Today one of the most influential figures of Scandinavian jazz, pianist Bugge Wesseltoft released back in 1996 the album New Conception of Jazz with his eponymous band.
This is the album that started it all, the album with which Bugge started to change the perception of jazz while founding his own record label Jazzland Recordings in the same year. Twenty years later, Wesseltoft proved to be a prolific author whose trademark became merging electronic club music and acoustic jazz.
For the latest discography release titled Somewhere in Between, that his Jazzland officially released today, Wesseltoft selected 20 compositions from the past 20 years performed by various ensembles, starting from collaboration with German producer Henrik Schwarz or a song from the acclaimed album recorded in a duet with singer Sidsel Endresen to cooperations with Dhafer Youssef, Hakon Kornstad, Erik Truffaz, Joshua Redman and others.
Several compositions were re-recorded with the current members of the band New Conception of Jazz consisting of young, but energetic female musicians, with whom Wesseltoft will also open the 20th edition of Jazz Fest Sarajevo on 2 November at Bosanski kulturni centar.
The retrospective CD represents a whole spectrum of different musical interests of this extraordinary Norwegian artist, from music you listen to on a rainy night to music for the dance floor, from playful to sentimental moods, each end every one supremely ruled by Bugge.
Concert tickets for Bugge Wesseltoft’s New Conception of Jazz can be purchased at this link or booked at this link. The same ticket is valid for the concert of Rob Mazurek Sao Paulo Underground, taking place on the same evening at 22.00 at Bosanski kulturni centar.
Compositions from the album Somewhere in Between can be heard at this link.