Steelpan Jazz in the Arctic Circle?
Live from Sortland, Norway, Gregory Boyd with GBTNO at the Sortland Jazz Festival 2025, featuring Jens Damm on drums and Thomas Sejthen on acoustic and electric bass. Talk about amazing—Sortland, above the Arctic Circle, has blue water and fish right beside the hotel. By the way, we stayed at the Scandic Hotel in Sortland. It’s a really nice hotel, and a highlight was the food. During the first two days of the festival, I wasn’t very adventurous with my eating. If I haven’t heard of a place being good for food, I tend to be conservative about what I eat. However, on the third day, I finally took the plunge and had a brilliant reindeer shank! So, if you’re staying in Northern Norway near Sortland and happen to stay at the Scandic Hotel, do yourself a favor and try their restaurant—you’ll be glad you did. Sortland is a cozy town that seems a bit odd at first because many of the buildings are painted blue. At first, it seemed like one of those strange 1990s European ideas, but I realize...
