FRED VAN HOVE (BE) / AB BAARS (NL)
Fred Van Hove teams up with the Dutch saxophonist and clarinetist Ab Baars for his second performance at ALL EARS 2016. Baars has been performing and recording since the 1970s, developing an entirely idiosyncratic style of playing characterized by playfulness and a healthy disregard for convention. Baars is a member of the ICP Orchestra, and has worked with musicians from a wide range of styles, including Han Bennink, Jaap Blonk, Anthony Braxton and The Ex.
WAAAHAWAD:
Nora Fiona Erik sen (N0) / Fredrik Falk (No)
We Are All Alone Here And We Are Dead (NO) is an experimental duo consisting of Nora Fiona Eriksen and Fredrik Falk. Eriksen started out in Oslos underground rock scene, but a love of everything weird and loud led her to Falk, similarly obsessed with noise and drone. Through gloomy ambience, pling plong and harsh noise, WAAAHAWAD perform improvised storytelling beyond words. They will be joined by Oslo-based visual artist Peter Horneland.
FEN: FAR EAST NETWORK:
Otomo Yoshihide (JP) / Ryu Hankil (SK) /
YUEN Chee Wai (SG) / Yan Jun (CHN)
FEN, or Far East Network , is an improvised music group founded by Otomo Yoshihide, including himself, Yan Jun, Ryu Hankil and Yuen Chee Wai, all well known figures in the experimental music scenes of their respective home cities of Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and Bejiing. They promise a concert that “could be intense and noisy, or super quiet, sometimes with melody and poetry. Anything is possible”.
TIPPLE: Frode Gjerstad (NO) / Kevin Norton
(US ) / David Watson (US)
When asked by ALL EARS to pick the musicians he’d most like to perform with, Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad chose his free improvising TiPPLE trio. Gjerstad has been a key figure and champion of Norwegian free jazz and improvised music since the seventies, with his dedication to the cause proving a huge inspiration to a younger generation of musicians. Kevin Norton is a renowned American percussionist and composer. In high demand as a player, Norton was Anthony Braxton’s drummer of choice for years, as well as working with the likes of Fred Frith and European improvisors Joelle Léandre and Gjerstad. His most recent projects include compositions for various sized chamber groups and a duo with pianist Connie Crothers. Also based in New York, but originally from New Zealand, experimental electric guitarist and bagpipe player David Watson completes the trio. By now a seasoned affair with three records to their name, Gjerstad describes the group as “not constantly loud, but reflective and moving”.
HEDVIG MOLLESTAD THOMMASEN (NO)
Guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen, once named “Young jazz talent of the year” at the Moldejazz festival, has toured the world with her own Hedvig Mollestad Trio – a high-energy outfit inspired by 1970’s heavy rock, fusing everything from free jazz, prog and psychedelia. Outside the trio, she has performed regularly with Jon Eberson, Hilde Marie Kjersem and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. She will be performing solo at ALL EARS 2016.
