West Wind Drift Jonas Sjøvaag, Karl Seglem & Sigurd Hole

• 1 Wisconsin 09:06
• 2 Wichita 10:02
• 3 Wayfarer 04:18
• 4 Widdershins 09:01
• 5 Walkover 06:20
• 6 Willow 05:11
• 7 Warren 06:02
• Total Runtime 50:00

Info for West Wind Drift

An improvised meeting between musicians that have know each other for years, can be either boring, bland or magical. In this case, the latter might suffice, but only when adding 'inspiring' to the description.

Sjøvaag, Seglem and Hole usually appear next to each other in Karl Seglem's Acoustic Quartet, a group that have been working since 2007. Hole and Sjøvaag are also two thirds of the cult trio Eple Trio, the third member being pianist Andreas Ulvo, and adds four more years to the collaboration.

On this record, the musicians different capabilities and skills, honed through years of practice, are properly displayed through a live session recorded at Kulturhuset, Oslo, during a concert in the series 'Det Mørke Rommet', the concert also featured live visuals by Jonas Magnussen.

As is typical with these musicians, the main focus is interplay, letting each voice be heard, always holding back; waiting, listening, leaving the center stage open until the time is right to take on the leading role. In this way, the music flows and ebbs, the focus shifts back and forth, and the journey is an exploratory one where the ancient sound of goat horns kickstarts folk-inspired stretches of overtonal improvisation by Hole.

The album reaches it's jazz apex on the track 'Wayfarer.' Here, drums and bass lead the way with a compact and impressively abstract beat, before the tenor sax enters and makes for a classic free jazz listen, where remnants of the musicians previous afflictions with Coleman, Coltrane et. al. are clearly heard.

West Wind Drift is an album where the musicians, usually occupied with Nordic inspirations, lets their vision drift sideways for a moment, acknowledging the ever-present American heartbeat in the jazz genre, and fusing it with Scandinavian impulses. It makes for an album that sucks you in and keeps you there by the power of abstract melodies, deconstructed rhythm and ancient chants, and one that brightly shines on the vibrant Norwegian jazz scene.

Sigurd Hole, bass
Jonas Sjøvaag, drums
Karl Seglem, tenor saxophone, voice, horns [Goat & Antelope Horns]

Jonas H. Sjøvaag
is a multi-talented artist and musician, working with everything from musical improvisational structures, pop music, photography, linographic and other prints, carving, digital artwork and editing, composing, drumming and web developement, to combinations of these or something completely different.

While listing David Hockney, Uta Barth, Tom Waits, Jan Garbarek, Jan Johansson and Hiroshi Sugimoto as major sources of inspiration, Sjøvaag has a unique touch and mode of expression, both in his visual work, as well as in his compositions and lyrics.

Jonas was born in München on Nov. 03, 1978, started playing classical piano at age 5. He had his solo debut with Vestfold Youth Symphony Orchestra at age 11. He started playing drums at age 10, and switched main focus to jazz drums at age 17.

Visual expression through drawing, painting, photography or other outputs has always been a big part of Sjøvaag's daily routine. An autodidact in the field, countless hours has been spent digesting books of technique, perspective, color, anatomy and art philosophy.

Karl Seglem
Seglem's main instrument is the tenor saxophone and he has played an important role on the Norwegian jazz scene. His CD-production counts 19 solo-albums and 17 albums with different ensembles (2017). Already at an early stage in his career he became interested in more diverse and genre crossing perspectives of music. Especially he has been deeply involved with Norwegian folk music and has explored it as a basis for improvisation and composition. For Seglem is much more than an instrumentalist, he has worked widely and diversely as a composer -developing new contemporary forms on the basis of jazz, folk music and more eclectic inspirations- and has also been instrumental to the growth of cross-over expressions and projects as a producer and record label manager for NORCD.

International renown has grown steadily and not least his releases Ossicles, Som spor, JazzBukkBox and Nordic Balm have captivated international critics and audiences. On these records the use of goat horns and other traditional instruments -notably the Hardanger fiddle- is masterly and excitingly blended with a plethora of modern and eclectic elements; electronic loops, jazz improvisation, world music traits and rock characteristics. Seglem often returns to the notion of the acoustic heart of his music, which is the grounded and timeless leitmotif. With this heart intact electronic elements and engineered sounds, as well as genre-specific traits, create a dynamism that is reciprocally enhancing.

In 2010 he received THE BUDDY AWARD, Norwegian highest Jazz award. In 2012 Egil Storbekkens Musikkpris for his work with goat-horns and årets Musikkverk from NOPA, for his comission work to Vossa Jazz 2012 "Som spor" (Like traces). He was awarded the EDVARD prize for his work "Tya" (with R.Skår), and have received other National and local prizes, grants and awards for his work.

Karl Seglem has toured Norway, Scandinavia and Germany, played in the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Japan, Pakistan, India, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Iceland, The Pharaoe Islands, USA among other countries.

Sigurd Hole
grew up on a farm in Rendalen, in a small village with less than has 100 inhabitants. Music was a central part of his childhood, playing the violin from the age of six and then moving on to a slightly bigger stringed instrument, the double bass, at the age of 13. A fortunate change of instrument, although travelling is a bit more stressful..

Sigurd has now been one of the most sought after bass players on the Norwegian music scene for the past decade. He is known from his work with musicians and bands such as Tord Gustavsen trio/quartet, Eple Trio, Bugge Wesseltoft, Karl Seglem, Helge Lien, Jon Eberson, Trygve Seim, Nils Økland and Eli Storbekken. As a bassist he represents an innovative and creative approach to his instrument strongly influenced by Norwegian traditional music. Sigurd has released more than 30 albums with his main projects, and toured extensively worldwide for many years visiting countries like Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Germany, UK, France, Brazil and the Azores. He is also an active composer and arranger, having written music for Eple Trio and Karl Seglem acoustic quartet as well as larger ensembles such as The Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

In 2018 Hole launched his own projects - both solo and trio - as a leader and composer, with the critically acclaimed albums "Elvesang" and "Encounters". 2018 also sees the release of his ECM debut album as part of Tord Gustavsen trio.

In addition to his work as an artist Sigurd teaches double bass at The Norwegian Academy of Music.

This album contains no booklet.