Frode Haltli - Avant Folk II

Frode Haltli releases «Avant Folk II», the follow-up to «Avant Folk» (2018). The group of ten is an all-star cast of some of Norway’s most innovative and creative musicians, spanning different generations and genres. The new studio album builds upon music originally commissioned for the festival Vossa Jazz in Norway 2019.

The Hubro release «Avant Folk II» follows Frode Haltli’s «Avant Folk» from 2018, an album that received acclaim both in Norway and abroad - «A fascinating and darkly lovely experience» according to Peter Bacon in the London Jazz News. The ensemble has since then played a number of international festivals, and has earned a reputation as a vital and solid live band. The music on the new album was commissioned by Vossa Jazz in 2019, and Joseph Woodard in All About Jazz stated:

- «By my biased account, Haltli’s mesmerizing and newly-commissioned set, for a ten-piece ensemble including Hardanger fiddle player Erlend Apneseth and conventional violin, horns (with saxophonist Rolf-Erik Nystrøm, also in Haltli’s juicy cool band POING), was the most memorable show of the festival.”

When Frode Haltli founded Avant Folk in 2017, it was to continue his work in the outskirts of folk, this time with a mini big band: Drums, bass, two guitars, two winds, two fiddlers, organ, and himself on the accordion. The ensemble has a distinguished and recognisable sound that blends acoustic and electric instruments, with musical inspiration from past and present:

- «I have worked across established genres through many years now. I’ve done everything from complex scores in contemporary music to jazz and traditional music. In Avant Folk we use processes from folk music: I present a simple material to start with, that all musicians learn by ear. This way, without any scores at all, we all get a common feel of the phrasing and the rhythms, with flexibility and freedom in further elaboration of the musical material.»