Kristiansen Knut & Bergen Big: Kuria Suite

I was brought in on this production last minute to be some sort of production manager for this project. Bergen Big Bands leader , bassplayer Magne Thormodsæter felt that they needed someone to take the overview. A lot og music and a lot of musicians (20 musicians and about 90 tracks recording at once), so logistics and order was key. It was also necessary to have someone outside to listen, and decide when to move forward. Knut Kristiansen, composer and pianist, decided early to trust me with these decisions. A huge compliment. Knut has through the last 50 years been the main jazzmentor in Bergen. He has “brought up” a bunch of musicians, he has written tons of music, both for small bands and for bigger bands and he has done serious research on the music of Thelonius Monk, cuban music and the music of the kenyan Kuria people, to mention but a few. Knut is an institution in himself. So being part of this project was a big priviledge. Great music, great band and great recording engineer (Per Ravnaas).

The postproduction was a colab between Knut Kristiansen, Magne Thormodsæter and myself. Mixing was done in Rainbow Studios with legend Jan Erik Konshaug in control. 

Here’s a documentary about the process: