Himmerland

Jazzfolk?  Folkjazz?  I asked the guitarist what he classified them as and he opted for the safety of 'World Music'.  But let's forget genre stereotyping

Himmerland are a five piece band from Denmark.  Fiddle, soprano saxophone, guitar, electric bass and a hugely entertaining percussionist.  They play a mix of self-penned numbers and Danish folk tunes, songs and instrumentals.  The music mingles not just folk and jazz, but myriad other influences, not least from the contribution of the Ghanaian happily banging away on his drum kit who feeds African and reggae into the melting pot.

The musicianship is of a high quality and the arrangements imaginative.  There is an excellent mix of slow and upbeat numbers across the set.  Lead vocals are mostly provided by fiddler Ditte Fromseier who has a sweet voice and clear phrasing.  There were a couple of attempts to get the audience singing along and the one with the nonsense chorus succeeded, although we were less forthcoming when asked to sing in proper Danish!  The band enjoy interacting with the crowd and provide plenty of background information on the origins of each piece and even managed some decent jokes in English.  They were clearly enjoying themselves and that sense of fun was infectious.

So often the weak spot of groups with jazz pretensions are the bass solos, like tedious exercises in narcissism.  No such issue here.  Andrezej Kerjniuk from Poland was, for me, the stand out musician of the night, his solos and accompaniments wouldn't have disgraced Jaco Pastorius himself.  And so modest about his abilities when you talk to him.

For this gig they were joined for much of the set by Scottish fiddler Eilidh Shaw of Poozies fame.  That second fiddle added to the richness of the sound, and the band joined in her in some of her own pieces, including a wonderful tune from that great Anglo-Swedish band, Swap.

A memorable evening that brought a smile to everyone's face.

Joyous.