Session 7 – Jagga Jazzist
This Weds, our
avant-prog concert series will feature the quirky, postrock, jazzlike ensemble
from Norway, Jaga Jazzist.
**Note that we'll
be beginning a little later this week - we plan to start around 8 PM.**
As usual, at the
E14 3'rd floor video wall.
Informative
background notes below:
Scandinavia has
been a source of many great (but often little-known)
avant/progressive/fusion/psych bands over the last decades. There's
certainly a massive amount of music coming out of Sweden, and we touched on the
bountiful underground scene in Finland a few weeks ago. The progressive
music scene in Norway, however, isn't so vast, but it's very wide-ranging, and
the musicians tend to be fantastic. Going from the popular to the
underground, we have, for example, bands like Bel Canto (who have a mild 4AD
vibe), Kr¿yt (similar female vocals but more of a jazz/electronic sound),
Motorspycho (competent rockish prog with a metal edge), Tangle Edge
(Terrastock-style psyschedelia), Gargamel (keyboard/cello Crimsonish/Hammelish
prog), Wobbler (complex symphonic prog), and Lars Pederson's "When"
incarnation (beautiful poppy psychedelia intermingled with apocalyptic blasts
of industrial noise).
There's also an
edge of the Norwegian prog music scene that nudges jazz into interesting
directions where it often doesn't want to fit - this broadly dates to Terje
Rypdal's 1970's ECM releases, and more recently includes bands like
Supersilent, Twangorama, and a recent strong favorite of mine, Elephant9. I'd
place Jagga Jazzist in this category.
Jaga Jazzist are a circa 10-piece ensemble playing a complex music that lives
between postrock, progrock, and Jazz. Owing a debt to Zappa, they often
sound like what we heard from Supersister a few weeks ago (that harpsichordish
60's spy movie soundtrack minus the vocals), but then get into segments
reminiscent of minimal classical music, followed up by something you'd expect
from a a big-band version of Godspeed You Black Emperor. It's delightful
to watch them play - they're touring the US this summer, but until then, the
E14 video wall will have to do...
We'll be viewing
concert footage from their recent DVD recorded live at the Cosmopolite in Oslo
on April 4, 2005. It runs a bit less than 2 hours - again, remember that
we'll be starting a little later - circa 8 PM this time.
Jagga Jazzist
have a ton of info out on their website: http://www.jagajazzist.com
===================================================
Joe Paradiso (Spring 2011)