Wibutee

In 1997, the beats were slow, the bass heavy, and jazz was hip again – also in the clubs. Venues like Headon and Jazid played trip-hop and electronica, and the DJ would often be on stage, side by side with improvising musicians. The Blue Note design from the sixties was seen everywhere, and little Norway was becoming more cosmopolitan than ever before. We drank caffe latte and ate sushi, confident that the globalized peace could only continue to grow into the sky.

Meanwhile in Trondheim, five jazz program students – Håkon Kornstad, Wetle Holte, Per Zanussi, Erlend Skomsvoll, and Live Maria Roggen – started a band that drew as much inspiration from DJ culture and the trip-hop scene as from the jazz they were studying. Massive Attack, Björk, and artists on the British label Ninja Tune were just as natural references as the jazz canon. The band name Wibutee was taken from a can on the shelf at the pub Krambua.

Wibutee played their first major concert at Nattjazz in 1997 and quickly established themselves in the genre that would later be called trip jazz: a blend of trip-hop and jazz, where loops, beats, and samples were mixed with melodic improvisation. The quintet toured both in Norway and abroad and was called the spearhead of the so-called young jazz – musicians who wanted more than just playing standard tunes at jazz clubs.

The album “Newborn Thing” was recorded in Bugge Wesseltoft’s studio by the Akerselva river over a few December days in 1998 and released the following year on the newly established label Jazzland Recordings. That same year, Wibutee played their release concert at Blå in Oslo – a symbolic moment, at least for the young musicians. The album has since stood as a classic in Norwegian jazz: after all these years, it still reaches new listeners and fans. In 2000, Wibutee continued as a trio with Kornstad, Zanussi, and Holte, who in the following years further developed their sound through various collaborations and projects. But now, in 2026, the original quintet is reuniting to perform the music from “Newborn Thing” live – this time with newfound experience, depth, and artistic ballast.

Live Maria Roggen – vocals

Håkon Kornstad – saxophone, vocals

Erlend Skomsvoll – keyboards

Per Zanussi – double bass

Wetle Holte – drums, loops