Dr Bekken

Bio:

TOR E 'Dr' BEKKEN is a pianist, tuba player and singer specializing in jazz, blues and free improvisation. He holds a Master's degree in music from NTNU (University of Trondheim, Norway), and he has been a professional jazz/blues musician on the Norwegian scene since the late 1980s. He has released seven albums: THE NAKED BLUES (sonor records; 1995) TRAIN - STONE BLUES PIANO, VOL 1 (sonor records; 2001) GOT MILK IF YOU WANT IT (sonor records; 2003) THE TICKLERS (ticklerdisc/gumbotronic; 2004) FLOOD STREET (DrB Records; 2006) HARDCORE PIANO (Blue Mood Records/Grappa; 2008) SONGS FROM A FOREST (Blue Mood Records/Grappa; 2009) All albums have been met with rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. The American magazine Blues Revue has called him '...a monster pianist', and his playing has been described as 'dazzling', 'sublime', exquisite' and 'exceptional' by the same publication. Mr. Bekken has appeared in concert with artists such as Eddie Bo (three sold out duo piano gigs in Oslo, 1999), Dr Michael White, Big Al Carson, Marva Wright, Benny Turner, James Harman, Louisiana Red and Nick Gravenites. With Marva Wright, he toured France, Luxemburg and Germany in 2006, as keyboardist in her backing band. Mr Bekken also performed with the great Louisiana Red at the Nidaros Blues Festival in Trondheim, Norway in 2005 and at the Blues In Hell festival in 2009. In 2008, he once again appeared in a duo with Eddie Bo, at the Blues In Hell Festival in Hell, Norway. The song WHAT'D I SAY is a recording from that show. It is not commercially available anywhere, and in retrospect it's a great tribute and testament to the performing power of Eddie, who died on March 18, 2009. In Norway, the good doc keeps up a busy schedule, playing festivals and clubs in addition to improvising on-the-spot scores for silent films. Mr Bekken has appeared at major festivals in Norway, including the Oslo Int Jazz Festival (just about every year since 1995), Molde Jazz Fest and Notodden Blues Festival. TRAIN; GOT MILK... and FLOOD STREET are available through Blues Music Club Notodden at ebsenter@online.no FLOOD STREET is also available through cdbaby.com HARDCORE PIANO is widely available on the internet, as a download or in album form. SONGS FROM A FOREST is available from amazon.com A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE SONGS ON THE PROFILE: SUS FRA VARALDSKOG (FOREST SONG) is from the album SONGS FROM A FOREST, a new project featuring Bekken and harmonica player Richard Gjems. The song is an old Norwegian folk song from the remote rural area Finnskogen in southeastern Norway. The album was released by Blue Mood Records/Grappa in June 2009. It's available as a download from amazon.com ANTHRAX BLUES and BLUES ON THE TABLE were recorded August 31, 2007, by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). The songs are included on a new solo piano album - HARDCORE PIANO - released in March, 2008, by Blue Mood Records. One of many sources of inspiration for these pieces is the great Ray Bryant. Another is Meade 'Lux' Lewis, the all-time king of blues piano THE WAKE is a piece of free improvisation; the opening track on the 'FLOOD STREET' cd. It is a spontaneous afterthought on the grim fate of the people who had to leave their home town after Hurricane Katrina. AGELESS MOTHER is read by the Native American poet Tatanka Ohitika aka Strong Buffalo, who is also the author. The recording was done during the winter of 2006 in the same old school house in Finnskogen that was later used for the recording of SONGS FROM A FOREST. Layout made by at sharealayout.com..... .. .. ....

Member Since:

March 05, 2007

Members:

T.E.BEKKEN; piano, occasional vocals and tuba.

Influences:

AS PIANIST: New Orleans music of all sorts, especially pianists Eddie Bo, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Tuts Washington and Jelly Roll Morton. Mr Bekken is interested in the entire history of jazz piano (solo or otherwise), and remains deeply fascinated and inspired by this tradition. Other favorites include (in no particular order): Scott Joplin, Willie 'The Lion' Smith, Sun Ra, Don Pullen, Bobby Few, Call Cobbs,Jr., Jimmy Yancey, Erwin Helfer, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Ray Bryant, Gene Harris, Allen Toussaint, Ramsey Lewis, Mary Lou Williams, Cecil Taylor, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jan Johansson, Jaki Byard, Charles Gayle (the saxophonist also plays great piano), Cripple Clarence Lofton, Turner Parrish, Jimmy Blythe, Oscar Peterson, Jay McShann, George Winston, Henry Butler, Dr John, Reggie Hall, Willie Tee, Dick Wellstood, Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Erroll Garner, Les McCann, Mal Waldron, Horace Parlan, Meade 'Lux' Lewis, Art Hodes and Lafayette Gilchrist. The list is endless. There are not enough ladies here, however. AS TUBA PLAYER: Bob Stewart, Kirk Joseph, Bert Cobb, Cyrus St Clair and all the great tuba 'bass' players.

Sounds Like:

Mr Bekken sounds like some kind of mixture of all his influences. Listen for yourself.

Record Label:

DrB Records or Blue Mood Records/Grappa