Albatrosh

Norwegian jazz is as vital as ever and one can but wonder where it all comes from.
With ”Yonkers” Eyolf Dale (piano) and André Roligheten (saxophone) are already three albums into their career and showing a maturity in writing and playing that is betraying their age (both are 26) considerably. The album was recorded during what the duo descibe as a magic late night session in the Oktaven Audio studio in Yonkers just outside New York City. The music is contemporary jazz with threads to both American and European traditions, structured compositions paired with improvisation; playful and melodic, modern and accessible. Albatrosh won the annual JazzIntro prize at Molde Jazzfestival in 2008 and the ”best band” category at the European Jazz Competition at the North Sea Jazz in 2009, with jury leader Maria Schneider commenting ”most original, great interplay and amazing improvisation, effective and colourful compositions”.