motif.no | The website of norwegian improvisation ensemble Motif.

Recent News

Norway and UK double bill tour with Kit Downes/Lucy Railton (Tricko Tarecko)

The great Kit Downes and Lucy Railton are joining us for a tour in Norway and the UK in april/may of 2014 - We are doing gigs in Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, London, Birmingham and Brighton. We´ll be doing separate sets plus some collaborations throughout the tour - We are really looking forward! Check the gig [...]
Art Transplant review @ Jazzwrap

Stephan Moore of JazzWrap reviewed our Clean Feed release with Axel Dörner, concluding that “their unity breeds exciting creativity and fluidity”. Read the full review HERE
….another review from down under!

…..And here´s a review from our first concert of the tour, in Auckland NZ, at the lovely Creative Jazzclub - Thanks to Jeff Jenderson and Roger Manins for making this one happen! READ IT!
Review from down under

We just completed our first ever tour of Oceania, playing concerts in New Zealand and Australia, with highlights such as the Melbourne Jazz Fest - An amazing experience! Here´s a review from our sold out concert at Bennets Lane´s during the festival, check it out! Thanks for private investigator Sveinungsen for taking care of security! TO REVIEW
Australian Tour Coming Up!

Our New Zealand/Australia tour is coming up next week, with a total of 6 gigs in the territory - We can´t wait to get down there! See upcoming gigs for more info! Many thanks to our great (new) friends Sean Foran and Jeff Henderson for helping us out with this. Also, check out our really [...]
Best of 2011

“Facienda” made it to Allaboutjazz´s John Kelmans “Best of 2011″ list, in the “New Jazz Releases” category - we´re honored! John is curating a series of shows @ KongsbergJazz this summer, be sure to check it out of you´re around…

Concerts

Date	Venue	Tickets
April 24, 2012	Murmansk, Russia Murmansk, Russia
April 27, 2012	Antikvariatet, Trondheim Antikvariatet, Trondheim
April 28, 2012	Soddjazz Festival, Inderøy Soddjazz Festival, Inderøy
April 29, 2012	Kampenjazz, Oslo, Norway Kampenjazz, Oslo, Norway
June 4, 2012	June 4th-19th AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND TOUR! June 4th-19th AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND TOUR!
June 6, 2012	Creative Jazzclub, Auckland, new Zealand Creative Jazzclub, Auckland, new Zealand
June 9, 2012	Melbourne Int. Jazz Festival, Australia Melbourne Int. Jazz Festival, Australia
June 13, 2012	SIMA, Sydney, Australia SIMA, Sydney, Australia
June 14, 2012	The Turnaround, Brisbane, Australia The Turnaround, Brisbane, Australia
June 16, 2012	SoundOut, Canberra, Australia SoundOut, Canberra, Australia
October 9, 2012	Ski Jazzklubb, Ski Ski Jazzklubb, Ski
October 10, 2012	Evidence Jazzklubb, Kongsberg Evidence Jazzklubb, Kongsberg
October 20, 2012	Dølajazz Festival, Norway (w/Axel Dörner and Michael Thieke) Dølajazz Festival, Norway (w/Axel Dörner and Michael Thieke)
February 18, 2013	Dokkhuset, Trondheim, Norway Dokkhuset, Trondheim, Norway
March 13, 2013	MIR, Oslo, Norway MIR, Oslo, Norway
March 14, 2013	Molde Jazzklubb, Norway Molde Jazzklubb, Norway
March 15, 2013	Bergen jazzforum, Norway Bergen jazzforum, Norway
December 1, 2013	Motif Japan Tour - Airegin, Yokohama Motif Japan Tour - Airegin, Yokohama
December 2, 2013	Motif Japan Tour - Pit Inn, Tokyo Motif Japan Tour - Pit Inn, Tokyo
December 3, 2013	Motif Japan Tour - Candy, Chiba Motif Japan Tour - Candy, Chiba
December 4, 2013	Motif Japan Tour - Fukui Motif Japan Tour - Fukui
December 5, 2013	Motif Japan Tour - Tokuzo, Nagoya Motif Japan Tour - Tokuzo, Nagoya
April 23, 2014	Dokkhuset, Trondheim Motif/Kit Downes and Lucy Railton Norway Tour	Buy Tickets
April 24, 2014	Nasjonal Jazzscene Victoria, Oslo Motif/Kit Downes and Lucy Railton Norway Tour	Buy Tickets
April 25, 2014	Bergen Jazzforum (USF Verftet), Bergen Motif/Kit Downes and Lucy Railton Norway Tour	Buy Tickets
May 9, 2014	CBSO Centre, Birmingham Motif/Kit Downes and Lucy Railton UK Tour	Buy Tickets
May 10, 2014	The Vortex, London Motif/Kit Downes and Lucy Railton UK Tour	Buy Tickets
May 11, 2014	The Verdict, Brighton Motif/Kit Downes and Lucy Railton UK Tour	Buy Tickets

Press

Facienda - Side 2

“The bassplayer, composer and band leader Ole Morten Vågan is a mere 31 years old. Despite of his relatively young age, Brønnøysund´s biggest musical export has already done more than his share - amongst them being one of the most promising musicians in Norway.” Tor Hammerø, Side2 READ THE WHOLE REVIEW
Facienda - Cardboard Music

” The music of Motif is a brilliant mixture of improvised and composed, probably even more developed than their label-mates ‘Atomic’ (a favourite on this blog). Many people talk about the way Ole Morten Vågen mixes classical, jazz and folk together in the compositions, also true for the musicians on here who draw from such [...]
Facienda - Free Jazz

” The music is composed, with discernible themes and structures, beautifully arranged, often slow to mid-tempo, and could mostly be categorised as mainstream jazz with exuberant soloing, but then you have pieces like “The Korean Barbecue Smokeout”, which is crazy, or “Seksten” which is more explorative…a very strong album, and one that will appeal to [...]
Facienda - All About Jazz

“Facienda’s three discs draw a line between where Apo Calypso left off and where Motif 2011 now lives. Motif has always skirted the line between structure and spontaneity, with a general tendency to live on the freer side of the equation, but Facienda shows the group heading for even more expressionistic territory than ever before; [...]