Improv on a Steinway

A tick off the bucket list. We’ve headed down to Southampton for a few days and an opportunity to see one of my favourite artists performing at the local university.  I’m not sure many of you will have heard of Silje Nergaard, a Norwegian jazz vocalist and composer. Were it not for a chance purchase of a compilation CD of modern jazz music many years ago and hearing the wonderful song, Be Still my Heart, I doubt I would have either. It has become a favourite.  We were also introduced to the lyricist, Mike McGurk, a Scotsman, who has lived in Norway for 50 years. 

They were able to explain how the song came about, a mistake in that usually Silje would choose a title and compose the music and then ask Mike to come up with the lyrics.  This was 20 or so years ago and Silje would post a cassette with the music to Mike, with the title and he would then write the lyrics.  He did so in this case, only for Silje to find she couldn’t fit the words to the melody.  She’d sent him the wrong cassette! So she had to compose the music after he’d written the words. They did a great job.

Because of the intimate nature of the venue, I even got to meet Silje afterwards (see extra).  This really was a stripped back performance, only accompanied by a virtuosos piano player called Espen Berg. He was enjoying playing a Steinway grand piano and was happy to improvise creating great sounds, like a double bass, using nothing more than a towel.