In 2015, I did catch the „remix crew“ of Jan Bang and Erik Honoré with the eminence of Norwegian vocalist, Sidsel Endresen. It is hard to say what is the difference between experiencing Sidsel Endresen for the first, the fifth or tenth time. You will never be (really) prepared for what is coming. The performance again proved how abstraction can get utterly concrete and cut deep.
Generically speaking she is not just producing plosives and stuttering guttural sounds, playing around, nor is she imitating instruments. Her expression moves with basic vocalizations combined in a non-arbitrary way, to syllables freed of conventional meaning placed and articulated with great urge, driven by a deep musical intuition. She digs deep into the essence of the human voice and creates a strong visceral coherence. Melody is always in the air (or triggered vaguely in listeners‘ minds), sometimes touched upon or even fully articulated. She is one of the most extraordinary post-bop vocalists and the source for younger Norwegian jazz and improv singers.
Fellow musicians have to listen carefully and take quick and effective action to achieve this coherence and strength of expression. Bang and Honoré know exactly how to and they know each other so well they can go into any direction with each other. Armed with her voice and just a microphone flanked by two electronic wizards, she cut her way through the electronic shades, the spume, threw it into abysses and led the music to a higher plane. It was breathtaking and relieving. You could almost forget about the O-performance that was recognizable still. Thus the remix lead even deeper into the forest.
– Henning Bolte (text, drawing)