New Orleans Workshop Jazzclub : Morten Gunnar Larsen
Morten Gunnar Larsen is probably the world’s leading performer in ragtime and stride piano and has received several awards, including the Spellemannprisen and Buddy, the highest honor in Norwegian jazz. He is educated at the Norwegian Academy of Music, has worked for several years in New Orleans and New York, and has toured in the USA, Brazil, and Scandinavia with the performance “One Mo’ Time.” He is an honorary citizen of New Orleans and knows what is worth knowing about the music of pianists like Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton.
Morten Gunnar Larsen is a longtime leader of the Ophelia Ragtime Orchestra, has been a member of the Magnolia Jazzband, and plays in Ytre Suløens Jazzensemble, Odeon Jazz Quintet, and Union Rhythm Kings. He has performed many duo performances with jazz singer Karin Krog, with singer Ståle Ytterli, and with clarinetist Georg Reiss. As a soloist, he has also played with various symphony orchestras and performed works by Gershwin and Bernstein, among others.
Morten Gunnar Larsen has contributed to over 40 records. In recent years, he has shown interest in music from the Caribbean and South America. In his solo release “Creole Connections,” which is also the name of his own concert program, he focuses on this material. “Fingerbreaker” is another concert title that some organizers have liked to use.
