Grammy-winning and Pulitzer-nominated Maria Schneider returns to Norway with her masterpiece Data Lords, and the ensemble of her choice to perform this music in Europe is Oslo Jazzensemble.
Over the last thirty years, American Maria Schneider had made a deep impact in the jazz world with her masterly orchestration. She is a visionary musician, composer and orchestra leader who wants the music to mean something.
The title Data Lords points to the great technology giants, and the work has its origins in Schneider's political commitment and critical look at our hyper-digital contemporary world, where a few huge companies capitalize on all the data we feed them.
Such ideas make great music.
The music is symphonic, epic and full of contrasts. The work has two parts - "The Digital World" and "Our Natural World". Listening to Data Lords can best be compared to watching a movie on the big screen. She adds color to every detail in an enormous soundscape at the same time as the listener experiences wholeness through the long lines.
The album Data Lords (2020) won two Grammy Awards, was nominated for album of the year 2020 by NPR's Jazz Critics Poll, in addition to receiving a nomination for the world's most prestigious award for literature and journalism, the Pulitzer Prize.
Maria Schneider was acquainted with the Norwegian musicians in Oslo Jazzensemble in 2014. OJE performed with Schneider when she was Artist in Residence at Moldejazz in 2018, and it was here that the title track "Data Lords" was performed for the first time.