Humcrush & Sidsel Endresen

Ha!

Label: Rune Grammofon Country: Norway

"Ha! is the fourth Humcrush album, this time with the most welcome addition of singer Sidsel Endresen. Having toured together for a couple of years, they finally recorded some shows in 2010. This album was beautifully recorded in concert at the Willisau Jazzfestival and is a great example of the duo's seamless interaction as well as Endresen's ability to improvise, listen, react, adapt and surprise, fully showing that we are dealing with one of the world's leading vocal improvisers, coming from years of experience out of solo work and collaborations with musicians like Bugge Wesseltoft, Helge Sten, Christian Wallumrød, Rolf Wallin, Jan Bang, Hakon Kornstad and Stian Westerhus.

Sidsel Endresen worked as a singer and co-writer in the Jon Eberson Group from 1981-1987, releasing five albums and winning two Norwegian Grammys. In 1990 and 1994, she recorded two solo albums for ECM. The '90s also saw a very fruitful collaboration with Bugge Wesseltoft, resulting in three albums and two more Grammys. Since 2000, she has done solo projects, written film music and collaborated further with Norwegian and international artists. She has toured all over the world, written music for several theater and dance perfomances and has been festival composer for the jazz festivals in Bergen and Molde. And these are only some of her credentials.

Thomas Stronen has studied music and composition. He is a regular member of several bands, most notably Food, Maria Kannegaard Trio, Meadow and Parish, the quartet led by the great pianist Bobo Stenson.

Stale Storlokken is a founding member of Supersilent, Elephant9, Terje Rypdal's Skywards and Bol. He is probably the most versatile and adventurous electric keyboard player operating on the Norwegian scene at the moment."-Rune Grammofon