Frode Gjerstad Trio in Concert

 

When I first saw that Frode Gjerstad should have concert in Moscow I said tm myself, we am going! And so we did. Moscow is a large city so evening like this has to be paned, this one was easy due to the concert was at a place between my wife work and home. 30 minute walk from the office a further 20 minute walk home across Red Square.

 

I remember Frode from the early days of mid 70’s when I moved to Stavanger as a student. The local Jazz club in Stavanger was at the same place the student kept dancing in weekends, but jazz day was Tuesday’s.

 

Unfortunately I do not have the pictures from those days with me to Moscow. All wrapped down in boxes back in Stavanger for future use.

 

First we headed for dinner at a local Ukrainian restaurant Korchma and had good traditional Russian food, than we talk about Borsch and Cabbage rolls. Time to go and find the place, I do use Google Earth so it will be easier to find. It can be a challenge at times to find what you look for, but this time my intuition was right. In an almost closed of street we did find this “underground” concert arena with seats for around 200 people. Compared to what we are used to it was different, it could have been an old industrial place with 3 meter celling height , chairs like we used to have them in the Houses of Worship in the 60’s in Norway. The audience was a mix of 68’rs and a few business suits.

 

All in all the setting was embracing the music. The place got filled up with few standing places left. It must have been both a popular visit and a popular place.

 

Frode’s music has developed from the mid 70’s until today. One thing is the same and that is his and the trio’s energy. I will not go in details about his music. Going to this concert was more to feel the local atmosphere and understand what is in the local culture today in Moscow have a Norwegian playing there.  After Moscow Frode told us he headed for Ljubljana. He enjoyed the visit to Moscow and to have the opportunity to look around. One thing he had noticed that we had not and that was the air quality. Looks like we have adapted the way of living here?

 

It was an interesting experience and I look forward to next time we are up for something new. The evening ended with a nice stroll home across the Red Square, still people enjoying the ice rink and the beauty of the city.