Swinging with the Scandinavians
The Bjørn Solli Quartet plays as the sun goes down at the Finnish Embassy
(photo courtesy of Pekka Hako)
By Rebecca Park, Contributor
Jazz, born and bred in the South, may be the most all-American of stateside music. The smooth rhythms of a trumpet solo, the smoky dark room of a back-alley club, a lively New Orleans festival, full of improvisation and creation. Thinking of the legendary genre and its pioneers, certain locales come to mind. Scandinavia, with its cold white icy fjords, isn’t one of them. But with this year’s fourth annual Nordic Jazz festival, the Embassies of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden set out to prove otherwise.
A kick-off concert at the Embassy of Finland Sunday night, June 14, got the week-long celebration started. The six-man Finnish ensemble Karikko and Norway’s Bjørn Solli Quartet performed in the Embassy’s grand ballroom, Finland Hall, transformed for the night into a relaxed jazz club, accentuated with throw pillows, cozy corner tables and the ever-presented mural of greenery that the space’s wall of windows opens out on. In the spirit of international Scandinavian cooperation, which both Finnish Cultural Counselor Pekka Hako and Norwegian Public Information Advisor Arild Strømmen warmly praised, the international team of musicians played contrasting sets that nevertheless demonstrated a unified attitude towards the form, warmly embracing its conventions yet eager to add their own personal take on it.
Karikko seamlessly blended jazz with more ancient traditions. The six musicians easily switched instruments, going from piano to keyboard, trumpet to trombone, flute to clarinet and back again. A deep bass line ran throughout their set, adding melancholy undertones to their compositions. With titles like “Three Medusas” and “Amphitrite,” their music was not ashamed to aim for a more intellectual and composed attitude, stretching away a bit from the informal, improvised world of jazz. Despite their classical references, Karikko didn’t shy away from our brave new 21st century. Electronic elements were thrown in as liberally as muted trumpet solos. Most Nordic of all, they did their socialist home countries proud with their egalitarian musical approach. Not one player outshone another; a brass or bass solo might rip through the audience, but would be quickly followed up by the rest of the band, giving no player a final say. Tight, restrained, composed, yes; but boring, never.
Bjørn Solli and his international quartet (members hailed from Germany, Canada and the UK) returned to a more traditional jazz footing after the experimental stylings of Karikko. Laid-back, in t-shirts and jeans, the tone they struck was more California cool than Munch-esque rage and rigor. They offered a definite change of pace for the more formal diplomatic crowd, and the experience was mutual. The Embassy was “far away from the smelly jazz clubs of New York,” the Norwegian gleefully announced before plugging away at his first song, the sunny jazz tune with the deceptively Old World title “Waltz for Lyder.” Solli’s original compositions, such as “Happy Accidents” and “Writer’s Block,” evoke the trials faced by the young, creative and optimistic. There are the moments of reflection, aching guitar solos, that tend to end neatly resolved in upbeat multi-part harmonies. The musicians may slip up from time to time, but their goofy grins let each other—and their audience—know that it’s never too big a deal.
The Swedes and their ilk have done it again, though this time the music they’re bringing to our side of the Atlantic is a bit more complex than the average Abba tune. A full-fledged musical invasion was planned for the rest of the week, including events at jazz club Blues Alley, the House of Sweden and the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage with bands from each of the region’s five nations. In the fast-paced, do or die world of music, success can be short-lived, but, if Sunday night is any indication, next year also promises to be quite a jazzy affair.
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