“The Height Of The Reeds started as a commissioned work to the city of Hull, Great Britain´s cultural capital 2017. Composed by Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang, the work celebrates the longstanding seafaring relationship between Hull and Scandinavia. It was originally the musical companion to a sound walk that took place in April, May and June 2017. Those who took part could listen to the music on headphones while crossing the Humber Bridge. Initially intended for April only, the arrangement....

"Arve Henriksen stumbled across the title of his latest album while reading a book about furniture-making. "The author mentioned the complexity of making a chair and all the people involved in the process," the Norwegian trumpet player says. "The high...

"With Towards Language, trumpeter Arve Henriksen is back with his trusted long-time musical partners Jan Bang and Erik Honoré. Also, an important part of the line-up is Eivind Aarset, the ECM associated guitarist extraordinaire. Towards Language is Arve's ninth album (eight on Rune Grammofon and one on ECM) under his own name. Asked to comment on his new album, and its title, here's what he has to say: "To express something on your own can be quite challenging at times. I have, for years, been in...

"The second album from the duo that is Thomas Strønen and Ståle Storløkken, now simply calling themselves Humcrush, after the title of their debut from 2004. While that had a focus on rhythm and abstract grooves, this is a more varied, subtle and someh...

"Ha! is the fourth Humcrush album, this time with the most welcome addition of singer Sidsel Endresen. Having toured together for a couple of years, they finally recorded some shows in 2010. This album was beautifully recorded in concert at the Willisau..

"Jenny Hval is known in her native Norway both as a musician (both under her own name, the moniker Rockettothesky, and with the duo Nude On Sand) and as a published novelist and media commentator. Her songs -- featuring frequently explicit language...

Amund Storløkken Åse – vibraphone
Nicolas Leirtrø - baritone guitar
Øyvind Leite – drums

“Taking their name from a Thelonious Monk quote, I Like To Sleep are three young Norwegian musicians, all 22 years old. Nicolas Leirtrø and Øyvind Leite first met in high school in Trondheim before they joined up with Amund in a youth big band.
It soon became apparent that they shared the same musical background centered around '70s progressive rock, classical music, jazz, and improvisation...

Really nice gatefold package and great music and also a one hour DVD!

"Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, In The Country's previous album Whiteout was an artistic triumph. Always a very powerful and exciting live act, it was only natural...

"Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, the third album by Norway's piano trio In The Country could very well be their magnum opus. Most of the music was performed and written as a thank you, as is the tradition, after leader Morten Qvenild (Susanna and...

"Filipino-American Jon Irabagon has topped both the Rising Star Alto Saxophone and the Rising Star Tenor Saxophone categories in Down Beat's critics polls and been named one of Time Out New York's 25 New York City Jazz Icons. A founding member of Mostly Other People Do The Killing, he is also an integral member of the Mary Halvorson Quintet, Dave Douglas Quintet, and Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor. John Hegre is a musician, songwriter, sound engineer, and a pioneer of the Norwegian noise music scene. He...

"This is the second full-length release by Jon Andreas Håtun aka Jono El Grande, a self-taught composer, musician, conductor and prankster who remains an outsider on the far margin of the Norwegian experimental music scene. When Frank Zappa asked Does...

"The Choko King by Jono El Grande features recordings from the period between 1995 and 2008, some of which pre-dates his first album by four years. This album offers an open door into Jono's surrealistic musical universe and is a rare gift to his...

"Cross-breed a crocodile and an elephant and you might end up with an ungodly hybrid: a Krokofant. Familiar to Norwegians from a popular kids' song, a real life Krokofant would be a lumbering, trumpeting beast with a fearsome array of teeth in its...

"On their third album in just three years, Krokofant typify a new and invigorating movement currently sweeping the Nordic region: hard-boiled improvisation and strong instrumental personalities bolted onto rock beats and driving rhythms. Equally powerful on record and on stage, Krokofant pull no punches, sounding off like some unholy three-way marriage of early '70s jazz rock (think Mahavishnu Orchestra, Terje Rypdal), the sprawling progressive odysseys of King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator, and...

“The Last Hurrah!!'s Los Angeles started out as a commission work for the Vossajazz festival, and was performed in Voss in western Norway in March 2018. A far cry from Los Angeles, but to mastermind and founder HP Gundersen there are no boundaries in music and such differences are only sources of inspiration and natural parts of his vast musical universe. For the previous album Mudflowers, HP Gundersen "found" and recruited the perfect singer in Maesa Pullman, daughter of famed actor Bill Pullman...

"In the young Maesa Pullman, The Last Hurrah!! mastermind HP Gundersen has found the perfect singer for this ever-developing project so dear to his heart. After exploring the possibilities of the drone guitar on their 2011 debut, Spiritual Non-Believers, and the slightly more song-oriented 2013 follow-up, The Beauty of Fake, The Last Hurrah!! are back with a third album that dives straight into the heart of classical song traditions and vintage production values, blending elements from country and...

"The Last Hurrah!! is the project of Norwegian guitarist HP Gundersen plus a jamboree of international players and singers. Based in Bergen in western Norway, Gundersen has a long history in Norwegian music and beyond. As a producer he discovered and...

Håvard Nordberg Funderud – guitar
Lauritz Lyster Skeidsvoll – saxophone
Karl Erik Horndalsveen - double bass
Martin Heggli Mellem - drums

“Master Oogway are four young musicians aged between 23 and 26. They met at the Norwegian Academy of Music in 2015 with a common desire to play vibrant, improvised music with strong themes and room for spontaneity at a high energy level. Like many players on the young, Norwegian progressive jazz scene their instrumental skills are already highly...

Håvard Nordberg Funderud - guitar and 12-string guitar
Lauritz Heitmann Skeidsvoll – saxophone
Martin Heggli Mellem – drums
Karl Erik Hornsdalsveen - double bass
Henriette Eilertsen - flute

“Back in 2020, Kafé Hærverk, Oslo's live hotspot for a wide range of jazz and experimental music invited Master Oogway to do monthly concerts from August to December, bringing along a guest for each occasion. Two had to be moved to 2021 due to Covid restrictions, but the other three were...

"Meiningslaust Oppgulp (trans. "meaningless regurgitation") is a compilation of rare, limited and hard-to-find tracks from singles released between 2008 and 2011 by MoHa!. Out of Norway's super-fertile improv scene, MoHa! have boldly been leading the...

-{-hird full-length release from Norway's noise spastics MoHa!. The Wire has called them an "extremist hybrid between free improv, gutter electronics and darkwave scuzz," and they have elsewhere simply been proclaimed the future of Norwegian...

They’re back and the riffs are harder hitting than ever!

“Only nine months after Hedvig Mollestad momentous debut solo album Ekhidna, the guitarist is back fronting her trio. With their previous album, Smells Funny, this explosive and expansive trio experienced a breakthrough of sorts, having gone from strength to strength through five albums since their 2011 debut Shoot!, gathering respect from both rock and jazz camps, sharing big stages with the likes of John McLaughlin and Black Sabbath...

Hedvig Mollestad-guitar
Torsten Lofthus-drums
Ole Mofjell-percussion
Marte Eberson-keyboards
Eriend Slettevoll-keyboards
Susana Santos Silva-trumpet

At first I was a little leery of this one; I mean, Hedvig without her incredible trio? But this one, while being a little different, still totally slays! And the trumpet is a great touch! Hugely Recommended.

“In May 2018 Hedvig Mollestad received an invitation from Vossajazz -- the much-loved annual festival establish

“Hedvig Mollestad must surely be one of the hardest working musicians on the Norwegian music scene at the moment, with Tempest Revisited being her third album in a mere 18 months, all at a consistently high artistic level. Her first solo album, Ekhidna received a Spellemannpris (Norwegian Grammy), appeared on several jazz and rock best of the year lists and got her into Downbeat's "25 for the future" selection.
Tempest Revisited draws lines back to 1998 and the very beginning of Rune Grammofon. This..

“Hedvig Mollestad says her new album, Maternity Beat, is her most ambitious work to date, and that's not a proclamation to be taken lightly. Mollestad, after all, has been one of Norway's most adventurous and hardest-working musicians since the Molde International Jazz Festival named her the "Young Jazz Talent of the Year" in 2009.
Recorded with the 12-piece Trondheim Jazz Orchestra (who have previously worked with legends like Chick Corea and Joshua Redman), Maternity Beat is a sprawling double...