I'll be in Oslo for the Jazzforum musician meeting on the 9th, and will be in town all week. My swing jazz group Jazzombies, featuring Lars Frank and Georg Reiss, played concerts at Herr Nilsen on the Thursday and Stortorvet on Saturday. Both gigs were a lot of fun!
Check out this recording from the Nilsen gig of Lars playing an old standard I'd never heard of, "You leave me breathless" (but not quite by the sounds of it). There are more recordings from this very enjoyable concert on the Jazzombies page.
After playing Stortorvet Georg and I went to play at Røyken jazz club, with the very professional rhythm section of Stig Hvalryg on bass and Marcus Levine on drums. We had a great gig, with the usual madness Marcus contributes. The local newspaper wrote a piece about the gig (in Norwegian of course).
The Scandinavian Shuffle dance weekend is 20/21/22 January, where I am in charge of the music, and where there will be three great lineups to tickle the toes of the Balboa enthusiasts.
... and we had a great time with the Shufflers! It was an exciting experience for us. We learnt a lot, and got a great reception from the dancers. So I'll be providing music at another dance event in March, the Winter Jump. This time the room will be full of Lindy Hoppers! Heartfelt thanks to the organising committee, and all the swinging musicians who joined me onstage over the three days.
This month I had to do some catching up with my composition studies in Bergen. I have several pieces on the go, and Joacim Gjerdevik and Yui Ukawa performed a couple of my pieces for trombone and tuba duo at the "miniature marathon" for avgarde in Bergen.
Also enjoyed playing for the Cottontails swing dance club. I was joined by Arnulf Røkke on double bass and tuba, and HC Dalgaard on drums. There was a happening dancefloor, and this was a nice warmup for the much bigger Scandinavian Shuffle event in January.
It's an itinerant dance festival, the 2012 edition being held in Oslo. I'm responsible for providing the bands on all three days, and I've got some great musicians on the bill. If you're a Balboa dancer, sign up now for the North's premier Balboa event.
I'll be playing nine concerts in Japan with Anders Grønseth. This is a replacement tour for the one that had to be cancelled in March due to the tsunami. Update: we had a great experience in Japan as always, and met some great people, old friends and new. I will put some things on the Grønseth/Skinner website when I have time.
Later in the month, my Fats Waller Project plays played several gigs in Norway, starting in Oslo on the 13th, and finishing in Lillestrøm on the 22nd, where we shared the billing with the great Swedish swingband, the Stockholm Swing All Stars.
The tour was a lot of fun, and we had some really friendly audiences. Thanks to all the guys in the band - you are all great - and a special thanks to Bjarne, Øistein, Harald, Tom, Roy and Odd for helping me make this happen!
The following clip is from our concert at Lilletrøm Culture Centre. More video and pictures at the Fats Waller Project page. Some git put a microphone over my face, but you can't guard against ALL eventualities...
Some nice gigs lined up for this month. Highlights: Jazzverket in Kristiansund with Anders Grønseth; the premiere in Bergen of my Rhythmic Circles project with Ulrik Thorsrud on percussion; and the year's first Fats Waller concert at Sarpsborg jazz club. And then, at the end of the month Anders and I go to Japan.
August '11Grønseth/Skinner go to Greece, in August. Concerts at Bazeos Tower, Naxos, and Megaro Gyzi Culture Hall, Santorini.
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Then to Haugesund. I will be playing at Sildajazz festival with the classic jazzband Louisiana Washboard Five.
June '11
Grønseth/Skinner duo return to Belfort in June. Our fifth visit to the festival in eastern France.
Those who can read French might like this article :-)
New Sphinx CD "Harmonogram" on Pling music released 20.05.11. More info, including a list of reviews, at the CDs page.
FMKV played my piece "The Wrong Door" at a concert on April 7th.
More info here.
My tour in and around Tokyo with Anders Grønseth had to be cancelled because of the tragedy in Japan. We plan to go instead in October.