London seems to be brimming with Norwegians at the moment (I’ve not spotted Hanneli Mustaparta yet even though it’s London Fashion week) but there was only one place to be last night and that was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall for I’mpulse 20.

Before we get to Nils Petter Molvær (henceforth NPM), the support band were the unpromisingly named Sing Sing Penelope which may mean something in Polish (where they’re from) but it’s a bit post-punk? But this quintet is very much influenced by early 70s rather than the end of that decade. It might be harsh to think that these guys grew up with a limited stock of smuggled vinyl but this was a bit retro. The keyboard player’s introduction set the tone, “we will play only one song, but its 40 minutes long”; and it was. Based mostly on the funky groove of the bassist, each band member had a chance to shine in the spot light with varying levels of solo; we had ‘Miles Davis’ on trumpet (with EFX and Wah Wah pedal), some quite hard sax blasts, rather Supertramp-esque keys and some rockin’ drums. So whilst it harked back to a Camel/Soft Machine-style Paris Theatre prog-concert, it was very good (especially the more Ian Carr’s Nucleus passages - also see links below) although I think I’d preferred if they’d edited down a bit.

And the difference with Nils Petter Molvær was obvious from the start. Like the master of the horn that he is, from the very first note, he captivated the audience and never lost it throughout the uninterrupted set of the rendition of his latest album Hamada.

Without introduction he went straight into the ‘Exhumation’ on a stage almost totally in the darkness, save for a projection on big screen behind the band. Joining him on stage was Eivind Aarset on guitars (but you couldn’t see him to start with as he was messing around with effects pedals at the start) and Audun Kleive on drums. Both are longstanding Jazzland Record veterans (the label set up by Bugge Wesseltoft) but this trio is certainly not long in the tooth musically.

The darkness certainly made the setting a little eerie and their was a clever shot of a silhouette of NPM playing live on the projector screen on ‘Icy Altitude’. For me, they were at their best on the jazz-rock tracks, especially ‘Friction’ and ‘Cruel Altitude’ (sorry, I’m back on my Ian Carr’s Nucleus fanzone rant).

Hamada is where Miles was travelling to with Agharta and the later Bill Laswell interpretation, Panthalassa; well the Scandinavian version anyway. And if Davis had the modern electrics, I’m sure he’d be into this. That said, I thought the gizmo bits that NPM does with the mike attached to the trumpet would be an uncomfortable distraction but he’s perfected it so well, it’s as integral to the piece as the trumpet itself.

So two nights running finds the QEH are celebrating two trumpeting greats. Tonight it’s the Ian Carr celebration (it was a great honour to meet Ian Carr 5 years ago at Cargo even though he wasn’t very well) and whilst it’s been a bit of a wait for me to finally see Nils Petter Molvær live since I first feel in love with the new Norwegian concept of jazz back in 2002 at the North Sea Jazz Festival (otherwise known as two lost days in a basement), I’d say it was definitely worth the wait.

If you get the chance to see either Nils Petter Molvaer and/or Sing Sing Penelope, it’s well worth it as there is still future jazz from Norway/Poland coming out to Norway and Poland.

Concert Dates:
18th Feb - St George’s, Bristol
21st Feb - The Sage, Gateshead
22nd Feb - QEH, Southbank Centre, London
23rd Feb - College of Music, Leeds
24th Feb - Brewery Arts College, Kendal
25th Feb - Band on the Wall, Manchester
26th Feb - Hare and Hound, Birmingham
27th Feb - Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton

Links:
myspace.com/nilspettermolvaer
singsingpenelope.com/english
www.myspace.com/audunkleive
www.myspace.com/eivindaarset
www.hanneli.com “her drop crotch pants were old Alexander Wang”
23.02.10 Ian Carr - Celebration of a Life in Music @ Queen Elizabeth Hall, In celebration of the hugely respected hero of British jazz, who died last February, this concert features a re-formed edition of Carr’s seminal electric band, Nucleus; the London premiere of ‘Northumbrian Sketches’ with soloist Guy Barker and string ensemble conducted by Mike Gibbs; plus Michael Garrick with a group evocative of his collaborations with Ian Carr in the 1960s. Norma Winstone, Ray Russell, John Marshall and Tim Whitehead will be among many leading British jazz stars taking part. Proceeds go to the Alzheimers Society.
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/music/gigs-contemporary/tickets/ian-carr-celebration-of-a-life-in-music-50582
nilspettermolvaer.info
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
Info: 020 7960 4200 Tickets: £10 - £20 Available from southbankcentre.co.uk / 0844 875 0073
Neil Ardley - Celebrating the Life of a Polymath
www.northseajazz.com 12th July 2002, 13th July 2002 18:15 - 02:30am Paulus Potter Hall - Benji B, Cinematic Orchestra, Koop, Bugz in the Attic featuring Afronaught & Seiji, Gilles Peterson.