Scheen Jazzorkester & Ståle Storløkken
Biography Scheen Jazzorkester & Ståle Storløkken
Scheen Jazzorkester (SJO)
had its first concert in Skien in February 2010, with an 18-member big band lineup, including a majority of professional musicians based in the Grenland area.
The orchestra was at first initiated by André Kassen, Rune Klakegg and Jon Øystein Rosland, and the motivation behind the orchestra was to provide professional musicians and composers in the area with challenges and opportunities for artistic growth.
The repertoire for the first concert consisted of compositions by Magne Rutle and Rune Klakegg. The project was successful both musically and socially, leading to the formation of a four-person «board» (Jon Øystein Rosland, André Kassen, Magne Rutle, and Rune Klakegg) to run the orchestra further.
Since then, Finn Arne Dahl Hanssen and Thomas Johansson joined the management group, and Rune Klakegg and Magne Rutle has chosen to part from the orchestra to pursue other projects and work.
SJO now consists of ten (10) set musicians, with guests depending on the various projects. The musicians in the orchestra have different backgrounds, and they come from both jazz and classical music, which creates an open and dynamic expression between contemporary jazz and Nordic sounds.
The orchestra has since 2013 been the regional large professional ensemble of the Southern Jazz Region of Norway, and has succeeded in becoming a major force in Norwegian progressive composer-based ensembles along with similar units in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim.
SJO has nine (9) critically acclaimed releases in their catalog, they have done extensive touring over the years with their own and others music, which also includes a tour of Norway with the great American award-winning trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and Norwegian singer Live Maria Roggen.
The band also made a full-length concert video of their project “Logical Fallacies” during the pandemic, which was presented on the Norweigan National TV Broadcaster, NRK, in 2021. The film is still available on their streaming services.
