Out to Lunch

The legendary Norwegian jazz band Out to Lunch has risen from the ashes after twenty years of silence. Although the quintet started by the Klakegg brothers in 1985, together with Vidar Johansen, Ola Kamfjord and Svein Christiansen, only managed to release two albums: Out to Lunch in 1988 and Kullboksrytter in 1995, with Sidsel Endresen and the Norwegian String Quartet, they left a clear mark on Norwegian jazz history. When two of the band's biggest fans, Martin and Lars Horntveth, wanted to book them for a concert connected to Haugar Art Museum's thirtieth anniversary in Tønsberg last year, it was just a matter of gathering the old crew. Per Oddvar Johansen stepped in as a replacement for Svein Christiansen, who passed away in 2015, and when Vidar Johansen had to cancel, the path to Lars Horntveth was short, especially since it turned out he already knew several of the songs. The concert was a success and gave the participants such a taste for more that they decided to continue. Time, as we know, is a flat circle. Out to Lunch played - and plays - a type of rhythmic and melodic synth- and guitar-driven jazz you may no longer hear so often on Norwegian stages. Nevertheless, or precisely because of this, Out to Lunch still sounds outrageously fresh, four decades after the start. Everyone likes long lunches.