Global Motion+
By Nikolaj Hess
Artistic developmental work
– self-penned compositions with a global perspective
At the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, associate professor and pianist Nikolaj Hess has composed a kaleidoscope of musical sketches, developed, arranged and recorded with musician colleagues from New York (Marc Mommaas, John Hebert, Tony Moreno, Ben Monder and Jeff Ballard), where Hess often plays and teaches.
The result is documented by the CD Global Motion + and a few lead sheets, in which the starting-point for the collective improvisation in the band is indicated by simple graphic models. In peer reviews (international and national reviews) the artistic result has been described as:
“A complex form of jazz, with here and there an African sound, and an American and Nordic sound almost everywhere. But if the global album is focused, it is also very much worth delving into.”
and
"Throughout Global Motion+, Hess and his unit create a musical language of their own; one which combines the worlds of East and West, Europe and America into a dusty multicultural stew of bouncing rhythms and complex melodies."
In a subsequent interview conducted by the Conservatory’s Head of Research, Hess explained the project’s impact on his own teaching in composition and his artistic development. This interview has been transcribed for dissemination.