Mars Williams/Tollef Østvang - Painted Pillars
Mars Williams - saxophones
Tollef Østvang - drums
This duo is a collaboration between Norwegian drummer Tollef Østvang and reed player Mars Williams from Chicago. As heard on this live recording from Artacts ‘17 in St. Johann in Tirol, Austria, the collaboration is a powerful, spontaneous and unpredictable duo constantly searching for new and unheard musical landscapes. As a they have been touring in US, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Austria.
Mars Williams is an open-minded musician, who commutes easily between free jazz, funk, hip-hop and rock. Despite his busy touring schedule with Liquid Soul and The Psychedelic Furs, he is an active collaborator with improvisers such as Ken Vandermark, Jim Baker, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, Kent Kessler, Joe McPhee, Dave Rempis and Paal Nilssen-Love.
Norwegian drummer Tollef Østvang is a key figure in Trondheim's jazz environment, and has established himself in recent years as an active musician at home and abroad. He collaborates frequently with improvisers like Joe McPhee, John Dikeman and Martin Küchen. Over the past few years he has established a close connection to the Chicago scene.