Nordic jazz on steroids - Eyolf Dale

Watching Norwegian pianist Eyolf Dale and his band take their places, it occurred to me that this was the second octet I'd seen on this very stage in recent months. I briefly wondered if we're witnessing a resurgence of popularity in the 'big small band' format. I hope so. 

I had a formative experience watching the fabulous David Murray octet of the late 1980s - I was very young, okay - at the (now defunct) Norwich Jazz Festival with my Uncle Alan. Ever since then, I've always liked the balance of space to improvise and compositional posibilities offered by that size of outfit.

So, another octet, another unusual configuration - this time piano, bass, drums, vibes, tenor sax/clarinet, trombone, trumpet/flugel horn and... violin (!) all of whom had apparently arrived only 40 minutes previously, thanks to a delayed flight from Oslo.

This gig was the UK launch of the band's latest album, Return to Mind. It's fair to say, I had a bit of a preconceived idea of what we were about to hear. I wasn't particularly familiar with Dale's work, and had deliberately avoided listening to either of his Edition releases as leader on Bandamp before the gig. The first couple of tunes, Midsomer Gardens and Soaring, proceeded much as I'd expected. This was unmistakably Nordic jazz - beautiful, tinged with melancholy, evocative of wide-open landscapes and starry skies, Adrian Loseth Waade's violin adding Nordic folky touches. 

Things took an unexpected turn when the band played The Mayor. Its quirky melody, tempo changes and manic energy interplay of vibes with horns put me in mind of Frank Zappa, which I certainly hadn't anticipated. Dale had told us that the tune is a reference to his father-in-law; the man must be quite some character.

From here on, the band really began to stretch out. There was some great interplay between all the band's musicians, justifying Dale's undoubtedly partisan introduction that they are the best musicians he knows. André Roligheten on tenor and clarinet, and Hayden Powell deserve special mention.  Norwegian-American Rob Waring, who has returned to his ancestral home, even helped with my ongoing therapy to overcome vibraphobia - is that a thing?

All in all, not the night I'd been expecting, but what a gig! For once, the words blown away express genuine loss for words.

Unfortunately, this seems to have been the only UK date in the tour, so you'll need to travel to catch the band any time soon. At the risk of rubbing salt in, here's that YouTube vid again: