Bees In The Bonnet (CD)

Coming four years after the previous trio album Ding Dong. You’re Dead, it´s the longest period ever between Hedvig albums. That, however, is no indication she´s been idle, quite the contrary, actually. There´s been five commissioned works, two of which have resulted in albums in her own name. 2023 saw the debut release from power-impro-trio Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns with Ståle Storløkken (keyboards) and Ole Mofjell (drums). The same year she was Artist In Residence at the Moldejazz festival, with vital guest appearances from the likes of Nels Cline, Trevor Dunn and Colin Stetson. Hedvig also found time to write new music for a screening of the silent movie Limité (Brazil 1931).

After these busy years, she felt a strong urge to get back to the core, which has always been the trio that started it all back in 2011 with the powerful debut album Shoot!. Starting work on new music before last summer, she later in the year hooked up with Ellen on several occasions to collect loose ends and put it all together before drummer Ivar was brought into the fold to complete the process.

There was plenty of excitement going into the studio, and with a lot of the music being quite complicated with lots of small variations and long structures, the studio sessions were extremely focused and concentrated. Hedvig stresses that the main objective of the trio is to always have fun whether in the studio or on stage, and to share that joy with the listener. Listening to Bees In The Bonnet it shines through how much the trio had been missing making new music together, with glowing evidence of their skills both as writers and players.For years, a young Mollestad obsessed over music and little else. The daughter of a jazz musician, she soon lost herself in his record collection, studying classic works by Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Joe Pass and Jim Hall before discovering riff-raging titans like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as well as Mahavishnu Orchestra in her early 20s.

This would eventually lead to the formation of Hedvig Mollestad Trio after she received the “Jazz Talent Of The Year” award at Moldejazz in 2009. Their relentless recording and touring schedule (hundreds of concerts all over the world) have earned the guitarist a stream of accolades, including two Norwegian Grammies and DownBeat magazine naming her one of the 25 artists who “could shape jazz for decades” in 2020