Nils Petter Molvær
NP3

We stroll with G and zzzzz through the streets of Stavanger. We encounter a metallic statue representing a man, or rather: the shape of a person, standing, gaze (if it had one) fixed forward. Metal coated with rust. We walk further and meet another, identical to the first. Then another, and yet another. They are on every corner.

Enlightenment: a few years ago I had already seen these statues! But they were on a beach, in front of the Norwegian Sea, all looking in the same direction, towards the open ocean. Some were planted in the sand up to the waist, others were standing on the shoreline. Some even ventured into the water. A stretch of Stavanger's immense beach was full of them.
An artistic installation on the occasion of some event I can no longer remember.

And anyway, between that time and this, I had seen the statues again. Without recognizing them immediately. At Giuà's house, in Berlin, on the cover of a CD he had played for us during the trip. And that he was making us listen to again.

A Norwegian trumpeter I had heard about, and whom I might have heard a few little things from, so, absentmindedly... it needed Giuà's enthusiasm to finally make me notice him. And luckily he did (thank you Giuà!), because now, right as I'm writing, I'm listening and I wonder how the hell I managed to live without him, until yesterday.

I was lucky enough to see (and especially hear) Miles Davis live, in Milan, shortly before he died.
Nils Petter Molvær, born in 1960, must have somehow inherited his soul. Or at least his genius (which is saying a lot!). And, inspired also by Brian Eno, the ability to absorb sounds and atmospheres from the entire audible spectrum, rework them, compress them into the three valves of the trumpet and serve them to us on a plate of crystalline ice.

For those most frightened by jazz, this artist might offer the inspiration to venture into a new world. For jazz purists, Nils Petter Molvær represents a pebble in their shoe that, however, has the future on its side.