“Breath-taking,” the “biggest surprise” of the five-day (Berlin) festival, “a discovery, very original, very exciting.” Although the daily press and music journals are rarely in agreement, in this case they were united in their opinion heaped praise uopn a band that was up to that point virtually unknown outside their Norwegian homeland. Under the direction of trombonist Nils Landgren, the 2001 Berlin Jazz Festival celebrated a new departure with a Scandinavian focus, and GEIRLYSNE’s 20-piece jazz orchestra stood out with their enigmatic, unorthodox music. Lysne writes extremely complex compositions that are nevertheless filled with a tremendous sensuousness, a style that expertly draws out the potential of his differentsoloists. The word is out among the jazz cognoscenti that this big band is one of the most interesting in Europe and this CD contains their celebrated Berlin festival performance.
