Inner Ear

Click here for info about the release concert

Swedish bass giant Georg Riedel teams up with Norwegian top drummer Roger Johansen in new release: Roger Johansen feat. Georg Riedel – Fine Together (INEA12)

Norwegian jazz drummer Roger Johansen grew up with the TV-series about Pippi Longstockings, Emil, Albert Åberg and other brilliant stories by Astrid Lindgren on TV each Saturday. Little did he know growing up in Bodø in the northern part of Norway, that he some 30 years later, should end up in a recording studio with the composer of all the beautiful melodies from these popular children’s movies. And, he didn’t know either, that Georg Riedel not only was the composer of the beautiful songs, but that he also was the first call jazz bass player in Sweden for some of the true giants of the bebop era in the fifties and sixties, Bud Powell and Eric Dolphy to name a few.  Listening to the legendary Jan Johansson recording “Jazz På Svenska” from 1964 with Riedel on bass, set everything in place for Roger. How much more beautiful can the sound of a piano and a upright bass together, be?

It truly is, a very special project set in motion and documented by the jazz label Inner Ear with the release of Fine Together, bringing the jazz bass soul of Mr. Riedel to the studio. The fact that one of Norway’s top drummers teams up with some of his favorite Scandinavian jazz musicians from three generations, both recording and touring Scandinavia, sets the mood for some beautiful listening for true jazz lovers. Platformed by original compositions written by the band members, Fine Together will not only work as a timeless document on what some of the Nordic modern straight-ahead jazz scene sounds like in 2011. It is also indeed a modern project with new music being recorded, cross generations, presented by five human beings and jazz-souls doing what they do best: Playing from their hearts making every song special. Fine Together brings together five first call musicians and friends with their own blossoming solo careers put aside for a moment. The result is remarkable, and it is indeed a band recording, not five individuals. They are In fact, Fine Together.

Roger Johansen featuring Georg Riedel – Fine Together
(Inner Ear/INEA12)

Tore Johansen – trumpet
John Pål Inderberg – baritone sax
Lars Jansson – piano
Georg Riedel – bass
Roger Johansen – drums

Click here for a YouTube video from the recording
Click here for info about the Oslo release concert, Friday September 23th