Hot Club De Norvège

Summer of 1979, during Moldejazz, some unknown, young boys sat on the street playing string swing and rightfully caught the attention of the jazz-interested audience wandering the streets. This led to them being introduced to the seasoned violinist, Ivar Brodahl, and to the founding of the band, Hot Club de Norvège. The group marks their 40 year anniversary this year, and what could be more natural than having them back at Moldejazz to properly celebrate the occasion?

Two of the founders are still in the band – guitar-player Jon Larsen and bass-player Svein Aarbostad. Hot Club de Norvège is one of Norway's hottest live-bands, known for their contagious joy when playing, and the virtuoso string swing, starting from the music of Django Reinhardt. They have collaborated with as good as everyone in the genre and also profiled people from other genres, such as Nigel Kennedy and The Vertavoquartet, to name a few. As if this wasn’t enough, the band and their music are known to Norwegians across the country for contributing to Lillebjørn Nilsen's megahit, «Tanta til Beate».

The band get much of the credit for the renaissance of string swing-music in Norway from the 70s and up until today. It's a form of jazz, combining the refined and the popular for the new generations to keep discovering that this is music with many nuances. The span of generations is also illustrated by the new repertoire the band will present at their concert in Molde. It's been given the name «From Grieg to Zappa» and by this, they confirm that they're still on the lookout for new takes on the string swing-tradition.

Finn Hauge - violin and harmonica / Jon Larsen - guitar / Gildas Le Pape - guitar / Svein Aarbostad - double bass.