Geir Lysne & NDR Bigband feat. Stefano Bollani: Visioni live in Hamburg

NDR Big Band
directed by Geir Lysne
Stefano Bollani, piano
Jeff Ballard, drums

recorded live at Studio Rolf Liebermann, Hamburg, June 10 & 11, 2010

1. La Sicilia
2. Il Dormatore - Para Frase
3. Storta Va
4. Elena e Il Suo Violino
5. Il Barbone (Di Bamako)

Italian pianist Stefano Bollani had a clear vision as a child when he was six years old: he wanted to become a famous singer. A few years later he recorded a tape and sent it to singer Renato Carosone  who told him to listen to Jazz and Blues. Stefano did as he was told and became a sought after sideman, until he met trumpet player Enrico Rava, who convinced him finding his own voice in Jazz.  Later on Stefano founded his quintet "Orchestra del Titanic".

Bollani achieved his childhood dream singing through the piano and is now one of the top jazz acts. in Italy and  Europe. When he played at NDR, the idea was born to perform with a real jazz orchestra, the NDR Big Band.

In 2006 Stefano released his album "I visionari".

Bobby McFerrin & NDR Bigband: Migrations Suite live in Munich 2008

Photo © by Thomas Schloemann

Bobby McFerrin, vocals
Dave Hartley, piano
Ben Perowsky, drums
Marcio Doctor, percussion
Geir Lysne, conductor
NDR Big Band

recorded live at Philharmonie, Munich, July 18, 2008

Migrations Suite (composed by Fred Sturm):
1. Migrations Fanfare / Palo
2. Rhythm Of The Rain Forest
3. Ken Dum Variations / Praising Khanghai
4. Cradle Song
5. Kopanitsa
6. Seneca
7. Didjeridu
8. Sagari Ha
9. Cluck Old Hen
10. Oharabushi
11. Capoeiristas

12. Introduction of the Band
13. Duo Improvisation (Bobby McFerrin & Lutz Büchner)
14. Solo Improvisation (Bobby McFerrin)
15. Lullaby Of Birdland (Shearing)
16. Smile (Chaplin)

Composed by Fred Sturm, Kimberly Clark Professor of Music and director of jazz studies at Lawrence University, “Migrations" was commissioned in 2007 by Bobby McFerrin and the NDR Big Band in Hamburg, Germany. The work is a “musical plea for world unity" that illustrates both the distinct and shared characteristics of indigenous music from 18 countries on six continents.

Collaborating with a former Lawrence student, Brian Pertl '86, an ethnomusicologist and, at the time, the manager of Microsoft's Media Acquisitions Group, Sturm researched more than 2, 000 recordings from around the globe. Sturm transcribed, arranged, orchestrated and “re-composed" about two-dozen indigenous recordings to create the magical two-hour concert showcasing McFerrin.

“The music we selected for 'Migrations' is centuries old, “ Sturm said. “It's pure, innocent, beautiful and powerful. Though the character and styles are as varied as the world's people who created this music, there is a prevalent common linkage between the selections. Bobby's improvisations and interpretations of the material I've scored are intended to illustrate the musical unity of the world's people."

geir lysne ensemble "the grieg code" live at NDR Hamburg 2009

Morten Halle (sax, fl) Tore Brunborg (sax, fl) Geir Lysne (arr, sax, fl) Steffen Schorn (bs, cl, fl), Eckhard Baur (tp, flh, voc) Jesper Riis (tp, flh, lyrics) Arkady Shilkloper (french horn, flh) Helge Sunde (tb) Lars A. Haug (tu) Vladyslav Sendecki (kb, electronics) Bjørn Kjellemyr (b) Andreas Bye (dr) Terje Isungset (perc, mouth harp, voice)

recorded live at Studio Rolf Liebermann, NDR, Hamburg Germany, April 16, 2009

1. Transad Nias
2. Vebburedong
3. Glossi Vangse
4. Dose Das

The Edvard Grieg Society commissioned Lysne to write The Grieg Code for their congress in Grieg’s birthplace, Bergen, Norway. Lysne had already paid homage on Boahjenásti with his composition “GeirG” (Grieg spelled backwards, the first four letters being Lysne’s first name). The piece is a re-fashioning of the theme from the movement “The Death Of Ase” in Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” Suite No. 1.

Lysne emphasizes that the pieces in The Grieg Code are not jazz versions of Grieg’s compositions. He employs set piano, string, and vocal pieces from Grieg within his own compositions, but he re-works them to the point that they are unrecognisable. Lysne transforms a soprano canto line into a cool bass line, and a violin phrase becomes a drum groove. Lysne calls this procedure "musical anagrams". An anagram is normally a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase (Listen = Silent).
The studio album with this program was released on ACT: