Sunday, November 20, 2011

Stian Around A Hill


You might want to check out some (not so well known) young Norwegians today? Listen to the the quartet Stian Around A Hill. Their new album "Alle skal få" (meaning something like "It´s enough for everyone") (Atterklang 2011), is being released as a magazine with download code, but it´s been hard to find the magazine (strange, considering the title). I found the music on eMusic, but if you choose iTunes you get the digital version of the magazine (in Norwegian I´m afraid).
The music is really nice jazz, quiet and beautiful as in "God natt" and "Vals", and energetic stuff like "Action" and "Driva kro". Over at Stian Omenås´site he says they work with his chamber jazz compositions with room for improvisations. Call it whatever you like, it´s a good album anyway.

The band: Stian Omenås (tp), Svein Magnus Furu (sax, clar), Ola Høyer (b) and Øyvind Skarbø (dr) (Skarbø also drums in the folk-improv trio 1982).
I pushed their previous album "Lille Stille" (2009) too. That one had Jo Berger Myhre playing the bass, instead of Høyer.

The magazine contains:

• An interview with Stian Omenås.

• A history of improvisation by Svein Magnus Furu.

• Håkon Kornstad interviewed by Øyvind Skarbø.

• Ola Høyer´s recipe for white wine steamed mussels (!).

No comments: