Skiensjazzdraget: Cortex & Hedvig Mollestad

Together, Cortex and Hedvig Mollestad create energetic music that makes your body shake with joy.

Cortex is an energetic quartet founded by Thomas Johansson in 2007 with a solid international CV. With original compositions, emphasis on dynamics, groove, interaction and genre mixing. The band plays hard-hitting jazz with free frameworks, but with solid melodic and rhythmic elements, and the musicians share a common musical platform in American avant-garde jazz from the 60s and 70s. Don Cherry is a point of reference, but these are musicians who also listen to Dave Douglas and John Zorn.

Cortex is a fiery collective with extraordinary soloists, whether they play at a crazy pace or take the dynamics all the way down to the delicate and lasting. On "Did We Really?" they bring with them the modern national treasure Hedvig Mollestad, the jazz guitarist somewhere between Terje Rypdal and Iron Maiden, who contributes both fierce riffs and long lines.

Mollestad was a student of Jon Eberson and often appears in Bernhoft's band, and occasionally with Jon Balke, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Hilde Kjersem. At the same time, she has made commissioned works for Vossa Jazz and Parken in Ålesund, and has been Artist in Resident at Moldejazz. She has won the Young Jazz Talent of the Year, the Musician Prize at Kongsbergjazz and the Spellemann for the album Ekhidna.
 

The press writes:  

"Cortex has been and is a tough universe. With the lovely Hedvig Mollestad as a guest, who also shows up in a slightly different musical guise than before, it is possibly the toughest Cortex release ever. Awesome!"
Tor Hammerø – Nettavisen

«The combo´s music dances with unflappable confidence upon a tightrope strung between the poles of fiery, free sonorities and lucid, engaging compositions»
Bill Meyer – Magnet Magazine  

"If there is a central pleasure in "Did We Really?", it lies in its refusal to choose between sophistication and swagger. This is jazz with muscle tone. It respects the avant-garde but is not intimidated by it. It nods to history without reenacting it.”
Vito Camaretta – Chain DLK

Photo: Julia Marie Naglestad

Ticket prices:
Ordinary: 350
Skiens jazz band members: 250