BOOKING and direct contact: jon.larsen at getmail.no - just change the @. Please, feel free to send me an email.
HOT CLUB DE NORVÈGE: Jon Larsen (guitar), Finn Hauge (violin), Per Frydenlund (guitar) and Svein Aarbostad (bass). We've been on the road since the 70-ies, and have actually in 2009 more gigs than ever before! 27 CD's and one DVD available. Booking: jon.larsen (@) getmail.no
SYMPHONIC DJANGO: Django Reinhardt's own compositions for the first time in full symphonic orchestrations, plus the greatest jazz manouche solists of our time: Florin Nicolescu, Bireli Lagrene, Stochelo Rosenberg, Andreas Öberg, yours truly, etc - awesome! The DVD available now! Booking/contact: jon.larsen (@) getmail.no
STRANGE NEWS FROM MARS: yours truly's project featuring various Frank Zappa alumni: Tommy Mars, Bruce Fowler, Jimmy Carl Black, Arthur Barrow, Rob Waring, Knut Reiersrud and others. Four CD's - and a must for all Zappa fans!
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Here are two clips I found on YouTube after our recent tour around in Israel:
And finally - here are some slides of my activities in general:
Influences
The surrealists (Dalí, Margritte, etc), Django Reinhardt, Frank Zappa, Astor Piazzolla, John McLaughlin, Tommy Mars, Boulou Ferré, Chet Baker, Angelo Debarre, Bill Evans, Philip Catherine, Louis Armstrong, Paco de Lucia, the great composers: Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, progressive (symphonic) rock; Yes, Gentle Giant, Genesis, etc.
Several of these (and many, many more!) I have had the great pleasure of working with, either in concert, or in the studio - and I love both! My academy of music is, and has been, continous work on stage/in the studio since 1978. To be that close to musical greatness, no matter if it is famous icons like Chet Baker, Boulou Ferré, Stéphane Grappelli, Warne Marsh or interesting debutants, it is a constant inspiration to me. May it last.
Here's one major influence, keyboard player, and friend, Tommy Mars:
I am constantly looking for new partners for future projects (and I write more music than I can possibly record myself...) - please feel free to send me an email.
DIRECT CONTACT: jon.larsen at getmail.no - just use "@".
I started out as a guitar playing painter, and had my first solo exhibition of paintings in April 1976. The same month I had my very first gig on the guitar, with my string trio Clo-Z. Then followed Salvador Dalí studies in Barcelona 1978-1979, and annual exhibitions of paintings and drawings for the next 20 years, but also studies of the guitar artistery of Django Reinhardt, etc. Early influences were the surrealist painters, Frank Zappa, Django, Astor Piazzolla, Boulou Ferré (and his father Matelo, and uncle Baro...!) and only later more mainstream jazz. In 1982 we had a radio hit together with Lillebjorn Nilsen "Tanta til Beate", which led to continous tours ever since. However, in the mid 90-ies the urge to paint and compose on the canvas made a perfect crossfade with composing music - so now I have become a guitar playing composer instead of a guitar playing painter. One never knows.
By sheer luck three childhood friends (and fellow freaks!) accepted my presence, and we formed the quartet Hot Club de Norvège in 1979 - we are still playing together, app. 100 days on the road each year. We are touring all over the world, and have recorded more than 25 CDs. We play regularly with all the maestro players in this field, and also crossover with classical orchestras, string ensembles and -quartets, and great soloists. Because our music is influenced by Django, many people think we are retro. They can not be more mistaken.
I love the guitar, and spend my life exploring its possibilities, which is more than enough for one lifetime, but still limited. But by composing music you are into a landscape of infinite possibilities. I share my days between writing music, studio work and gigs at night - music is the best! More info at www.hotclub.no
Hello Jon! Thank you very much for friendship! Three years ago you arrived with a concert to Petersburg. And we got happy possibility to play with you and your wonderful group jam which for a long time went down in memory us! All the time we worked above the swing music , rode on a tour and worked above the style. At year's end we wrote down an album.A few songs can be heard on our page. We very want to know that you think about our music. For us this be very important! Best wishes for the year 2009 from Swing Couture! Alex
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