TOR E 'Dr' BEKKEN is a pianist specializing in jazz, blues and free improvisation. He holds a Master's degree in music from NTNU (University of Trondheim, Norway), and he has been a professional jazz/blues musician on the Norwegian scene since the late 1980s.He has released six albums:THE NAKED BLUES (sonor records; 1995)
TRAIN - STONE BLUES PIANO, VOL 1 (sonor records; 2001)
GOT MILK IF YOU WANT IT (sonor records; 2003)
THE TICKLERS (ticklerdisc/gumbotronic; 2004)
FLOOD STREET (DrB Records; 2006)
HARDCORE PIANO (Blue Mood Records/Grappa; 2008)All albums have been met with rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. The American magazine Blues Revue has called him '...a monster pianist', and his playing has been described as 'dazzling', 'sublime', exquisite' and 'exceptional' by the same publication.Mr. Bekken has appeared in concert with artists such as Eddie Bo (three sold out duo piano gigs in Oslo, 1999), Dr Michael White, Big Al Carson and Marva Wright. With Wright, he toured France, Luxemburg and Germany in 2006, as keyboardist in her backing band. Mr Bekken also performed with the great Louisiana Red at the Nidaros Blues Festival in Trondheim, Norway in 2005. In 2008, he once again appeared in a duo with Eddie Bo, at the Blues In Hell Festival in Hell, Norway. The song WHAT'D I SAY is a recording from that show. It is not commercially available anywhere.In Norway, the good doc keeps up a busy schedule, playing festivals and clubs in addition to improvising on-the-spot scores for silent films. Mr Bekken has appeared at major festivals in Norway, including the Oslo Int Jazz Festival (just about every year since 1995), Molde Jazz Fest and Notodden Blues Festival.TRAIN; GOT MILK... and FLOOD STREET are available through Blues Music Club Notodden at
[email protected] STREET is also available through cdbaby.comHARDCORE PIANO is widely available on the internet, as a download or in album form.A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE SONGS ON THE PROFILE:OBIORA (STONE BLUES pt2) is not available on any of Doc Bekken's albums. The piece is a tribute to Eugene Obiora, who was killed by Norwegian police in 2006, while being arrested. It is available as a free download from this profile page.ANTHRAX BLUES; HAMMERHEAD and BLUES ON THE TABLE were recorded August 31, 2007, by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). The songs are included on a new solo piano album - HARDCORE PIANO - released in March, 2008, by Blue Mood Records. One of many sources of inspiration for these pieces is the great Ray Bryant. Another is Meade 'Lux' Lewis, the all-time king of blues pianoTHE WAKE is a piece of free improvisation; the opening track on the 'FLOOD STREET' cd. It is a spontaneous afterthought on the grim fate of the people who had to leave their home town after Hurricane Katrina.NEWS: 'HARDCORE PIANO' was released in March 2008. It has been favorably reviewed by Norwegian media and by the world's biggest jazz web site, www.allaboutjazz.comLayout made by at sharealayout.com .
