Sentralen Full Weekend Pass

A total overview of all concerts at Sentralen Friday 18th and Saturday the 19th of August | Oslo Jazzfestival 2023

FRIDAY 18TH OF AUGUST

Eyolf Dale solo Marmorsalen 17:00

Bêl Forstanderskapssalen 18:00

Schntzl Kronesalen 19:00

Mathias Eick Quintet Marmorsalen 20:00

NOUT Hvelvet 21:00

Kaja Draksler & Susana Santos Silva Forstanderskapssalen 22:00

The Lost Quartet Kronesalen 23:00

Isaiah Collier: I AM Hvelvet 00:00

Eyolf Dale solo

Sentralen, Marmorsalen

One of the most exciting improvisational musicians in the North

Norwegian pianist and composer, Eyolf Dale is known for both his solo work, successful collaborations with a great number of jazz artists, and from renowned bands like Eyolf Dale Trio, Wolf Valley, Albatrosh, Daniel Herskedal, Hayden Powell Trio, and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Since his solo debut in 2011 Dale has established himself as one of the leading pianists of his generation.

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Both as a sideman and a solo performer, he has performed all over Europe, as well as toured in the US, Japan, and China. Dale's solo work showcases the mature lyrical introspection that’s often associated with Norwegian jazz, but equally, there is an explorative curiosity and restless free elements in his music that is also becoming an emergent hallmark of the younger Nordic improvisers.

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We welcome you to an exclusive solo concert in Marmorsalen at Sentralen on Friday the 18th of August. This will be a unique chance to experience one of the most exciting improvisational musicians in the North. Eyolf Dale will be replacing Bobo Stenson who had to cancel his performance.

Eyolf Dale (piano)

Concert starts 17:00

Doors 16:00

Bêl

Sentralen, Forstanderskapssalen

Liberated from the traditional rules of jazz

The Norwegian quintet Bêl plays chamber music with fleeting role distribution, completely liberated from the traditional rules of jazz. Their music “sings of the Contemporary” - Arild R. Andersen.

In 2022 they recorded their debut album - My Head Is About To Explode, which received glowing reviews by the likes of Jazznytt, Citizen Jazz (FR), and Jazz in Norway.

By integrating serialism to a strong rhythmic foundation, the band has developed a repertoire that, thanks to its great unpredictability, both captures and challenges the listener. In between the ripping solos meandering a polyrhythmic landscape and vulnerable harmonies performed with intensity and strong presence.

Sol Léna–Schroll (alto saxophone and more), Tore Ljøkelsøy (drums), Joel Ring (cello), Magnus Løvseth (tuba), Sigrid Aftret (tenor saxophone).

Concert starts 18:00

Doors 17:00

Schntzl

Sentralen, Kronesalen

Pop music from a parallel universe

Schntzl is a Belgian duo that creates hyper visual music, provocative but kind. Their music can be heard as pop music of a parallel universe, a teardown of established values but with a taste for kitsch.

The two musicians first met at the ages of 12 and 14 and have never stopped playing together since. Accompanied by their percussion, samplers, keyboards, and drums they function as a fail-safe orchestra of two people, dancing and orbiting around each other. Their music sees improvisation intertwined with fully arranged compositions.

Casper Van De Velde (percussion and drums), Hendrik Lasure (keys)

Concert starts 19:00

Doors 18:00

Mathias Eick Quintet

Sentralen, Marmorsalen

The testimony of an evolved artist

Since the beginning of the 2000s, trumpeter, composer, and band leader Mathias Eick have been referred to as one of the world’s greatest jazz talents. While his past releases have been characterized by a life on the road constantly aiming for new goals and destinations, his newest and fifth release is a testimony of an evolved artist that has found his unique expression and is on the way home.

Mathias Eick has received high praise and multiple awards such as Jazz Festivals Organization's International Jazz Talent, the Statoil Grant, and the DNB Award. After finishing his degree at the jazz conservatory in Trondheim, he made great successes with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra featuring Chick Corea, Jaga Jazzist, Iro Haarla, Manu Katché, Elvira Nikolaisen, and Jacob Young.

Eick has been touring worldwide in various constellations since releasing his first record on ECM, The Door (2008) and has contributed on more than 100 recordings as both trumpeter, vibraphonist, double-bassist, and pianist. Now it's time to experience him and his dream team of musicians at Oslo Jazzfestival 2023.

Mathias Eick (trumpet), Andreas Ulvo (keys), Jonny Sjo (bass), Martin Myhre Olsen (alto saxophone), Torstein Lofthus (drums)

Concert starts 20:00

Doors 19:00

NOUT

Sentralen, Hvelvet

With the enthusiasm of a mad scientist

The collaboration between french Delphine Joussein, Rafaëlle Rinaudo, and Blanche Lafuente aims at pushing their instruments beyond their limits, with the enthusiasm of a mad scientist in front of his vials. Earlier this year, the trio was awarded Europe Jazz Network’s Zenith Award for emerging artists.

Flute, harp, drums: a rare combination that this trio turns upside down. In the wake of John Zorn's experiences on the borders of jazz and noise, Nout imagines its music as a scenario with surprising twists: we believe to be Ellen Ripley in Alien but we find ourselves in Indiana Jones; we start with our eyes shut on the red seat of a movie theater and we end up rocking in a moshpit.

Delphine Joussein (flute, fx), Rafaëlle Rinaudo (electric harp), Blanche Lafuente (drums)

Concert starts 21:00

Doors 20:00

Kaja Draksler & Susana Santos Silva

Sentralen, Forstanderskapssalen

A flow so organic they make it sound easy

Of Slovenian origin, Kaja Draksler combines classical and jazz motifs, elements from the traditional music of her country and the study of the inner structures of Cecil Taylor’s improvisations. She is a captivating and adventurous player, brimming with ideas and as exciting to behold for the nuances of detail in her playing, as for her strong feeling for rhythm.

Active in both the mainstream and the avant-garde scenes in Europe , trumpeter Susana Santos Silva brings to this duo everything she has been known for in her many other projects, in a more intimate context: Namely, her warm, tightly focused, lyrical and yet highly geometrical style.

To those who have followed these two musicians in their various configurations, there was probably a certain inevitability to their coming together as a duo, which has finally happened after 10 years of playing in various other constellations.

Their first recording as a duo on Clean Feed records titled This Love, is a document of creativity at its highest level. It captures the duo moving back and forth between composition and improvisation, the flow so organic that one could be forgiven for forgetting that it takes musicians of exceptional ability, sensitivity and inventiveness to make music like this sound so effortlessly natural.

Kaja Draksler (piano), Susana Santos Silva (trumpet)

Concert starts 22:00

Doors 21:00

The Lost Quartet

Sentralen, Kronesalen

Myhre Olsen/Slettevoll/Reinert Poulsen/Lofthus plays Wayne Shorter and more

Even though the members of this star spangled quartet each have long careers as part of some of the biggest bands on the Norwegian jazz scene - like Red Kite, Wako, Espen Berg Trio, The Core, Hedvig Mollestad and Elephant9 to mention a few, this constellation is new for everyone.

Their musical expression is heavily inspired by 1960s American jazz with Miles Davis’ second quintet and the solo records of Wayne Shorter, with the addition of Miles’ Lost Quintet as a point of reference. The quartet interprets the music with love for its tradition, mixed with their four strong voices and broad experiences, creating something new based on tracks they truly love.

Martin Myhre Olsen (saxophones), Erlend Slettevoll (keys), Bárður Reinert Poulsen (bass), Torstein Lofthus (drums)

Concert starts 23:00

Doors 22:00

Isaiah Collier: I AM

Sentralen, Hvelvet

Music designed to connect with another realm

Out of the vibrant Chicago scene, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and activist Isaiah Collier has made a name for himself as a saxophone player, be it with his own projects or at the side of artists like Chance The Rapper, Waddada Leo Smith III, Junius Paul and many more.

Cosmic Transitions (2021), his last release with his band The Chosen Few, was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's legendary Studio on Coltrane’s birthday, using some of the same analog equipment that was used for the original recording session of A Love Supreme. It showcases Collier’s extensive musical range and expressive talent, and honors the tradition in which it inscribes itself, whilst also remaining decisively forward-looking. About I AM (2022) Collier has said that one of their goals was to revisit some ideas from an exchange during “Mercury’s Retrograde” from Cosmic Transitions and explore their spiritual consciousnesses more deeply through sound.

Collier has been referred to as a musical virtuoso “in the truest sense” and one of last year’s most rewarding listens, thanks to his transformative and open-ended music. Some would even say he is “the new Coltrane”.

Isaiah Collier (saxophones), Michael Shekwoaga Ode (drums)

Concert starts 00:00

Doors 23:00

SATURDAY 19TH OF AUGUST

Aila Trio Forstanderskapssalen 18:00

Farida Amadou & Julien Desprez Hvelvet 19:00

Mats Gustafsson: Hidros9 Marmorsalen 20:00

Kristina Fransson: Coincidences Kronesalen 21:00

Benedicte Maurseth: Hárr Forstanderskapssalen 22:00

Theon Cross Hvelvet 23:00

Selma French Kronesalen 00:00

Aila Trio

Sentralen, Forstanderskapssalen

Evoking a dreamy state

Aila trio is an experimental jazz trio based in Norway. Their compositions, written by bass player Aila Georgia Mae Wartel Collins, can be described as storytelling melodies that evoke a dreamy state.

Based on Georgia's compositions, the three musicians create a shocking landscape of sound, with their punk-like free jazz beats and minimalistic improvisations. There is always room for their individual stories within the frames of the compositions, and the trio is seamlessly navigating the line between improvised and composed material.

In 2019, Aila trio published their debut album Aila trio with HOO-HA recordings. In 2023 their second album Shaped by sea waves will be published with the San Fransisco Bay area based label Edgetone Records.

Georgia Wartel Collins (bass and compositions), Karl Hjalmar Nyberg (saxophone), Andreas Winther (drums)

Concert starts 18:00

Doors 17:00

Farida Amadou & Julien Desprez

Sentralen, Hvelvet

Sharing the language of creative music making

Belgian-French bass and guitar virtuosos Farida Amadou and Julien Desprez do not just speak the same mother tongue, they also share the language of creative music. At the same time, their versatile artistic backgrounds couldn’t be more different, ranging from hip-hop and punk to avant-garde jazz and improvised music.

Once on stage, they perform as if they had been a duo for years. After their first spontaneous encounter in 2019, it quickly became clear that this high quality collaboration had to be continued.

Et voilà! Get ready for a hyper-dynamic overkill for nine strings and a hotplate of effect pedals, distilled to a beautiful wall of sound, somewhere between industrial, free form improvisation, and drone. Enjoy the sonic experience live when Amadou’s crunchy bass lines and pulsing noise patterns fuse with the stochastically shrieking fireworks of the guitar, culminating in a sheer listening pleasure.

Amadou/Desprez are not your everyday-freejazzers, they play music for the 21st century.

Farida Amadou (bass), Julien Desprez (guitar)

Concert starts 19:00

Doors 18:00

Mats Gustafsson: Hidros9

Marmorsalen, Sentralen

A free associative interplay between artists

Hidros9 is an interaction between graphic works, two chamber groups, four soloists, electronics, and the conductor. The piece was commissioned by Avant Art Foundation and composed by Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. The program is the result of cooperation between five organizations, including Oslo Jazzfestival.

This new piece is a deeper exploration and continuation of the previous piece Hidros o.T. (2019). The piece is layered with interaction, new musical perspectives, forms and frictions. All of them linked to the graphic scores and works of Austrian artist Mathias Pöschl as well as the conductive composing of Mats Gustafsson.

By controlling 3 different instrument groups: two chamber ensembles, the soloist group and electronics, the conductor is able to use 3 different kinds of graphics and models of conductions. Rules are set by the composer and executed live by the conductor in an instant conducting situation, where tempo, dynamics, density and other musical parameters are controlled by predetermined rules of conductions.

What will give the piece a special body, character and profile is the meeting between more traditional instruments, traditions and new technology - All in an instant conducting session where the groups and the soloists interact.

We can’t wait to experience this sensory musical explosion at Oslojazz 2023.

Mats Gustafsson (conduction)

NyMusikk Trondheim Ensemble: Eira Bjørnstad Foss (violin), Matilda Rolfsson (bass drum), Lars Ove Fossheim (guitar), Michael F. Duch (bass), Øyvind Engen (cello), Kyrre Laastad (percussion and electronics), Nicolas Leirtrø (bass), Daniel Formo (organ and prepared piano), Maren Sofie Nyland Johansen (accordion)

Avant Art Ensemble: Teoniki Rozynek (violin), Dominika Korzeniecka (bass drum), Szymon Wójcik (guitar and electronics), Rafał Różalski (bass), Magdalena Bojanowicz (cello), Qba Janicki (percussion and electronics), Paweł Romańczuk (bass), Barbara Drazkov (organ and prepared piano), Zbigniew Chojnacki (accordion)

Soloist group: Colin Stetson (amplified bass saxophone), Anders Nyqvist (trumpets), Hedvig Mollestad (guitar), Per-Åke Holmlander (tuba and cimbasso)

Electronics group: Dieb13 (turntables), Jérôme Noetinger (revox tape recorder), Mikael Werliin (sound)

Concert starts 20:00

Doors 19:00

Kristina Fransson: Coincidences

Sentralen, Kronesalen

Everything and nothing is a coincidence

USBL-jazztalent prize recipient of 2022, Kristina Fransson is making her debut as a band leader, trumpeter Kristina Fransson has gathered a group of friends and colleagues to honor the coincidences. With music based on every meeting, every serendipitous encounter, every hit and every miss that makes life life, this curious band highlights the unpredictable in every seemingly random choice made by the unconscious.

The band consists of musicians from different backgrounds, strung together by Fransson’s versatility, both instrumentally and genre-wise. At this concert, jazz and improvisation meet pop and electronica in a playful performance where everything and nothing is a coincidence.

Kristina Fransson (trumpet and electronics), Georgia Wartel Collins (bass), Leah Engevold (keys and vocals), Jomar Jeppsson Søvik (drums and electronics)

Concert starts 21:00

Doors 20:00

Benedicte Maurseth: Hárr

Sentralen, Forstanderskapssalen

One of the best folk music albums in the world

Benedicte Maurseth is a well-established and esteemed performer and composer on Norway’s music scene. Maurseth and her Hardanger fiddle has toured extensively as a soloist and in collaboration with others, both in Norway and internationally. Maurseth has written music for theater and film and other commissioned works for festivals as well as her own albums.

Håkon Stene is an awarded Norwegian drummer that specializes in modern music and early music. He has been one of the country's leading percussionists for 15 years, but has also been recognised internationally. Mats Eilertsen is a Norwegian bass player, composer, and band leader. He is featured on more than 100 albums, and known as an emotional, melodic, and lyrical musician with emphasis on ensemble play. Norwegian pianist, producer, and composer Morten Qvenild is recognised for his artistic breadth and openness. He has been an active musician within european jazz and other similar genres since 1998 and has been touring internationally for all of these years.

These four musicians will be performing Maurseths latest album Hárr (2022), which was awarded «Best Nordic album of the year» and received the prestigious Nordic Music Prize for 2022. It was also highlighted as one of the ten best folk music albums in the world by The Guardian. 

Benedicte Maurseth (Hardanger fiddle), Håkon Stene (drums), Mats Eilertsen (bass), Morten Qvenild (piano)

Concert starts 22:00

Doors 21:00

Theon Cross

Sentralen, Hvelvet

Reinventing the tuba in light of diasporic bass culture

Theon Cross is one of those rare musicians whose vision has redefined their instrument. Through his combination of technical mastery, studio smarts, and expansive vision, the power and originality of Theon’s playing has reinvented the tuba’s place in modern music. The flexibility and power of his sound has made him an indispensable presence across the current UK jazz scene, and beyond jazz he has worked with grime megastar Stormzy, and played alongside major musical figures across genres.

Exploring the tuba’s possibilities in the light of diasporic bass culture – ‘Afro-Diaspora Music’ or ADM, as he calls it – Theon has worked to develop the full sonic spectrum of his instrument, transforming it into a total 21st century sound-system, powered by breath. Using the instrument’s ability to produce sub-sonics, bass, mids, and tops, Theon creates complete sound-worlds, building up from rhythm and bass to arrive at melody.

Theon’s debut release, Aspiration (2015) led to a Jazz FM nomination as Best Newcomer, and a Parliamentary Award nomination for Best Instrumentalist. His new album, Intra-I (meaning ‘Within Self ’) syntheses the diversity of his musical art and experience to deliver an essential message to a world gripped by tribulation. ‘In a period of isolation, when our perception of control over our circumstances is in questionable condition, we seek moments of peace,’ says Theon of the album.

Theon Cross (tuba), Nikolas Ziakras (guitar), Chelsea Carmichael (saxophone), Patrick Boyle (drums)

Concert starts 23:00

Doors 22:00

Selma French

Sentralen, Kronesalen

Norway’s best kept musical secret

Selma French is a Norwegian singer, composer and fiddle player. She is already well-known on the Norwegian folk-scene as a member of bands such as Norwegian grammy nominated Masåva and Norwegian grammy winner Morgonrode. She has also toured and worked with artists like Frøkedal & Familien, Siv Jakobsen and The Switch.

Her music reveals an admiration for Norwegian and English folk music, as well as containing an airy energy from somewhere unknown. Her debut album Changes like the weather in the mountain, consisting of Selma’s songs wrapped in electric guitar, wurlitzer, fiddles and some high pitched choir voices. The album was released last year and received praise from the critics

Selma French (vocals, guitar), Anna Ueland (synth, vocals), Christian Winther (guitar), Andreas Winther (drums), Erik Sollid (fiddle, vocals)

Concert starts 00:00

Doors 23:00

18 years age limit