^{Photo: Eigil Korsager}

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Das zweite Album des norwegischen „Komponisten" Jono El Grande (eigentlich heißt er Jon Andreas Håtun) würde Mike Pattons Label Ipecac alle Ehre machen, ein wilder, aber dennoch sehr fokussierter Avantgarde-Progrock, bei dem selbst die krassesten Brüche innerhalb der Arrangements strengen Regeln folgen.

NEW PIECE FOR STRING QUINTET:

WORLD PREMIERE: Kick Cafe, Kristiansand, Norway, Sat 5 Sept, 7:00 PM.

Jono El Grande is raping a Bb clarinet on this legendary clip with his band Vidunderlige Vidda (‘the wonderful mountain plateau’) back in 1997. It is a one track recording from a rehearsal at Grünerløkka Lufthavn, and the song is completely improvised by the band. The guy dressed as a witch on the picture is Sjur Skjeldal, who usually played the drums. On this track he played on Jonos Fernandes guitar. The other musicians are Stein Stølen Bjerkaker on bass and Øyvind Brække on trombone.

«Sono ormai rari i gruppi che abbiano la possibilità – forse anche la voglia – di provare parecchio per affrontare con precisione e disinvoltura la pagina scritta; ancor meno se parliamo di organici dal settetto in su e di partiture piene di metri composti, ardite soluzioni armoniche, assetti mutevoli, cambi frequenti. Figurarsi poi se a comporle è uno stravagante autodidatta che le porta in scena con gusto beffardo dell’assurdo ed è noto in patria per i propri cappelli, per torte e gemelli da camicia a lui intitolati e perché padrino della figlia della principessa Märtha Louise. Con tutto ciò, la musica potrebbe essere mero contorno e invece vibra di fantasia e originalità, pur senza nascondere l’influenza di Zappa (e dei suoi padri putativi Stravinskij e Varèse) su certe figurazioni melodiche, sul ruolo della marimba e sullo spirito sempre divertito. Impronte magmiane sono state rilevate da molta critica, mentre agli Henry Cow indicati dallo stesso Jono si potrebbero aggiungere altri gruppi di quell’area come Univers Zero (con un uso del fagotto forse più affine al suo) o Stormy Six (per il modo di inserire il violino nella scrittura) e soprattutto gli svedesi Samla Mammas Manna, il cui tipo di umorismo musicale (prossimità geoculturali?) viene più volte alla mente.» – Achilli

…this fall. The exact date will be announced soon.

«Norway’s Jono El Grande wears his musical influences on his sleeve and a grand Zappaesque moustache on his top lip. He’s a self-confessed devotee of Frank Zappa, and Neo Dada has the same in yer face virtuosity and invention that typified the latter’s take on rock. «Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements» covers everything: nonsensical vocalising, frequent time signature changes, disconnected shifts to classical interludes and, of course, seemingly endless outbreaks of xylophone playing. But Neo Dada is far more than pastiche or tribute. The heavy riffing guitar on «Neo Dada» itself and «Three Variations On A Mainstream Neurosis» drag art rock into the present. His reputation in his native land owes much to dada-like performance, but he exuberance transfers clearly to the recordings.»

^{«Jono El Grande is a sparky Norwegian composer whose music is as uncategorisable as it comes. But where his earlier album Fevergreens was obsessively in thrall to his eclectic influences (Zappa, Captain Beefheart), Neo Dada sounds much more confident, exuberant, artful and bloody-minded. This is intricate music, and the musicians sound as if they’re having a ball regardless of what anyone might think, rather like the classical equivalent of Millwall supporters. Despite bonkers titles such as Ballet Morbido in a Dozen Tiny Movements and Three Variations On a Mainstream Neurosis, Jono El Grande makes loud, clattering and unneurotic instrumental music, with the odd bit of cod-opera singing and Circulus-like medieval prog. Oslo City Suite also features some outstanding rock bassoon-playing by Embrik Snerte, another name to watch.»}

This is the kind of album you could stow away in a time capsule only for the generations to come to be baffled that it ever existed. Neo Dada is an aptly titled piece of modern compositional fusion that chops and changes between heavy duty prog-jazz, chamber music for strings and Frank Zappa-esque mutant pop. Jono El Grande follows his nearly-as-deranged Fevergreens album of 2003 with this impressively scaled-up sequel. Jono takes the role of composer, band leader, arranger and producer on Neo Dada, leaving much of the playing to an orchestra of followers faced with the daunting prospect of having to detangle their way through a barrage of ideas. Any given track presents a slew of manic identity shifts – take for example ‘Oslo Coty Suite’: at one stage electric guitar and violin shadow each other impeccably through a tricky modal solo, only for the jolting Henry Cow-isms to be halted by a string motif (with a whiff of Saint-Saens’ ‘Danse Macabre’ about it) steering the composition in a different direction. There’s more incredible string work to be found on ‘Your Mother Eats Like A Playpus’, a gleefully complex piece whose pranksterish title hardly reflects the level of craft and toil that informs the score and its execution. Highlights and ear-befuddling thrills are never in short supply on Neo Dada, but ‘Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements’ warrants a special mention; it shifts from honky-tonk piano riffing (as if it were a silent film soundtrack) into Jethro Tull-style baroque folk via romantic string quartets, playful 17th century harpsichord outings, analogue synth flourishes and very, very strange vocal exercises. All this takes place within eight minutes, perfectly illustrating the exhausting intricacy of this album and its manifold twists and turns. Marvellous and ridiculous in equal measure.

Video clip

Jono El Grande is a sparky Norwegian composer whose music is as uncategorisable as it comes. But where his earlier album Fevergreens was obsessively in thrall to his eclectic influences, Zappa and Captain Beefheart, Neo Dada sounds much more confident, exuberant, artful and bloody-minded. This is intricate music, and the musicians sound as if they’re having a ball regardless of what anyone might think, rather like the classical equivalent of Millwall supporters. Despite bonkers titles such as Ballet Morbido in a Dozen Tiny Movements and Three Variations On a Mainstream Neurosis, Jono El Grande makes loud, clattering and unneurotic instrumental music, with the odd bit of cod-opera singing and Circulus-like medieval prog. Oslo City Suite also features some outstanding rock bassoon-playing by Embrik Snerte, another name to watch.

Original review here

Do we need a new dada? The answer this album poses is a resounding “maybe.” The music of Jono El Grande falls somewhere in the overlap of a Venn Diagram that includes Magma and the kind of semi-orchestral Frank Zappa you find on his early 1970s albums (200 Motels, Waka Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, and the material recorded in the mid-seventies that ended up on Sleep Dirt and Studio Tan). The short review for Neo Dada is therefore easy: if you don’t like either of those references, you won’t like this. This album is a host of “Strictly Genteel” and “The Adventures of Gregory Peccary” references, and most of the solos sound ripped directly from “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution.”

Les om Jonos betraktinger vedr. kameraderiets fortrinn foran talentet i norsk kulturliv og unge undergrunnsstreberes simulerte opprør, om papiravisenes fremtid og om hvorfor det nye albumet Neo Dada er blitt så guddommelig som det har blitt!

Pianist Joachim Kwetzinsky performs the piece “Cold & Empty”, the very first minutes of 2009.The composition is based on Jono El Grandes random improvisations on a midi keyboard. The music was then transcribed and quantized with the resolution of 16th notes, and eventually printed for Kwetzinskys excellent interpretation.

Klavéresset Joachim Kjelsaas Kwetzinsky fremfører “Cold & Empty”, de aller første minuttene i 2009. Komposisjonen er basert på Jono El Grandes tilfeldige improvisjoner på et midi keyboard. Musikken (ja, dette er også musikk, tro det eller ei) er deretter elektronisk transkribert, eller gjengitt til noter om du vil, og 16-delskvantifisert, det vil si forenklet og renskrevet til nærmeste 16-dels note.

Høydepunktene fra konserten på Parkteatret torsdag 18. desember tidligere i år er nå i ferd med å bli mikset. Konserten ble spilt inn på 26 spor av den eminente Eyolf Dale, som for øvrig også har utført miksen av kommende studioalbum (ca. mars 2009). Vent i spenning for mer info!

Den utsøkte teknikeren og prisbelønte jazzmusikeren Eyolf Dale og undertegnede går igjennom verket “Variations on a Mainstream Neurosis” (tidligere kjent som “Disko Skridsko”). Det er i hovedsak lydinnstillingene til pålegg av cocktailpinne, T-Fordhorn og strykegnikk vi verifiserer.

Etter å ha fortapt seg i nettkonseptet Origos geniale opplegg ser El Grande-administrasjonen ingen grunn til å tviholde på den gamle wordpress-bloggen som i halvannet år har okkupert Jono El Grandes domener. Fra og med fredag 7. november 2008 flyttes alt offisielt El Grande-relatert sludder over hit til Origos sone El Grande Society. Dette betyr at domenene jonoelgrande.no, jonoelgrande.com og jono.no alle vil peke til nevnte smektende samfunn! Ahh, hvilket smektende samfunn!!!

Den fremste artisten i stallen til Jono El Grande Prod., Neo Dada, glimret med sitt umiskjennelige nærvær og sine gitarspastiske tolkninger av Zappakomposisjoner, søndag 2. nov 2008 på Cosmopolite på Soria Moria. Bildet viser gitarsoloparti på I’m The Slime (Over-Nite Sensation – 1973).

Jono El Grande & The Luxury Band ble endelig ferdige med siste innspillingsdag lørdag 25. oktober, 2008, etter å ha holdt det gående med jevne mellomrom siden januar d.å. Nå gjenstår en avsindig mikseseanse i november.