THIS IS WUPPERTAL! with Trondheim jazz orchestra and Ole Morten Vågan
It has been such a journey to be a part of this band for so many years, and in December 25 we did our (for now) last concerts and released a new live record!!! Listen!!!
Go listen to the new Trondheim Jazzorchestra album at Bandcamp!
«After 11 years of concerts all over Europe, TJO & OMV are releasing the live album “THIS IS WUPPERTAL!” on Jazzland Records!
This is the band’s third release so far, and it shows an ensemble armed to the teeth with a deep understanding of Vågan’s music and an interplay developed over a decade. The line-up reads like a who’s who of European jazz in 2025, and where the two previous albums “Happy Endlings” and “Plastic Wave” established their own musical world around themes such as the end times and climate change, TJO on “THIS IS WUPPERTAL!” are more interested in tearing down what exists, sinking their teeth firmly into the wallpaper, and breaking apart whatever lies in front of them.
Much of the music was recorded at the club Loch in Wuppertal, with a band that had just been through a night of impromptu karate duels, a train journey during which a third of the band disappeared, and with the classic touring dish “pønkegryte” as their only source of energy. At Loch, the audience consists of regulars and drifters, free-jazz fans, and the trio of Caspar Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson and John Corbett, who are in Wuppertal to settle the estate after the death of the legend Peter Brötzmann. The atmosphere gradually becomes euphoric both on stage and in the hall, and to explain this euphoria a woman in the third row shouts the words “THIS IS WUPPERTAL!” between two tunes, in a tone that can only be described as a “declaration of war.”
The album then takes us on to Europe’s oldest concert venue De Bijloke in Belgium, and to Moldejazz 2025, where TJO appeared as Artist in Residence.»
Produced by Ole Morten Vågan for TJO and Jazzland Records.
released December 5, 2025
Sofia Jernberg – vocals (1-4,6)
Maja Ratkje – Vocals (5)
Thea Ellingsen Grant – Vocals (5)
Signe Emmeluth – alto saxophone
Eirik Hegdal – saxophone, clarinet
Åsne Fossmark – Tenor Sax (5)
Kjetil Møster – saxophone, clarinet (1-4,6)
Espen Reinertsen – saxophone, bass clarinet (1-4, 6)
Eivind Lønning – trumpet
Øyvind Brække – trombone (1-4, 6)
Emil Bø – Trombone (5)
Guro Kvåle – Trombone (5)
Josefin Runsteen – violin (1-4, 6)
Ola Kvernberg – violin (5)
Marianne B. Lie – cello (1-4, 6)
Amuns Storløkken Åse – Vibraphone (5)
Kit Downes – Organ (1-4, 6)
Oscar Grönberg – piano (2,6)
Marta Warelis – piano (1,3,4)
Anja Lauvdal – piano (5)
Gard Nilssen – drums (1-4, 6)
Veselmøy Narvesen – drums (5)
Håkon Mjåset Johansen – drums
Ole Morten Vågan – bass, compositions
