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Written in fRoots issue 261, 2005
 

KNUT REIERSRUD, HANS FREDRIK JACOBSEN, VAJRA
Himalaya Blues
Heilo HCD 7191 (2004)

KNUT REIERSRUD
Pretty Ugly
Kirkelig Kulturverksted FXCD 281 (2004)

For several years the Funky Homosapiens – guitarist Knut Reiersrud, bassist Audun Erlien, drummer Anders Engen, and Hans Fredrik Jacobsen on standard and Norwegian traditional flutes and sax – have collaborated in concerts with the bamboo flutes, sarod, israj, tabla and vocals of Kathmandu-based Nepalese traditional quartet Vajra. In March 2003 they recorded together. “After three concerts at the jazz festival in Kathmandu, poetically called ‘Jazzmandu’, we walked over to Studio 2000, sat in a circle, took one microphone each, and let loose”.
      The result is a flow of tracks in which Nepali, Norwegian and American music are juxtaposed and mingled, but not blended so much that they lose identity. In the opening track Jacobsen and Raman Maharjan’s flutes interweave in a Norwegian traditional song tune. Reiersrud’s acoustic and electric guitar playing has always drawn on both Norwegian traditional fiddle music and American blues, and his characteristic deep, perfectly-judged slide suits the Nepali material well. In Golden Tap/Lunhiti the two groups integrate briskly as one strong unit; in other tracks there are thoughtful, natural explorations of the melodies and rhythms of traditional themes, ending up with the long, spacious improvising stream and atmospherics of the title track.

      Reiersrud continues in a wide range of collaborations with sundry interesting Norwegian and world musicians (including playing on and arranging the music for the Lullabies From The Axis Of Evil project), and in his church-duetting with organist Iver Kleive, but at the heart of his music is the blues; while still a teenager his playing got him invited by Buddy Guy and Otis Rush to play with them in Chicago. Since the luminous and wide-ranging Tramp and Klapp, pulling together Norwegian, American and African music with the involvement of singer and riti player Juldeh Camara, kora player Alagi M’Bye, the Brazz Brothers, Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Kleive, Erlien and others, his three succeeding solo albums have concentrated more fully on the blues and related styles of American music. So does his new one, with songs written by such as Willie Dixon, Shuggie Otis and Jimmy Rogers, and equally strong material by Reiersrud with lyrics by long-time co-writer Jeff Wasserman.
      But this time he plays all the instruments himself – guitars, piano, glockenspiel, churning organ, honking harmonica, and meaty rhythm section. Unlike many such one-man-band records, where there’s a quiet carefulness and lack of spark caused by a lack of other musicians to bounce off and perhaps an unwillingness to shout and holler to oneself, it appears producer Reidar Skår provided sufficient audience to make Reiersrud really go for it, creating a whole hefty band that really swings. He’s not the greatest singer in mainstream blues terms, but this isn’t mainstream blues, crossing into funky pop and soul territory, and his vocals have unpretentious charm.
      There are in Norway some remarkably fine musicians working partly or entirely with American musical genres. Some are mere skilful copyists, but some, of whom Knut Reiersrud is the shining example, celebrate the music and expand it with a special originality and freshness not found in the music’s homeland.


© 2005 Andrew Cronshaw



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