Artist:Espen Eriksen Trio
Song:In the Woods
Album:You Had Me at Goodbye
Fans of European jazz will want to check out Norwegian pianist Espen Eriksen and his trio. They should remind you of guys like Tord Gustavsen. Eriksen is from Oslo, Norway. He met bassist Lars Tormod Jenset in 1998 while both were music students in Oslo. They played together but Jenset moved to Copenhagen to continue his studies. While Eriksen played sessions, he was planning to form a jazz trio. Jenset returned to Oslo in 2007. Eriksen texted drummer Andreas Bye to ask him to join the band. Bye had more experience than the others. But he liked Eriksen's demo and he already knew about Jenset. They started playing local clubs and Rune Grammofon owner Rune Kristofferson caught their act and signed them. Rune is distributed by ECM and they even use longtime ECM recording engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug. In the Woods is from their 2010 debut album You Had Me at Goodbye. Eriksen writes and produces. They have had success in Europe and Asia. It doesn't look like they have been to America. But it's like I said. If you enjoy the ECM style of jazz, you should like this. This band has released seven albums, most recently in 2023. On recent albums they have been joined by British saxophonist Andy Sheppard. He has been around since the 80s recording with Carla Bley and Steve Swallow. Here's the Espen Eriksen Trio performing In the Woods at the 2011 Penang Jazz Festival in Malaysia.
No comments:
Post a Comment