Format Details:
Release Date: 31 March 2017
Label: Jazzland
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 0687437791901
Format Details:
Release Date: 31 March 2017
Label: Jazzland
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 0687437791901
Description
Debut album from forward-thinking Norwegian soul group Rohey, which is being championed by BBC Radio 2's Jamie Cullum.
Just three years prior to this recording, by lucky coincidence they all started in the same class at the music conservatory in Trondheim. They adopted the name of their singer, Rohey, after realizing the name means "My soul" in Arabic.
Even though they named the group "Rohey", they consider themselves a band - consisting of four contributors that together create the total of the album. This mix of people, with a wide range of abilities and stories, formed Ivan Blomqvist's compositions into something new, leading us to choose the title for this album: "A Million Things". The music has clear roots, but also stretches towards something fresh and unexplored. And it's inside this explorative process we want ourselves and this album to be, constantly challenging and renewing what we already know.
Description
With a wall-to-wall 21st century freshness, light years past any concept of vogue, or any linear genre lines, Norwegian quartet Rohey deliver music that bristles with energy and honesty, that grooves with the best funk, that has deep soul roots while keeping an eye on the broad expanse of a golden future.
Lead vocalist Rohey Taalah brings all the emotional complexity you would expect of a classic jazz or soul singer (and can withstand comparison with any with ease).
Ivan Blomqvist's keys play a dual role of laying down old school sonics, while bringing a retrofuturistic hyper-urban tone (akin to British IDM), while Kristian B. Jacobsen (bass) and Henrik Lødøen (drums) create a jazz-soul-funk hybrid rhythm section that ducks and weaves with supreme artfulness.
Rohey have toured extensively throughout Scandinavia, taking in just about every major Jazz festival along the way. With the release of "A Million Things" on Jazzland Recordings in early 2017, their path can be expected to take them ever further: music this good can't be kept secret for long.
"A Million Things" performs a balancing act that most pop artists have forgotten in these days of studio micro-editing: how to write and play a song with full and sincere conviction, while enjoying an artful expressiveness without making things unnecessarily difficult for the audience. This has been borne out by their nomination for 'Best Single' at the Scandinavian Soul Awards in 2015.
"Rohey's presence was clear. All eyes were on her and all ears were on the band. Somehow, this felt old school. A throwback to the days of a dynamic band with an engaging singer. Especially young people should take note of this. Music is alive outside the internet and Rohey are keeping it real."
- Andy Collins, Scandinavian Soul
Tracklisting
Tracklisting
Sidsel Endresen, Jan Bang & Erik Honore
Lyder Roed Quintet
Moksha
Maridalen
Lyder Roed & OJKOS
Knut Reiersrud Band
Erlend Skomsvoll Trio
Bugge Wesseltoft
Tuohi Klang
Skerik, Brian Haas, James Singleton, Simon Lott
Heikki Sarmanto
Max Roach
Gil Evans
Henry Mancini
Ray Barretto
Miles Davis Quintet