Frode Gjerstad (Norway) Saxophone – Improvisation
- Date
- 7 December 2014
Negra40 Musical training
Frode Gjerstad (Norway) Saxophone / improvisation
Workshop: Sound and the Moment.
Sunday, December 7, 2014 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Venue: Asociación Vecinos de Plaza Mitre Mitre 2451, Mar del Plata
Registration: $60.- To [email protected] (limited spots)
Outline
A first-hand encounter with a historic improviser, a key figure of the Nordic sound in contemporary jazz and free jazz, specialized in forming ensembles and in the practice of instant group composition with young instrumentalists.
Different paths of collective and individual creation will be explored — exercises and interplay — sharing the need to find a personal course in the face of sound and the moment.
No prior experience is necessary, only the desire to intensely experience an encounter with one’s own sound. Please bring an instrument or an ad hoc object.
Frode Gjerstad
For many years he chose to play mainly with international musicians, since Norway had no tradition or practice of improvised music. Today, a growing number of young Norwegian musicians are joining this genre, and it is with them that he usually collaborates and whom he encourages along their musical path.
His relationship with John Stevens, which began in 1981 and continued until Stevens’s death in 1994, was of great importance both musically and personally. Through Stevens he came into contact with many of the best British improvisers, allowing him to learn from their path and develop a style of his own.
From 1994 onward he played with a significant number of American musicians, such as Borah Bergmann, Hamid Drake, William Parker, and Rashid Bakr, as well as the German musician Peter Brötzmann. He also launched his first Norwegian trio with Øyvind Storesund and Paal Nilssen-Love, with whom he has toured Europe and the Americas several times.
Since 1984 he has been coordinating a group of very young Norwegian musicians, the Circulasione Totale Orchestra, whose work is approached from a perspective oriented toward modern rock in rhythm and instrumentation.
With this group he has presented his compositions and organized workshops to introduce young musicians to the world of musical improvisation. In 1989 the group presented a commissioned work for the Molde Festival involving 13 musicians combining improvisation, compositions, rap, and scratching (3 winds, 3 bassists, 3 drummers, accordion, guitar, rapper, and scratcher).
In 2008 he was chosen by “Stavanger 2008” (European Capital of Culture) to present a 12-member version of the band.
He has received numerous honors from various foundations and has been an active participant in the Norwegian Jazzmusicians’ Federation, as well as on the committee of the Norwegian Contemporary Music Federation.
He was voted Jazz Musician of the Year in Norway in 1997.
He received the Buddy Prize from the Norwegian Jazz Federation in 2009, and the Stavanger Kommune Cultural Award in 2010.
Over the past 30 years he has actively toured Eastern and Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and North America with his own projects, playing in jazz clubs and festivals.
He has recorded close to 100 albums as leader or co-leader.