Saturday, 11/16/2024
at 8:00 PM


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Hildegunn Øiseth Quartet
Garden on the Roof

Hildegunn Øiseth: Trumpet, Bukkehorn, Vocals / Espen Berg: Piano / Magne Thormodsæter: Bass /
Per Oddvar Johansen: Drums / + Special Guest Nils-Olav Johansen: Guitar

To understand the jazz trumpeter Hildegunn Øiseth, born in 1966 in Kongsvinger, Norway, one must know that she enjoys conducting music research for her own sake. In the 1990s, after her music studies, she was the trumpeter for the Swedish Bohuslän Big Band before she went to South Africa for two years. There, she not only delved deeply into Township Jazz and the traditional music around Cape Town but also began researching the music of the Sámi, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia. In doing so, she discovered how similar their music is to the traditional music in South Africa.

During a trip to Pakistan, Øiseth sought commonalities between the ragas there and the scales typical of Norwegian folklore. At a Sufi event in Pakistan, she found a connection between this South Asian country and her home in northern Europe: the goat horn, which is played in Pakistan during Sufi ceremonies and blown in Norway as a signaling horn by shepherds.

In a way, Øiseth has, on one hand, domesticated the dark-archaic "Cry" of the goat horn to play it in the context of her modern jazz. On the other hand, she wants the trumpet to be understood as a contemporary variant of the goat horn and enjoys distorting its sound through various effects typically used for electric guitars to sound as emotional and profound as on the bukkehorn, as it is called in Norway. By now, she plays both instruments with an ease and fluency in any ensemble size.

The founding of her quartet is due to a suggestion from Norwegian sound engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug. He had once asked Øiseth why she had never been in the studio with a quartet. At that time, she had not yet clearly recognized the advantages of this formation for her as a trumpeter – how homogeneous and harmonious, for example, the sound of her brass instrument mixes with the woody-warm sound of a rhythm section comprising piano, bass, and drums, how discursive and eloquent improvisation is allowed in this setting.

After their first release in 2011, "Stillness," the quartet has become the ensemble of her choice. As a quartet, Øiseth can express her aesthetic and stylistic preferences, freely combining her conception of modern jazz with the music cultures of the world and the folk music of Norway and Scandinavia. And with her fellow countryman Espen Berg, she has a pianist at her side who understands how to harmoniously underpin her fanfare-like themes on the trumpet and bukkehorn and her dynamically structured improvisational skills. For her new quartet album "Garden On The Roof," Øiseth has further refined the parameters of her jazz music. In the opener "Prelude to Waking," she makes it clear in a free dialogue with drummer Per Oddvar Johansen and Berg that the goat horn has long since become an integral instrument of her improvisational music, while in the following "Luringen," she engages in a sophisticated play of illusion.

Combined with Øiseth's wordless singing, a pendulating harmony, and an almost dancing groove from bassist Magne Thormodsæter and Johansen, she develops a simple and singable melody first on the goat horn and then on the trumpet, reminiscent of what is often found in the folk songs of Scandinavia.

Her enjoyment of the play of illusion is further demonstrated when she invites guitarist Nils-Olav Johansen as a guest in her quartet. While Øiseth engages in a free play of improvisational forces with the guitarist in "Pups and Cups," Johansen solos over the chords of the title track with almost classical single-note lines on his guitar, while in "In Limbo," he engages in an oscillating dialogue with the trumpeter.

That Øiseth is also a political artist is shown at the end of "Garden On The Roof." In "About Peace," she calls for a differentiated view of the many war conflicts around the world and sees the victims of all parties, while she wishes to give a voice to the refugees who have unknownly died on the way to a better future with her "Refugee Anthem"; a strong statement indeed from Hildegunn Øiseth and the musicians of her quartet.

Admission: 1 hour before the event starts.

Event data provided by: Reservix