My review of the fortieth Vossa Jazz festival, today at All About Jazz.

In a town known for its extreme sporting, the community-focused jazz festival has become known for many things, large amongst them, for the past seven years, its Saturday afternoon Ekstremjazz show where, halfway up Mount Hangur, the snow is cleared, and a generator and equipment flown up by helicopter in order to put on a music performance combined with paragliders, hang gliders, skiiers and more. This year's performance, with Jøkleba! (Jon Balke, Audun Kleive and Per Jørgensen) was a clear highlight.

But that was only one of many. Spectacular shows by Sinikka Langeland Ensemble (with trygve Seim, Anders Jormin and Markku Ounaskari); Trio Mediaeval Ensemble (the trio of singers augmented by violinist/singer Nils Økland and percussionist/singer Birger Mistereggen, who performed on the trio's 2007 ECM album, Folk); saxophonist Tore Brunborg (with Eivind Aarset, Steinar Raknes and Per Oddvar Johanssen); a solo performance by guitarist Stian Westerhus at the Voss Wind Tunnel, with sky divers moving in coordination with his 30-minute free improv, and a spectacular commissioned work by Farmers Market's Stian Carstensen, where the multi-instrumentalist raised the ante on his already stellar body of work.

And that's not all, but any one of these shows - and the town of Vossavengen itself, nestled in the Voss municipality in the midst of mountains, fast-flowing rivers, lakes and millennial forests - would have been reason to attend. Collectively, it made for an unforgettable weekend.

Review here.