First release for 2019!

The super bassist is back!

Super bassist, Marcus Miller, has a large and devoted audience and has during more than 30 years on the musical field played with artists like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, recently deceased Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Bryan Ferry – to name a few. All in all, he has collaborated in more than 500 albums, both as a musician, producer and arranger.

Over the past 20 years, he's had a very successful career as a solo artist and in March he released the critically acclaimed new album, Laid Black, on the legendary Blue Note label where fusion, funk, soul and jazz come together to form a potent musical brew.

Miller's a living legend and never disappoints – this is guaranteed to be a great experience!

40 years after Dewey Redman played Moldejazz with his band Old and New Dreams, son Joshua is dreaming on…

The last time Redman visited Moldejazz, he performed a duo concert that has become almost legendary. Together with Ola Kvernberg, he made a in a remarkable performance at our venue, Teatret Vårt. The concert resulted in the collaboration continuing with an extensive Norway Tour and concerts at major festivals abroad. This time, the saxophone master has trumpeter Ron Miles, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Dave King on his ensemble.

Redman senior frequently played together with Ornette Coleman, but as Coleman went searching for a more electrical expression, Redman gathered Coleman's former colleagues back to Old and New Dreams. The band made several critically acclaimed albums for ECM and toured the world with great success, including Moldejazz in 1979 and 1982. Joshua Redman continues the musical legacy of both his father and Coleman through Still Dreaming.

– This is a supergroup at work, but – as with Coleman’s own bands and Old and New Dreams themselves – they never sound as if they’re trying to make an issue out of that, wrote John Fordham, the Guardians main jazz-critic. Considering this – make sure to give this band a listen!

Joshua Redman, Saxophone / Ron Miles, Trumpet / Scott Colley, Bass / Dave King, Drums.

Teatret Vårt, Thursday 18 July at 8 pm.

The Pulitzer Prize winner's only concert in Europe in 2019!

The New York Times described him as "perhaps the most important jazz composer of his generation". In 2016, as the third jazz artist ever, he received the prestigious Pulitzer award for the album In for a Penny, In for a Pound with the band he's also bringing with him to Molde; Zooid.

Henry Threadgill is from Chicago and studied at the American Conservatory of Music. He was very active in the important avant-garde environment of the city in the early 60s, where he became an early member of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) and collaborated with Muhal Richard Abrams. Later, he recorded with Anthony Braxton, Bill Haswell, Roscoe Mitchell, Sly & Robbie and many more.

In 1979, he made his debut with his own band, before forming a series of groups where experimentation with unusual instrumentation and music from other genres and the world's corner has been distilled to something surprising, distinctive and new. He has also composed music for orchestra, chamber music ensembles and theater.

The band Zooid was formed in the early 2000s and has been one of his most successful and critically acclaimed groups. Henry Threadgill rarely tours and performs only at selected concerts. We are very proud to present the only concert in Europe in 2019 with one of the most exciting jazz composers and his band of creative performers.

Most Awaited Comeback!

Madrugada signed their first record deal in the summer of 1998 and the debut album, Industrial Silence, that came the following year went straight to the top of VG-lista (Norwegian record chart). The album is still standing as one of the most iconic Norwegian rock albums ever. During their career, Madrugada released five studio albums and won as many Spellemann prizes (the Norwegian Grammy Award). In addition to this, has the vocalist, Sivert Høyem been awarded the Spellemann several times as a solo artist. Moldejazz's local paper, Romsdals Budstikke, awarded 6 stars for his solo concert at the Romsdalsmuseet when he was here back in 2014.

The comeback marks the 20th anniversary of the debut album which also brings the band back to their original drummer, Jon Lauvland Pettersen. He'll enter the stage together with the two other original members, Sivert Høyem and Frode Jacobsen, and the band is also accompanied by Cato Thomassen and Christer Knudsen from Høyem's solo project. Hits like "Majesty", "Lift me", "The kids are on high street", "Hands up" and "I love you" have earned Madrugada fans of all ages and demographics.

Get ready for a historical, nostalgic and intoxicating experience at our picturesque venue, Romsdalsmuseet!

The Artist In Residence-drummer, Gard Nilssen, undoubtedly has many irons in the fire and that variation is highly visible in our 2019 program.

From their debut on the label Clean Feed in 2015, the band has worked a lot together and regularly performed both in the US and Europe. By this they become one of the most inter-playable ensembles in recent years. The band's first album, Firehouse, was nominated for Spellemann (the Norwegian Grammy Awards) back in 2016 and the album, Live in Europe, got critical acclaim from both Norwegian as well as international press.

To take the trio's interaction and music a step further at this year's festival, it became clear that the American trumpeter, Ambrose Akinmusire, was high on Gard's wish list over current collaboration. Putting one of the world's most exciting trumpeters on the same scene as Gard's band is just something we cannot say no to. It is in fact a meeting of two of this generation's foremost musicians – two performers who, from each side of the stage, can lead the way into exploratory and creative scenery in our venue Storyville.

Ambrose Akinmusire – Trumpet

André Roligheten – Sax

Peter Eldh – Double bass

Gard Nilssen – Drums

Power-trio with exciting guest artists!

The band started back in 2003 and has released 9 records so far – most of them on the Norwegian label, Rune Grammofon. The trio has in many ways been Gard’s education. They were all in their early 20s when they started and the band has since day one had a firm grasp on the concert atmosphere and the audience on both sides of the Atlantic.

They have been described as a missing link between Albert Ayler and Black Sabbath, as well as a Marshall amplifier version of John Coltrane's Interstellar Space. Bushman's Revenge has simply helped to revitalise the focal point between rock and jazz. With his latest album, Jazz, fritt etter hukommelsen, the band surprised its audience by going into a more meditative and hushed direction.

They wish to continue following this direction at the exclusive concert at Moldejazz, with an expanded lineup including brilliant Swedish saxophonist, Per "Texas" Johansen, and eternally creative, Anja Lauvdal (Musk, Bridge, Finity, Pest).

After many attempts, Moldejazz's finally succeeded in getting Fred Hersch. One of today's great pianists who is finally getting the attention he deserves, being chosen as Jazz Pianist of the year – in both 2016 and 2018 – by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Despite numerous Grammy nominations, dozens of solo, duo and trio format albums as well as prestigious prizes, Fred Hersch is still relatively unknown in Norway. Also in the United States, it took sometime before he got a name and his autobiography, published by Random House, was aptly called "Good things happen slowly". The Biography tells of his life as a musician, his struggle as a young Jew in his birthplace Cincinnati and as an openly gay HIV positive jazz musician. It was honoured as "One of Five Best Memoirs of 2017" by the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Gradually things have started to happen – a duo album with guitarist Julian Lage, got a rare five-star (highest rating) in jazz magazine, Down Beat. His regular trio, with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, became #2 Jazz Group of 2018 in the Down Beat Critics Poll. Now Fred Hersch and his trio are en route to Moldejazz.

What can we expect to hear from the trio? Music from the intense and virtuoso to the quietly lyrical, performed by a band that's played together for 10 years and developed an intuitive, almost telepathic interaction.

Fred Hersch, piano / John Hérbert, bass / Eric Mc Pherson, drums

Storyville, Thursday 18 July at 16 pm.

Magnificent and genre-crossing!

Siblings, Sveinung and Gunnhild, formed Gåte when Gunnhild was only 14 years old. With their powerful and magnificent mix of folk and rock – and especially with Gunnhild's amazing and distinctive voice in front – 2002's "Jygri" became an instant favorite for both audiences and music critics. This gave them first place on the Norwegian record chart, VG-lista, a Spellemann prize (the Norwegian Grammy Award), long tours and a concert at the Danish music festival, Roskilde. After selling more than 100.000 albums, the group ended their adventure in 2005. After many years of trying to convince his little sister, big brother Sveinung finally succeeded in getting the band back together and making new music with Gåte.

Their album, Svevn, came out in November 2018, finally giving their fans new, yet familiar Gåte music – just ripe, but fresher and possibly even stronger, and their live show is truly awesome! Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet, gave it a five star rating, calling it "as hypnotic, meddling, vibrant, powerful and intense as 14 years ago!". Musikknyheter gave the album 10/10, Dagsavisen dice rolled a 5 and rejoiced over an album full of "wide-ranging folk rock, death and beautiful perversion". Welcome back, Gåte!

On the way to something big!

Luke Elliot is originally from New Jersey, but has close ties with Norway after numerous long stays here. The Norwegian audience have showed their love for him, with his debut album Dressed for the Occasion receiving critical acclaim in Norway. Moldejazz was quick to book him in 2016 when he played for an enthusiastic audience in our venue Alexandra Park.

He recently released the single "Somebody's Man", with Sivert Høyem a as guest writer. Høyem will perform at the Romsdalsmuseet with Madrugada later that evening, so who knows – maybe they perform a duet together. This time, Luke's here with new material that's to be released in the form of an album. It could as well be his big breakthrough. Show up early this July evening and witness Elliot's warm and raw voice in beautiful surroundings at the Romsdalsmuseet!