Gisle Torvik
Biography Gisle Torvik
Gisle Torvik
It has been more than 20 years since Gisle Torviks life changed for ever. He was just a normal teenager in Torvikbygd in the region of Hardanger, Norway, when he rummaged in the attic of his parents house in that typical mixture of boredom and curiosity and found an old Höfner acoustic guitar. His father offered to teach him some chords, but 18 year old Gisle had his own plan: 'I always wanted to play solos, just like Mark Knopfler'. We are lucky he was such a stubborn young man as today we can count him amongst the best jazz guitarists in Skandinavia. And by the way, he did also learn to play some chords in the last 20 years.
His new, third full length studio album can impress with a broad range of styles. First of all the listener can find those contemplative, typical Skandinavian musical paintings one would expect from an album called “Tranquil Fjord”. Some songs make you want to lean back and simply relax to Gisle Torviks warm and soft guitar tone. But Torvik and his trio have a way more versatile palette, calling you back to reality from your comfortable place at the 'tranquil fjord' in your mind with some vivid, energetic Bebop and Blues. No wonder a music critic once wrote Gisle Torviks music is rooted equally in Skandinavian and American jazz.
It's due to Gisle Toviks unique style and fantastic technique, the sensitive interplay within the band and the warm production that these two extremes go together and form a mature jazz record that is so much more than sheer Norwegian jazz-kitsch. With 'Tranquil Fjord' Gisle Torvik has really found his musical voice(s).
Being extremely talented as a guitar player but also as a songwriter and arranger, Gisle Torvik was discovered and supported from a young age by important figures of Norwegian music such as Sigmund Groven, Hilde Norbakken and Karl Seglem, who made this album possible as executive producer.
