Jaga Jazzist Announce Show At London's Scala & Tickets
Monday, 14 March 2011
Written by Ben Bland
Norwegian avant-garde jazz troupe Jaga Jazzist are something of an enigma...even to those who are familiar with them and their music. Few bands cover the wide range of musical ground that they do, and even those that manage such a feat rarely achieve it with the panache and vitality that this group do. Influenced by artists as diverse as John Coltrane, Radiohead, Stevie Wonder and The Stone Roses, Jaga Jazzist have always ostensibly been a jazz band. It is what the band adds to their jazzy cocktail that makes them utterly unique as a band.
Originally gaining recognition when 2001’s debut full-length 'A Livingroom Hush' unexpectedly stormed the charts in their home nation and received massive critical acclaim across Europe (the BBC named it their jazz album of the year). This debut record saw the band’s first experiments with elements of other genres, such as electronica and even Latin. The involvement of disparate elements only grew as time wore on and by the time of third album 'What We Must' in 2005 they had achieved a fuller band sound that saw them create epic compositions that perhaps had more in common with post-rock, compositionally speaking, than traditional jazz. A five year absence followed and by the time the band returned last year with 'One-Armed Bandit' they had evolved into a true behemoth of progressive music, achieving a sound as definitive as any other band on the face of this earth, managing to sound only like Jaga Jazzist; there is no one else who is quite the same.
Where Jaga Jazzist becomes even more impressive as a band is in the live arena. Their shows frequently feature rip-roaring solos and members of the band switching instruments as if deliberately trying to confuse the audience as to which of their nine members is which. Ever since their first jaunts around Europe the band have picked up more and more fans with the rave reviews they have received for their performances. Their last UK show, at London’s Islington Academy this time last year, saw an almost totally silent crowd watch on in awe as the band produced a venue flattening set.
Jaga Jazzist are only going to get bigger and although their eclectic sound probably means that they’ll never be chart-toppers across the world, their constant evolution means that they will almost certainly continue to please critics and win new fans over the years to come. Now is as good a time as any to join the Jaga Jazzist story and to let this wonderful band enrich your ears with their excellence.
Jaga Jazzist's latest album 'One-Armed Bandit' is out now on Ninja Tune.
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