Trond Kallevåg - Minnesota [CD]

Format: CD
Catalogue No.: HUBROCD2672
Barcode: 7033662026722
Release Date: 24 Oct 2025
Genre: Jazz

With Minnesota, guitarist and composer Trond Kallevåg deepens his image-rich sound – a warm, wistful universe where the atmosphere of Norway’s rugged west coast drifts seamlessly into the wide horizons of the American Midwest. Drawing inspiration from traditional music, jazz, ambient folk, emigration stories, and rare photographs unearthed during an artist residency on the unique and remote island of Træna in Northern Norway , Kallevåg weaves a sound world rooted in the Norwegian Coast – yet forever gazing westward. Minnesota marks Kallevåg’s fourth album on the acclaimed Hubro label, following Bedehus & Hawaii (2019), Fengselsfugl (2021), and Amerikabåten (2023). As on his previous releases, historical curiosity meets personal presence, resulting in instrumental storytelling of rare depth and resonance.Kallevåg is joined by three of Norway’s most in-demand musicians – ECM artists, Gard Nilssen (drums, vibraphone), Mats Eilertsen (double bass), and the exceptionally talented young violinist Tuva Halse – alongside his own guitar, pedal steel, and a delicate layer of production, mixing, and overdubs. Together, they create a soundscape as much shaped by American folk music and cinematic jazz as by the devotional music and understated beauty of Norway’s west coast.
The album continues Kallevåg’s exploration of the ties between Norway and America – a terrain of cowboy ballads, murder ballads, immigrant sagas, and coastal lives that never returned home. Tracks such as Edward Curtis Portraits and Pine Ridge take inspiration from Edward Curtis’ iconic photographic portraits of Native Americans, adding another layer to the album’s transatlantic narrative.

TRACKLISTING
1.Twins of Træna
2.Houses
3.Pine Ridge
4.The Boat song
5.Edward Curtis Portraits
6.Kindness of Strangers
7.Pretty Polly
8.Postmarked from Honolulu
9.Red Stranger
10.Lighthouse Boogie
11.To Mom