Dave (with some theft from Steve) says:

This gig was powerful. Four guys who were masters of their instruments (and thus respected in the industry and much in demand) blew their socks off.

Tony Kofi was the band leader; he brought only the baritone sax. He played it rough, a growl that went right through you. He played it sweet, in lively ballads. He loves quotes, and he can sustain a note for many bars.

The technique is ‘circular breathing’. With a mouth full of air, you sustain a note while breathing in. Instantly switch to blowing from your lungs, while filling you mouth. Repeat forever. It amazes me that he can do this on a baritone, which takes a lot of puff. Most musicians, when they do this, make quite  a show of it. Not Tony. It looks like he is playing an 18 bar riff.

It always surprises me what musicians have to do to get to where they do what they love. Tony drove for over 3 hours to get to us. He then did the sound check with people on ladders focusing lights. It wasn’t that long ’till eight o’clock, and from the first note we got all the power. By “Bossallegro” he was smiling, fully into the work of his colleagues. He gave us a great encore even though he was off to Romania and then the Paris festival in the morning.

When a favourite player comes, you kind of expect something of the same. Not the case with the organ of Pete Whittaker. His bass was different, appropriate to this band. I think he must have been using different stops, because the timbre seemed sharper for most tunes. His immense solos were a gift, and it was worth serious listening to his accompaniment. He also quoted, which I don’t remember him doing much on other occasions. He even made the drummer smile with a quote.

The drummer was Peter Cater. He doesn’t smile a lot. He was featured a lot on this gig. His instrument is a standard drum kit, and he did not augment it with banging anything else other than the drum heads and cymbals. He has huge skill and his power was just right for this quartet. He also has an interesting style compared with other drummers – the only real movement is in his wrists, the rest of his body remains calm, but his sound swings like a demon!

Organ and guitar are an interesting combination. Simon Fernsby often doubled the organ (and sax on one number). Making one instrument out of two makes a different and interesting sound. The choice of material was ideal for Pete and Simon – lots of warm funky, danceable soul-jazz grooves. This was most evident in “Full House” and “Mac Tough”. Simon brought a collection of stomp boxes, and used them subtly. The power was in his playing, not the timbre. 

The programme gave us lots of variation in combinations of instruments.   For example, the interplay between Simon, Pete and Peter as a trio was a delight to watch and listen to.

Thanks to Steve for producing the setlist.

On Wednesday 22 September, we start our autumn season with a beauty. Vasilis Xenopoulos and Paul Edis bring there uartet “Feels Like Home”. Paul’s pianism and Vasilis’ saxophony are joined with John Williamson on bass and Billy Pod on drums. It would be great to see you there.

Take care,

Dave

FLEECE JAZZ 28/8/24

1. The Hustler – Stanley Turrentine
2. Bossallegro –  Pepper Adams
3. Search For Peace – McCoy Tyner
4. Full House – Wes Montgomery
5. Moontrane – Woody Shaw
6. Mac Tough – Pat Martino

*          *          *           *         *        *        *

7. Things Ain’t What They Used To Be – Duke Ellington
8. Summer In Central Park – Horace Silver
9. Jeanine – George Benson
10. Easy Living – Billie Holiday
11. The Visit – Pat Martino
12. Ode To Billie Joe – Bobby Gentry
13. Encore: A Night In Tunisia – Dizzy Gillespie

Dave said:

I was very much looking forward to the Oddgeir Berg Trio, and my expectations were exceeded. It was one of those gigs where you could feel the listening almost as well as you could hear the sound. 

A friend asked me about the gig, and I told him that it was an easy one to rig: piano micing as usual, bass and a talk mic. Wrong.

The wonderful bassist, Audun Ramo came with a set of stomp boxes and without a bass amp. Between Gerry and I, we rigged a powered monitor for him as his foldback, and took a lead for me at the desk from the monitor. Audun used his bow a lot during the show, beautiful. 

The leader, Oddgeir Berg, brought a suitcase full of kit. A music stand with the top horizontal on either side of the piano held the stomp box on his left, and a keyboard on his right. The effects were used gently. Some of the tunes (all by Oddgeir) were about the landscapes of northern Norway, and family past and present. The effects he used evoked the feeling of that scenery, and the emotions of loss.

Lars Bernstein on drums had no electronics. He did have a huge range of sound out of his kit.

My friend asked me to describe the programme in a few words. The best I could do was Norwegian Jazz Noir. A lot of the music was indeed dark, and always intense, but there were jolly tracks too. Oddgeir presented the show with grace and humour.

I truly hope that we book this band again.

On the 28 of August, we welcome back Tony Kofi, complete with the Organization. Peter Cator is the drummer, Simon Fernsby the guitarist and Pete Whittaker the organist. Tony is advertised as using his baritone sax, but I would be surprised if he didn’t bring a trio of saxes. I hope to see you there.

Steve said:

Every music fan should experience a Scandinavian Jazz Piano Trio live gig at least once. There was something for everyone last night at Fleece Jazz as we welcomed back The Oddgeir Berg Trio (last here in March 2023), who are currently on their European tour from their homeland of Norway. 

The warmth and charm of pianist Oddgeir Berg compering between numbers set the tone of the whole evening with music to complement his style of delivery.  His songwriting injects elements of classical music into melodic piano jazz with occasional rock grooves via distorted electronic ambient sounds reminiscent of the Esbjorn Svensson Trio.

The setlist was largely from the new album: ‘A place called Home’, much of which was about his parents as well as the beauty of his area of Norway. It was the quieter, reflective numbers that drew most approval such as ‘Song for My Mother’ and ‘Triste’ in the first set, but a standout after the interval was the much more animated and extended ‘Vagabond’ which effortlessly segued via some freestyle piano into Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now’, reminding us of how indebted Scandinavian Jazz is to its own folk tunes.

The warm lyricism of the music was so rapturously received that all copies of the new album on CD were sold out during the interval. Any vinyl copies had been sent to Germany by the record company, but a new format known as Tap-Tape was available – billed as the lovechild of vinyl and streaming, I saw one brave soul buy one.

THE ODDGEIR BERG TRIO SETLIST, FLEECE JAZZ 14/8/24

All compositions by Oddgeir Berg except for 14

1. Here Comes The Toughest
2. Into the Mountains (Sula)
3. Circles
4. As We Wander Around
5. Perpetuum Mobile
6. Song For My Mother
7. Hommage (sic) (Dance Like Nobody’s Watching)
8. Triste

*          *          *           *         *        *        *

9. Epilogue
10. Happiness Is Where You Are
11. Where The Sun Never Sleeps
12. The Escape
13. Vagabond
14. Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
15. Post Mortem

Encore: Lullaby for A.O.