Nypan - Big City

2018 release

"A Dream Come True. Obvious question: How did this record come about? Answer: Because the Norwegian guitarist Øyvind Nypan had for a long time nourished what he calls «a dream project», and finally got around to make it happen for real. Nypan’s dream? Travel to New York City, gather four of his favourite musicians and record his own music. Main problems: Funding the project. Establishing contact with the musicians, finding the right studio and setting a date for the session. – When I finally started to pull the strings, things turned out to be less complicated than expected, says Nypan.

He had never met or even spoken with any of the musicians before. The first one that he contacted by was the pianist Taylor Eigsti. – Pianos are next to impossible to move, so I wanted to know which were his preferred studios in New York, says Nypan. That question answered, Nypan went on to contact bassist Joe Martin, drummer Justin Faulkner and saxophonist Ben Wendel, asking if they were available for studio work, enclosing a few files with music from his earlier albums as examples of his playing.

The three, who like Eigsti are highly respected and highly-in-demand New York-musicians, accepted the request, and in January 2017 met their Norwegian colleague for the recording session. – Some of the tunes I had sent them in advance, others I brought with me, but basically they played everything right off the cuff. Which was fine with me, I knew that these guys are very busy professionals who don’t have too much time for preparation. In my e-mails, I had emphasized that I intended to bring along some fairly uncomplicated compositions, and that I hoped for a blowing session with five guys really playing together rather than a record session with five guys standing around trying to learn and handle intricate melodies.

A blowing session is what I got, but even if these tunes are not very complicated, I am really impressed by how fast and how well Ben, Taylor, Joe and Justin found their way into what was presented to them on paper. Although they had never played together as a foursome, and of course none of them had played with me, I think we managed to get a certain band-feeling going, which was what I hoped for. We cut ten songs in the five hours that we had at our disposal on that day, and my reason for dropping two songs from the album has nothing to do with quality, they just didn’t fit in stylistically. Maybe eventually I’ll release them as bonus tracks but I have to say that I am very happy with this album as it is."

Øyvind Nypan guitar

Ben Wendel saxophone

Taylor Eigsti piano

Joe Martin bass

Justin Faulkner drums