Frode Kjekstad / Eric Alexander Quartet

Skilled and playful Quartet gives you all the colours of American and south-European jazz! Frode Kjekstad is one of the Norwegian artists who is more famous abroad than in Norway, and who is therefore constantly on long tours around the globe. Finally we have managed to become part of the tour route, and the sparkling guitarist stops by with an accompanying brilliant band! The band's new CD Stars Aligned is "A perfect jazz album" according to David Fishel's review on JazziNorge, and we understand the enthusiasm! The album is energy in a can in the form of modern hard bop at its best, and we can hardly wait to hear the band live. It is both playful and precise, melodic and funky - warmed to boiling point by Roy Powell's great organ sound and heavily whipped by Frederik Villmow on drums. Saxophonist Eric Alexander constantly challenges Kjekstad to fairly breakneck runs, this is music for big smiles! The collaboration between Eric Alexander and Frode Kjekstad started in 2002, and they have done many tours and several recordings together. They know both each other and the playing style well, and in the many magical moments they make complicated playing sound like child's play. Together they are a quartet that truly manages to make classic jazz and blues relevant, tough and engaging! "...flawless execution, relentless swing, and an infectious joy that carries from first note to last." - Allaboutjazz.com Eric Alexander - saxophone, Frode Kjekstad - guitar, Roy Powell - organ, Frederik Villmow - drums