Ketil Bjornstad & Anneli Drecker
Release Date: 18 May 2018
Label: ECM
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 602567283560
Genres: Jazz Vocal Jazz
Description
Settings of poetry and other literary texts form a special category in the discography of Norwegian pianist-composer Ketil Bjørnstad's and A Suite of Poems, recorded at Oslo's Rainbow Studio in June 2016, is a song cycle to put alongside such projects as A Passion for John Donne, Sunrise, and The Light.
Norwegian-Danish author Lars Saabye Christensen is one of Scandinavia's most widely-praised contemporary writers. For many years now, in the course of his travels around the globe, Christensen has been sending "hotel poems" to Ketil Bjørnstad, a friend from their teenage years, inviting him to make music out of them. "I started writing music to his poems more than 20 years ago," says Ketil in his liner note for this album. "His ability to expose the inner conflicts we all bring with us in our suitcases is striking."
Christensen literary postcards explore a range of moods. Bjørnstad, who is also a writer himself, says: "I feel very connected to the lonely, existential perspective of these poems, made in different hotel rooms." For this recording, Ketil worked closely with singer and actress Anneli Drecker, former lead vocalist of pop group Bel Canto.
Personnel: Ketil Bjornstad (piano), Anneli Drecker (voice).
Tracklisting
Tomasz Stanko Quartet
Norma Winstone & Kit Downes
Oded Tzur
Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland & Bill Frisell
Fred Hersch
John Taylor, Norma Winstone & Kenny Wheeler
Keith Jarrett & Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek Quartet
Alison Burns & Martin Taylor
Judith Owen
Kira Martini
Nina Simone
Nat King Cole
James Hudson
Fay Victor & Herbie Nichols SUNG
Tumi Mogorosi
