The Core

"The Core" thecore.no

-is one of Norwaysmost energetic and rough jazz bands at the moment.They have played at all the big jazz festivals in the country and beenapplauded loudly for their uniqueenergy combined with their highquality skills. The music is rooted in acusticmodal jazz from the 60s,and The Core combines this music with morecontemporary grooves rootedin funk and rock. The music is generous and letsthe listener be part ofa high-energy journey. It is also beautiful and sober.This, combinedwith extraordinary stage skills, makes the core something reallyspecialon the jazzscene today

Aquote from a review of oneof their concerts in Oslo, in October 2004,gives a good description of what toexpect from this group, who madetheir first public performance in 2001:"The Core has everything thatjazz in 2004 should have: Energy, generosityand an unstoppableyouthfulness giving the impression that each concert couldbe the last."The members of The Core comprise some of Norways new leadingartists inthe jazz genre.

TheCore started in 1999 at the jazz academy in Trondheim, Norway. Herethequartet, consisting of Steinar Raknes on double bass, saxplayer Kjetil Möster, pianist Erlend Slettevoll and composer and drummer EspenAalberg,musically fell in love. Their first album Vision has been agreat success, andthe rewives had been fantastic. Here the band has found a lot of inspiration from Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and last but not least John Coltranes heritage from the 60s. In the international magazine, JazzTimes, Christopher Porter has this tosay about "Vision": "Vision’s five tunes are all uptempo and fierce, butnot in a free-jazz way. The band is simply on fire and doesn’t want to douse the flames by cooling out on the track, which is fine by me." The Core just relased the 2nd recording, Blue sky,witch got the samef antastic reviews as the debut Vision.