Frode Kjekstad

rdf:langString Frode Kjekstad

rdf:langString Frode Kjekstad

rdf:langString Frode Kjekstad

rdf:langString Guitar

rdf:langString Musician, composer

rdf:langString Frode Kjekstad (born 23 November 1974 in Lier, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz guitarist, married to jazz singer Aina Fridén, and known from collaboration and recordings with jazz musicians Lonnie Smith, Eric Alexander, Mike LeDonne, Joe Farnsworth, Byron Landham, Alberto Marsico, Frank Foster, Johnny Griffin, Don Menza, Jim Morrison, Mark Nightingale, Claire Martin, Deborah Brown, and Wendell Brunious. He has performed at clubs like Ronnie Scott's in London and Smoke in New York. Kjekstad is known for a virtuoso way of playing the guitar, and has done many projects in the guitar/organ/drums trio concept, but also solo, duo, trio and all kind of combos. His style is influenced by different hornplayers and pianoplayers, exemplified by counterpoint chord melodies, and swinging basslines in his solo and duo work with singers and hornplayers. His own projects can be seen as “post-bop”, “hard-bop” or “neo-bop”, based in the American Blue Note tradition, but also heavy influenced by Italian and European music. He has also composed and arranged several tunes and “jazz suites” for big band. Kjekstad grew up in the Norvegian countryside just outside Oslo, in the Lier valley. He was soon captured by the music of Charlie Parker, and this led him into Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans and guitarists Joe Pass and Pat Martino. At young age, he was also a promising operatic tenor, (studying with the internationally acclaimed Norwegian opera star Marit Isene) but chose to concentrate on the guitar as his career developed in that direction. Kjekstad's harmonic and melodic concepts on the guitar is also inspired by the strong melodies and chords used by operatic composers like Puccini, Massenet and others.