Fredrik Carl Størmer
Encyclopedia
Fredrik Carl Stormer is a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

 and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 based in Oslo, Norway. Based on his music and business experience, he has developed the JazzCode – a term describing the guiding principles used by jazz musicians in particular and professional teams in general to create a successful performance. The JazzCode applies to small teams having to manage complexity and rapid change. It is also relevant to organizations change cultures in order to adapt to rapidly changing contexts.

Background

Stormers background both as a professional musician and a business executive has enabled him to see both areas from a different angle.
After 11 years in the US where he obtained a Bachelor of Music in jazz performance from New England Conservatory (1983), a Master of Music in jazz from Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...

 (1985), a Master of Fine Arts in arts management from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 (1987) and worked as a professional musician, Stormer returned to Norway in 1991. Back in Oslo, he founded the jazz band The Real Thing
The Real Thing (band)
The Real Thing is a Norwegian jazz quartet. Due to the sudden death of the band's saxophonist Sigurd Køhn in December 2004 The Real Thing has been hibernating since Køhn's death....

 in collaboration with guitarist Staffan William-Olsson (b. 1959). They were later joined by Sigurd Køhn
Sigurd Køhn
Sigurd Køhn , was a Norwegian jazz saxophonist and composer. He was, along with his 16 year old son, killed in Khao Lak, Thailand by the tsunami following the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake on December 26, 2004....

 (1959 – 2004) and Paul “Palle” Wagnberg (b. 1961). The band soon became one of Norway’s most popular and bestselling jazz bands, releasing three albums – "The Real Thing" (1991), "The Real Thing in New York" (1992 feat. Lew Soloff
Lew Soloff
Lew Soloff is a jazz trumpeter, composer and actor. He studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School. He is likely best known for his work with Blood, Sweat & Tears from 1968 to 1973...

), and "A Perfect Match" (1994).

Musical Training

Stormer's first drum teacher was the Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen
Jon Christensen
Jon Christensen is a Norwegian jazz percussionist.In the late 1960s he played alongside Jan Garbarek on several recordings by the composer George Russell....

 with whom he studied from 1971-1976. While at New England Conservatory he studied with Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson
Alan Dawson was a respected jazz drummer and widely influential percussion teacher based in Boston. He was born in Marietta, Pennsylvania and raised in Roxbury, MA. Serving in the Army for Korean War duty, Dawson played with the Army Dance Band while stationed at Fort Dix from 1951-1953...

, Gary Chaffee, Miroslav Vitous
Miroslav Vitouš
Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš , is a Czech jazz bassist.-Biography:Born in Prague, he began the violin at age six, and started playing the piano at age ten, and bass at fourteen. As a young man in Europe, Vitouš was a competitive swimmer. One of his early music groups was the Junior Trio with his...

, and George Russell
George Russell
George Allen Russell was an American jazz pianist, composer and theorist. He is considered one of the first jazz musicians to contribute to general music theory with a theory of harmony based on Jazz rather than European music, in his book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization...

. While at Manhattan School of Music he studied with Justin DiCioccio and Gary Chester
Gary Chester
Gary Chester was one of the 20th century's busiest studio drummers. Gary is counted as one of the greats when it comes to studio session musicians. His work appears on thousands of tracks, including hundreds of hit records from the '50s, '60s and '70s...

.

Music and business

In 1992 the city of Oslo wanted to adopt the French music festival “Fête de la Musique
Fête de la Musique
The Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day, is a music festival taking place on June 21.-History:The idea was first broached in 1976 by American musician Joel Cohen, then employed by the national French radio station France Musique. Cohen proposed an all-night music celebration at the...

”. Carl Stormer established the festival and was managing director for the first two years. Even in its first year, “Musikkens Dag” gathered thousands of people and artists in the streets of Oslo.

In 1995 Stormer left music to pursue a business career with IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

. His fascination for technology (he had previously worked both with programming drums and databases in the US) soon took him to the Internet , e-business and management consulting. In 1999 he moved back to the US and together with Espen Odegard he co-founded StudentUniverse
Studentuniverse
StudentUniverse is a technology company that provides students with deals. It is one of the two largest discount student travel sellers in the world. It was founded in 2000, and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts...

, an online travel business which in 2008 became a global company.

In 2003 Stormer was asked to become the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Norwegian Air Shuttle
Norwegian Air Shuttle
Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA , trading as Norwegian, is the second-largest airline in Scandinavia. In 2010, it transported 13.0 million people. As of October 2011, Norwegian operates a total fleet of 62 aircraft; 17 Boeing 737-300s and 45 Boeing 737-800s...

, Scandinavia’s largest low cost carrier. During his tenure he was a core member of the team that took the company [public]in 2004. He resigned from the company in 2004 and went on to consult for StudentUniverse
Studentuniverse
StudentUniverse is a technology company that provides students with deals. It is one of the two largest discount student travel sellers in the world. It was founded in 2000, and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts...

 and developing his own business—the JazzCode. The company, JazzCode AS is incorporated in Norway (Tax ID # 991-411-917). The JazzCode is being presented to business, academic and jazz audiences in Europe, Australia and the US. In 2008 Stormer gave several lectures about the JazzCode at Insead
INSEAD
INSEAD is an international graduate business school and research institution. It has campuses in Europe , Asia , and the Middle East , as well as a research center in Israel...

 (France) and London Business School
London Business School
London Business School is an international business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located in central London, beside Regent's Park...

 (UK) and published a case at Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...

 (USA) with professor Robert D. Austin about the groundbreaking 1959 recording of Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

’ “Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959...

”. JazzCode has released several recordings on which Størmer plays the drums, including "In the Moment" (2007) featuring Rob Scheps, Georg "Jojje" Wadenius, Cameron Brown
Cameron Brown
Cameron Brown is an American jazz double bassist born in Detroit, Michigan.-Biography:Cameron started studying music at age 10, first on piano, later on clarinet. But, drawn to the bass, he found himself playing a tin bass in a student dance band...

 and Jamie Reynolds, "Codes for Christmas" (2008) featuring Rob Scheps, Scott Wendholt, Bruce Barth
Bruce Barth
Bruce Barth, born September 7, 1958 in Pasadena, California, is a jazz pianist. He has played the piano since the age of five. Barth's career had included major work with ensembles, as well as solo work...

, and Doug Weiss, "Being Here" (February 2011) and "Entering the Human Age" (November 2011) featuring Knut Riisnæs, Lars Jansson
Lars Jansson
Lars Jansson was a Finnish author and cartoonist. A native of Helsinki, Jansson was the son of the sculptor, Viktor Jansson, and the illustrator, Signe Hammarsten-Jansson. His siblings included an older sister, writer Tove Jansson, and an older brother, Per Olof Jansson...

 and Mats Eilertsen.
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