The Real Thing is a jazz band from

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, founded in 1992 when

Sigurd Køhn Sigurd Eystein Køhn (6 August 1959 – 26 December 2004) was a Norwegian jazz saxophonist and composer. Career Køhn was born in Kristiansand, Norway, and started playing the violin and the clarinet at the age of 9, and begun playing the alt ...

and Palle (Paul) Wagnberg formed the forerunner, The B3 Blues Band with

Vidar Busk Vidar Busk (born 19 May 1970 in Langesund, Norway) is a Norwegian guitarist, vocalist, composer and record producer within genres blues and soul. Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian) (in Norwegian) Career Busk grew up in Langesund, but went t ...

and Hamlet Pedersen. They changed the name when Staffan William-Olsson and Fredrik Carl Størmer joined the band. Størmer was replaced by Torstein Ellingsen in 1995, and Ellingsen again by

Børre Dalhaug Børre Dalhaug (born 29 April 1974 in Ålesund, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz musician (drums), music arranger and music instructor. Career Dalhaug has worked as a musician since 1995 and done around 800 concerts with bands like The Real Thing ( ...

in 1998. Due to the sudden death of the band's saxophonist

in the tsunami in Thailand in December 2004, The Real Thing was hibernating until a reunion in 2010. In the 2010s,

Hermund Nygård Hermund Nygård (born 16 May 1979 in Råde, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz musician (drums) and composer residing in Oslo, known from collaborations with musicians like Hallgeir Pedersen, Staffan William-Olsson, Anders Aarum, Steinar Raknes, Erlend ...

replaced Dalhaug on the drums, with Dave Edge playing the saxophone. Before their hiatus, the quartet released eight albums, debuting in 1992 with the album ''The Real Thing'' and continuing with both live and studio recordings. They mostly play original music, combining influences from American Blue Note jazz (represented by people such as Jimmy Smith, George Benson and

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

) and elements from modern popular music. The result is a mixture of genres including

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

. In 2010, the band released the album ''Back on Track''. In December 2017, they joined

Angelina Jordan Angelina Jordan (born Angelina Jordan Astar; 10 January 2006) is a Norwegian singer whose audition for the 2014 season of '' Norway's Got Talent'', singing "Gloomy Sunday" in the style of Billie Holiday, became a viral video online and brought h ...

on her Christmas tour of Norway, along with singer Sigrid Brennhaug. In 2018, they released the album ''Oh No! Not… The Real Thing …Again!''.

Band members

Paul Wagnberg Paul (Palle) Wagnberg (born 25 April 1961 in Norrköping, Sweden) is a Swedish–Norwegian jazz musician, mostly known for his jazz-organ playing. He also sings and plays the piano in addition to composing. Career Wagnberg was born in Norrk ...

– Hammond organ * Staffan William-Olsson – guitar * Dave Edge – alto saxophone *

– drums

Discography

*1992: ''The Real Thing'' (Real Records) featuring Køhn, Wagnberg, William-Olsson and Størmer. *1993: ''...in New York'' (Real Records), feat. Lew Soloff produced by Georg «Jojje» Wadenius, and nominated for the Spellemannprisen 1994 with Køhn, Wagnberg, William-Olsson and Størmer. *1994: '' A Perfect Match'' (Real Records), with

Bohuslän Big Band The Bohuslän Big Band is a modern jazz ensemble from Sweden which started as a military band in the 19th century. They play original music as well as compositions by Lars Jansson, Maria Schneider, Frank Zappa and others. The Bohuslän Big Band c ...

, arranged and produced by the Los Angeles-based arranger

Tom Kubis Tom Kubis is an American jazz musician and arranger. A native of Los Angeles, Kubis started a big band to play his arrangements. He has also written arrangements for Bill Watrous and the BBC Radio Big Band. He studied 20th century composition ...

with Køhn, Wagnberg, William-Olsson and Størmer. *1995: ''Live'' (Real Records) *1997: ''Pleasure is an Attitude'' (Real Records) *2000: '' Deluxe'' (Real Records), with

Even Kruse Skatrud Even Kruse Skatrud (born 18 August 1977) lecturer at the University of Oslo, a Norwegian Jazz musician, composer, Music arranger and Orchestra leader. He is the son of musician Harry Andersen and Marit Skatrud Andersen, married to singer-artist ...

and the

Norwegian Radio Orchestra The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Norwegian, ''Kringkastingsorkestret'', abbreviated as KORK) is a radio orchestra affiliated with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (''Norsk rikskringkasting AS'', or NRK). Its principal base is the ''Store Studi ...

*2003: ''New Wrapping'' (Real Records) *2006: ''A Real Christmas'' (Real Records), feat. Sigrid Brennhaug on vocal *2011: ''Back On Track'' (Real Records) *2018: ''Oh No! Not… The Real Thing …Again!'' (Real Records)

References

External links

*
Børre Dalhaug Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Real Thing, The Norwegian jazz ensembles Musical quartets Musical groups established in 1992 1992 establishments in Norway