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Håkon Kornstad and Oslo jazzensemble – Mid Atlantic

  • Tirsdag 06. mai
  • 19:00
  • Stavanger Konserthus - Zetlitz
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Maijazz marks the Emigration Jubilee and the Shipping City of Stavanger with the “Mid-Atlantic” performance!

This year marks 200 years since the first organized Norwegian emigration to the United States took place, when the ship named Restauration set sail from Stavanger to New York. The year was 1825. When the steamboats began to make their way across the Atlantic some decades later, it was the start of a cultural revolution which is still very much in evidence today. In this very special concert performance, Håkon Kornstad and the Oslo Jazz Ensemble transport us on a crossing inspired by Mid-Atlantic – also known as the British-American lingo of the interwar years adopted in cultural circles and by the upper echelons of society.

Jazz is a product of the voluntary meeting between Europe and Africa in the new world. European opera and art music crossed paths with the emigrants’ folk music and the first influences of spirituals and blues, brought over in chains from West Africa. This is in reference to the forced migration of millions of Africans to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade. A direct connection between Berlin and Broadway was created by the steamboats, with melodies and harmony becoming joint property on both sides of the Atlantic. Many European musical greats voyaged westwards during the interwar years, whilst the jazz pioneers´ embarkations took them in the opposite direction. This created a catalyst for musical development, and the mutual influence between European art music and American jazz can be easily traced.

The revered jazz saxophonist and opera tenor Håkon Kornstad is all set to board DS Stavangerfjord along with the mighty Oslo Jazz Ensemble. The passenger list is an impressive one, featuring a host of historical musical counterparts such as Richard Strauss, Duke Ellington, Giuseppe Verdi, Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Charlie Mingus, Art Tatum and Sergej Rakhmaninov. Each made a valuable contribution to the breakneck musical development which took place at the beginning of the 19th. century and they were undoubtedly influenced by one another.

In 1928, Maurice Ravel visited his American colleague, George Gershwin. They wandered from club to club in Harlem, enjoying hot jazz and Lindy Hop dancing at The Savoy Ballroom, and perhaps also a young Louis Armstrong at Connie´s Inn. They attended a concert by Duke Ellington and his band at The Cotton Club, where the jazz version of Rakhmaninov´s prelude in C-sharp minor featured in the repertoire. Rakhmaninov and his family emigrated, in fact, on the very DS Stavangerfjord from Oslo in the autumn of 1918, dividing the rest of his life between the US and Europe. Another legendary immigrant to dock on American shores was the legendary pianist, Vladimir Horowitz. He was spotted on more than one occasion sneaking around the jazz clubs of New York in disguise whenever Art Tatum happened to be playing the piano.

In this upcoming Mid-Atlantic concert performance, opera singer and jazz saxophonist Håkon Kornstad and an expanded Oslo Jazz Ensemble will resurrect European and American opera and jazz hits illustrating the close musical relationship between European art music and American jazz.

And where could be a more natural location for this concert to be held, than at the very Stavanger Concert Hall, right next to the port from which both Restauration and DS Stavangerfjord set sail!

 

Contributors:
Håkon Kornstad (soloist and musical director)
Frank Brodahl (on trumpet)
Marius Haltli (on trumpet)
Anders Eriksson (on trumpet)
Even Skatrud (on trombone)
Nils Andreas Granseth (on trombone)
Ingrid Utne (on bass trombone)
Martin Myhre Olsen (on soprano saxophone and alto saxophone)
Børge-Are Halvorsen (on tenor saxophone, flute and alto flute)
Atle Nymo (on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet)
Tina Lægreid Olsen (on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet)
Kalle Moberg (on accordion)
Anders Aarum (on grand piano and keyboards)
Gunnar Flagstad (on grand piano)
Trygve Waldemar Fiske (on bass)
Håkon Mjåset Johansen (on drums)
Concept, manuscript and production: Håkon Kornstad and Anders Eriksson
Sound: Thor-Ivar Lund
Lighting and visuals: Tor S. Ditlevsen/Superlys

Music arrangers: Eivind Buene, Erlend Skomsvoll, Knut Kristiansen, Håkon Kornstad and Anders Eriksson

Photo: Petter Bratland

“There are many references to travel in the world of music. Rarely has it been more fitting to use the term than at this very concert, or perhaps more accurately, at this performance. Håkon Kornstad was the consummate travel guide.” (Nettavisen, 15/08/2024).

 

We are grateful for the extra support for the “Mid-Atlantic” project from Stavanger Kommune, Rogaland Fylkeskommune, and Inge Steensland’s foundation.

Photo: Nina Holtan