This release, a Bandcamp exclusive, is chock full of gems from the bands first ten years; over two and a half hours of live recordings captured at various NYC clubs and Festival appearances.

Eivind Opsvik’s band; Overseas, has now existed for 18 years, that’s quite a long time in an environment where new projects quickly come and go. The first Overseas record came out in 2002, and the most recent one was the fifth in the series in 2017. These are all studio albums, and they have all marked a new phase in the bands development, but the groundwork for this development has of course been all the live shows they have played over the years.

In the beginning, Eivind had the habit of bringing a mini disc to record their shows, later on he also on occasion had shows recorded professionally with multi mic setups and at bigger venues he often got a stereo mix straight from the mixing board. The sound quality was of of varying quality, but the spirit of the music shone through regardless. These recordings have been floating around on Eivind’s computer and made it into various playlists of his. Over time, favorite tunes and nights have crystallized, and the idea for a live album has been simmering for a while.

Listening to these live recordings will transport the listener back into the space where it happened, be it from small, legendary NYC spots like The 55 Bar and Nublu to bigger venues like the Molde Jazz Festival and Le Poisson Rouge.

For the past 10 years or so the band has had a steady line up of  Brandon Seabrook, Kenny Wollesen, pianist Jacob Sacks and saxophonist Tony Malaby. Over the years they have developed a second nature connection and an elastic approach to time, pitch, and harmony. It’s like one big breathing organism. They naturally share a common vision of always playing for the music and the collective creation of something larger than the sum of the individuals. 

This release spans the first part of the bands existence from 2002 to 2012. And it’s an interesting look into the evolution of a band. Sacks and Malaby have been with it from the beginning, but in the early years an additional rotating cast of some of NYC’s hippest young musicians played in the band, badasses like Craig Taborn, Gerald Cleaver, Loren Stillman and Dan Weiss.

Just check out the amazing drumming by Gerald Cleaver on the first few tracks; “Underseas” finds Cleaver propelling Loren Stillman and Tony Malaby  into a high flying duel. Craig Taborn gets a whole orchestras worth of sounds and moods from the farfisa organ on the 55 Bar tapings from 2005, this was a CD release show for the second Overseas album and Eivind bought this Farfisa Organ just a few weeks before the show and it’s been a integral part of the band sound ever since. Mr. Wollesen became a steady member by 2004, his drumming on “Ginger Rogers” in support of Sacks’ inspired piano explorations has his amazing and unique feel and pocket all over it, also listen for his home made Marching Machine (made up of a bunch of wooden shoe stretchers) on the LPR version of “Youth Believeth”.  Malaby showcases his formidable range, starting of with his unique and unrivaled melodicism on Redford from one of the first shows of the band (one of Eivind’s all time favorite Malaby moments) to his almost punk / noise approach on the Molde Jazz festival version of “1786”, a massive early version of this song where Sacks and Malaby soar like eagles. In 2010 guitarist Brandon Seabrook joined the ranks, check out his take on the world on “Breath of Bark” live at the Finnish Embassy, part of the Nordic Jazz Fest in DC, and also his epic wailing on “Michelle Marie”.

Eivind Opsvik – upright bass and compositions
Tony Malaby – tenor saxophone
Jacob Sacks – piano, fender rhodes and wurlitzer electric piano, farfisa organ, clavinet
Brandon Seabrook – guitar
Kenny Wollesen – drums, percussion
Craig Taborn – farfisa organ
Gerald Cleaver – drums
Loren Stillman – alto saxophone
Dan Weiss – kanjira, frame drum

01. Redford
02. Extraterrestrial Tantrum
Nublu, NYC, December 15th, 2002
Malaby, Sacks, Weiss, Cleaver, Opsvik

03. Dunes
04. Peacetime
05. Underseas
55 Bar, NYC, September 7th, 2003
Malaby, Stillman, Sacks, Cleaver, Opsvik

06. Italian Movie Theme
07. Punchball
08. Indian Summer
09. Silver
10. Everseas
11. Stranded
12. Kapp Det Gode Håp
55 Bar, NYC, June 11th, 2005
Malaby, Sacks, Taborn, Wollesen, Opsvik
Multi-track recording by Jon Rosenberg

13. Silver
Nublu, NYC, May 18th, 2008
Malaby, Sacks, Wollesen, Opsvik

14. 1786
15. Doggerbanken
16. Hey Days of Hay
Molde Jazz Festival, Norway, July 17th, 2009
Malaby, Sacks, Wollesen, Opsvik

17. Breath of Bark
18. Ginger Rogers
Finnish Embassy, Washington DC, June 18th, 2010
Seabrook, Sacks, Wollesen, Opsvik
Recorded and originally broadcast by WDUQ, Pittsburgh

19. Robbers and Fairground Folk
20. Youth Hopeth All Things, Believeth All Things
21. Silkweavers’ Song
22. Michelle Marie
23. 1786
Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, April 3rd, 2012
Malaby, Seabrook, Sacks, Wollesen, Opsvik

All compositions by Eivind Opsvik, TONO

Audio mixed and/or mastered by Eivind Opsvik
Cover Design by Espen Friberg

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