Music / European jazz
Review: Silje Nergaard, St George’s
Though her 25 year career has seen Silje Nergaard associated with fellow Norwegian musicians like Arve Henriksen or (St George’s favourite)Tord Gustavsen – and despite her At First Light still being her homeland’s best-selling jazz album of all time – she always set out to be a pop star. Indeed, during this concert she recounted her experience of spending some time in 90s London trying to break out as such, achieving the distinction of a number one single in Japan before returning to the jazz scene in Oslo.
Havar Bendiksen, Silje Nergaard and Hallgrim Bratberg (photo: Evan Dawson)
Back in 2001 At First Light caught the contemporary wave of Scandinavian jazz with the sparse clarity of a piano trio and haunting trumpet woven around Silje’s simple vocal clarity, so the combination of two acoustic guitarists – Havar Bendiksen and Hallgrim Bratberg – presented a quite different soundscape for Keep On Backing Losers, a track from that album. It was good to hear two acoustic jazz guitars outside a gypsy swing context, though, and by using split outputs each player could take turns to deliver both bass and rhythm lines for the other to take solos. They were good players, too, and with judicious use of effects pedals and stomp pads they delivered a surprisingly full sound, though at times the stomping seemed unduly heavy handed (heavy footed?).
(photo: Evan Dawson)
That song also benefited from the greater depth Silje’s voice has gained since the original recording, the lyrics’ hard-nosed feminist sentiment never having quite suited the artless naivety of her popster years. As the set progressed there was a nice variety in the songs picked, ranging from the jaunty Western swing of He Must Have Been Telling A Lie to the Joni Mitchell-recalling Hush Little Bird and Tell Me Where You’re Going, her early Fleetwood Mac style collaboration with Pat Metheny that came complete with a Methenyesque synth-guitar effect solo from Havar Bendiksen.
is needed now More than ever
(photo: Tony Benjamin)
Like our local hero Claire Teal, Silje created a familiar warmth with the audience through personal anecdotes and a relaxed stage presence that no doubt derived from her years on Norway’s jazz club circuit. That was something she re-enacted, calling up the guitarists from their slightly remote chairs to crowd together for a classic run through of Let There Be Love, complete with the audience singing the chorus. All very appropriate for Valentine’s Day, of course, and this was taken even further for the final encore when they played Dream A Little Dream of Me in a completely unplugged rendition.
(photo: Tony Benjamin)
Knowing how successful she is in Scandinavia it must have been slightly disconcerting for Silje Nergaard to play a half-full St George’s but that didn’t show and she delivered a fully committed and accomplished show, strong on charm and melodic interest. Her voice was at the heart of it all, of course, and it had poise and clarity, effortlessly gliding through the leaps and bounds of some of her numbers. And if the audience lacked numbers it certainly didn’t stint on appreciation for her show.
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