Exclusive: Oslo Jazz Festival Orchestra premiere music ahead of Ronnie Scott’s date

To mark this milestone five leading Norwegian jazz musicians have come together to form the Oslo Jazz Festival Orchestra, playing specially commissioned music for the event. Featuring renowned trumpeter Mathias Eick, saxophonist Trygve Seim, pianist Jon Balke, drummer Gard Nilssen and rising star bassist Ellen Andreas Wang the band’s collective experience spans the last 30 years of Norwegian jazz.

Pianist Balke’s previous work includes formative stints with Jon Christensen, Arild Andersen and Nils Petter Molvær in Masqualero, while Eick made his name with prog-jazzers Jaga Jazzist and has three solo albums on ECM and bassist Wang is among the vibrant new generation of 20something talents on the scene. Her band Pixel also perform the opening support slot on the London date at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club on 5 January, which is the first on their short European tour, followed by concerts at the Bimhaus, Amsterdam on 6 January and the LantarenVenster, Rotterdam on 7 January.

With iconic saxophonist Jan Garbarek confirmed to open the 2016 Oslo Jazz Festival at the city’s stunning opera house on Sunday 14 August, in a band alongside Indo-jazz percussion star Trilok Gurtu, Jazzwise is pleased to present the world premiere of five pieces by the Oslo Jazz Festival Orchestra on this teaser clip below:





– Mike Flynn

For more info visit www.oslojazz.com