being the avant-garde jazz’ most powerful mallet and stick wizard. However, Vandermark’s logical lines stir the flow of energy. Though tonal and rhythmic patterns/structures appear, the duo does not seek simple solutions. This is raw music, with a brutal beauty, which becomes more and more exhilarating the more you let the music take control of body and mind and set aside the normal understanding of nice and ugly.” Dagbladet (Terje Mosnes)

Vandermark and Nilssen-Love started their collaboration in 2000 when the group School Days was formed. One year later they started FME, a trio with bass player Nate McBride. After this it seemed very natural to define a duo. The first occasion for this format was when they recorded the cd ”Dual Pleasure” in Oslo during the summer of 2002. Shortly after this they performed their first duo concert at Molde International Jazz Festival. “Dual Pleasure” was released by the Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound and has received excellent reviews.

Vandermark is also known for the work with his own quintet the Vandermark 5, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, the Territory Band, Spaceways Inc., and the DKV Trio. In 1999 Vandermark was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, previous recipients of this prize in the field of music include Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton and Max Roach. He has also been was voted ”Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” in the critic's poll of the American jazz magazine Down Beat, both as composer and as a tenor saxophonist, every year since 2000.

Nilssen-Love has, during the last couple of years, established himself on the international scene as a powerful drummer with high energy and creativity. In 2002 he was "Artist in Residence" at Molde International Jazz Festival, a title Chick Corea and Pat Metheny held in previous years. After 7 days and 9 concerts at the festival, Down Beat stated, "His week at Molde proved a revelation: Nilssen-Love is one of the most innovative, dynamic and versatile drummers in jazz."

Their musical expression results from the influence of several traditions, both geographic and historical. In this duo, Vandermark and Nilssen-Love use free improvisation as a means to explore all levels of dynamics, density, rhythm, timbre, form and tonality. The results of their work are experienced as intense, exhilarating, and boundary breaking.

Tonight they will play two sets one as a duo and one as a trio with John Edwards on bass.

John Edwards

Since taking up the double bass in 1987 and playing with the Pointy Birds and the Cholomondeleys dance company he went on to play with B Shops for the Poor, The Honkies and GOD as well as busking in the street and composing and performing music theatre with The Great Explorers. Since the early 1990s he has built a reputation as one of the finest, and most in demand bass players currently active on the British and European improv/ jazz and New music scenes- a first choice for musicians such as Evan Parker, Louis Moholo, Veryan Weston, Charles Hayward and Spring Heel Jack- Other groups include BRUISE and the Obliquity trio with Alan Wilkinson and Noble.

A solo double bass cd ‘VOLUME’ was released in 2008 on the PSI label.

LINKS
http://www.myspace.com/wilkinsonedwardsnoble
http://www.myspace.com/nobleedwardsward