We have another announcement for the 20^th anniversary of the Lucerna Music Bar! On the 11^th of November is the band Jaga Jazzist performing. This concert is part of their tour through Europe with their new album Starfire, which was release 1^st of June on Ninja Tune. Jaga Jazzist are the leaders of Nujazz and are known for their experimental approach of composing and connecting jazz, electro and progressive rock.

The story of the album Starfire started in December 2012, when primary composer Lars Horntveth moved from Norway to Los Angeles. There, on the other side of the world, inspired by the atmosphere, he started composing new songs for Starfire. He adopted an entirely different recording approach. Rather than inviting the entire band to play together, he became Jaga’s musical ringleader, bringing other members in, one or two at a time, to contribute… and not just instrumentally. After the foundation of the album was set, Lars returned to Oslo to finish the record in the studio.

After the live record with orchestra “Live with the Britten Sinfonia” (2013), Jaga Jazzist returned to the experimental studio work. With Starfire, Jaga Jazzist ups its ante, returning to a more electronic sound while flipping Lars’ characteristically vertical musical stacks into horizontal sequences. “Starfire is neither an improvised album,” Lars explains, “nor was it notated in scores. Composed and recorded over two years and slowly finding its shape in the studio, the music is as intricate and composed as our other albums, but it’s a 100% studio record. We didn’t rehearse once during this period. The idea was to think about the songs as both original songs and remixes.”

The youngest of three siblings that began Jaga in 1994 in the small town of Tønsburg when he was just 14, Lars Horntveth gradually emerged as Jaga’s primary compositional voice. Lars, brother Martin and sister Line all demonstrated a strong-willed distaste for orthodoxy – an early reason why Jaga sounds unlike any other band on any scene. All bandleaders, producers, engineers and/or busy session musicians, Jaga’s members have always been at the heart of Norway’s disproportionately large and vibrant music scene. All the more remarkable, then, that five of its current eight members remain from its early days, with Even Ormestad and Andreas Mjøs still here alongside the Horntveth siblings. Jaga’s out-of-print 1996 debut, Grete Stitz, did extremely well for an indie release, grabbing the ears and eyes of musicians, producers and venue owners at the heart of Norway’s music scene.
During their 20 years of history, the band released many other great albums, e.g. “A Livingroom Hush” and “What We Must”. Jaga Jazzist are releasing since 2002 on Ninja Tune (debut “The Stix”), the album “A Livingroom Hush” was from the BBC audience announced as jazz album of the year.

The last performance of Jaga Jazzist in the Czech Republic was in 2013 with orchestra, which was one of the best concerts in that year. The next tour with the album Starfire is promising to be again a great experience, not only for jazz fans, but also for music fans, who want to be taken away on the wave of music fantasy.

Pre-sale starts on 24th of July.