Björn Olsen

With The Liberation of the Gothic, Björn Schmelzer and Graindelavoix deliver an imaginative reading of music by two English composers active at the end of the fifteenth century, the towering figure of John Browne and the slightly later and much less well-known Thomas Ashwell (or Ashewell). Björn Schmelzer draws a vivid connection between the florid polyphony of these two composers and the freedom of structure and ornament found in late Gothic architecture, notably that of the fourteenth-century Lady Chapel built as part of the “Ship of the Fens”, Ely Cathedral.

What do you get if you combine Robert Wyatt and Syd Barret's melodies with the very best from the 70's fusion and the playful feeling of early Weather Report? Put in some grooves of Return to Forever, and finally add a slice of the classy and thoughtful songwriting of progrock legends like Caravan and Camel? Well, you might not get the latest Needlepoint album, but at least we're close.

Erik Amundsen (1 February 1937 – 22 February 2015) was a Norwegian jazz bassist from Oslo. Amundsen debuted in 1954 within the trio of his brother Arvid Amundsen and within Atle Hammer Sextet. Throughout the 1950s he played within Karl Otto Hoff Trio, Eilif Holm Quartet and released an album with Mikkel Flagstad in 1956. In the 1960s he was involved in European All Stars in Berlin (1961) and was awarded the Buddyprisen in 1962. Amundsen ble nærmest selvsagt på landets jazz-utgivelser, med Karin Krog, Bernt Anker Steen, Erik Andresen, Laila Dalseth, Magni Wentzel, Bjørn Johansen, Jan Berger and Bjarne Nerem. He played regularly at the Metropol Jazz Centre in Oslo, including with international greats such as Bud Powell. After a stroke in 2002, he has not been able to play. In 2006 he was honored by a concert at the club Cosmopolite in Oslo. Almost forty tunes from his work can be heard on the album Portrait of a Norwegian Jazz Artist (2006).