Trevor Watts, John Edwards & Tollef Østvang

BlueStem Jazz.

media release: Though Trevor Watts was initially strongly identified with the avant-garde, Watts is a versatile musician who has worked in everything from straight jazz contexts to rock and blues. His own projects have come increasingly to focus on blending jazz and African music, notably the Moiré Music ensemble which he has led since 1982 in configurations ranging from large ensembles featuring multiple drummers to more intimate trios. He has only occasionally recorded in freer modes in recent years, notably the CD 6 Dialogues, a duet album with Veryan Weston (the pianist in earlier editions of Moiré Music). A solo album, World Sonic, appeared on Hi4Head Records in 2005. Watts has toured the world over numerous times, run workshops, received grants and commissions, and he has collaborated with jazz musicians including Archie Shepp, Steve Lacy, Don Cherry, Jayne Cortez and Stephen Grew. As of 2011, he continues to travel and has been touring Europe and North America with Veryan Weston and more recently, with the addition of percussionist/singer Jamie Harris as Eternal Triangle.

John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others.

"I think John Edwards is absolutely remarkable: there’s never been anything like him before, anywhere in jazz." - Richard Williams, The Blue Moment

Tollef Østvang is a drummer, improviser and composer from Norway. He dedicates most of his artistic activities to jazz and other forms of improvised music and tours frequently with projects like Friends & Neighbors, The Way Ahead, Universal Indians and All Included.  His drumming reflects an endless curiosity for spontaneous music making and can be described as energetic, creative and impulsive. Besides his main projects he has toured and collaborated with musicians like: Joe McPhee, Trevor Watts, Jaimie Branch, John Edwards, Nick Mazzarella, Tomeka Reid, Ab Baars, Tobias Delius, Jason Stein, Mette Rasmussen, Mars Williams, Josh Berman, Keefe Jackson, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Wolter Wierbos, Wilbert de Joode, Michael Moore and Ben LaMar Gay among others.  He currently lives in the small mountain town of Os in Østerdalen where he grew up. In addition, he continues to be a central figure in the jazz and improvised music scene in Trondheim where he studied and got his master’s degree in jazz performance at Jazzlinja, NTNU (2005 – 2012). He has also studied jazz performance at Conservatoire National Supérior de Musique et Danse in Paris and Coservatorium van Amsterdam. In Trondheim he curates the annual alternative music festival Fri resonans and the concert series FRI FORM.