The Sound of the North - Norway and the European Jazz Scene
The Sound of the North - Norway and the European Jazz Scene is an English translation of Luca Vitali's 2014 book
Il Suono del Nord - La Norvegia protagonista della scena jazz Europea, charting the history of Norwegian jazz and its rise to international recognition as a cultural force within Europe and globally.
From the arrival of George Russell in Oslo in the 1960s through the emergence of jazz clubs and festivals, through to the present day, and taking in the cross-fertilisation of the classical and folk worlds The Sound of the North presents Luca Vitali's journey of discovery told through his own experiences and meetings with musicians, writers, journalists, promoters and record labels. It is a view of the Norwegian jazz scene from abroad, and as the curator of the English translation, Fiona Talkington has said: " The author has gone to Norway not to intrude or take away its musical treasures, but to uncover and reveal the riches which are enduring, and the creative spirit of a seemingly quiet and reserved nation which has so much to say and so much to give.
From A guide to the treasures of Norwegian jazz by Fiona Talkington
With a gentle yet incisive approach, with a warm humour and a deep admiration
for the music and musicians and for all those who work so hard in the music
industries, for sound engineers, labels, venues and management, Luca Vitali
has produced the classic and important history which needed to be written.
Fans of Norwegian jazz around the world will welcome this new English
translation.
But this is more than a history book, this is a view from abroad, one person's
journey of discovery told through his own experiences and his encounters
with musicians, writers, journalists, promoters and record labels.
The author has gone to Norway not to intrude or take away its musical
treasures, but, with humility and respect, to uncover and reveal the riches which
are enduring, the creative and human spirit of a seemingly quiet and reserved
nation which, actually, has so much to say and so much to give.
From Dialogue and understanding by Paolo Fresu
This precious text by Luca Vitali on Norwegian jazz becomes a magnifying
lens on the new reality of European jazz, because it illustrates how a relatively
small world like Norway can feed on new languages only when it's able to relate
to a larger world.
If this has happened and continues to happen, then one can state without the
slightest doubt that a European jazz does exist, and a jazz of the world as well.
A jazz that stands on its own equal to American jazz, and that is able to give
some meaning to the previous century's migrations that opened the doors of
continents and tore down the barriers of oceans.
From Champagne and jazz music by Jan Granlie
Luca also talks about the “Norwegian sound”, jazz's connections to folk music, and music education. He's been talking with a lot ofjazz musicians, DJs and people who are involved in the Norwegian jazz scene.
Luca Vitali isn't like everybody else. He is one of the few who know more
about the Norwegian jazz scene than most Norwegians, and I'm not talking about ordinary Norwegians who are more interested in Idol and other stupid television shows, I'm talking about musicians, journalists and festival promoters.
Over the last ten years or so he's been regularly travelling to Norway to listen
to Norwegian jazz and meet the jazz people, going to the festivals and clubs,
travelling to Spitsbergen almost at the North Pole, and to the Punkt festival in the south of Norway. He's been to Oslo many times, to Bergen, Voss and Stavanger on the west coast, and to the Ice Festival up in the mountains in the middle of the freezing winter. And everywhere he goes he meets good old friends from his earlier visits.
Beautyfully illustrated with archive photos and the author's own from many festival and venues over the years
32-pages archive photo's in collaboration with the Norsk jazzarkiv and 32-page coloured author's own from many festival and venues over the years
