Espen Berg Trio’s third album, “Free to play”, will be released exclusively in Japan on the Japanese label Blue Gleam on March 27th 2019. The recording was done in Nilento Studio, Gothenburg, Nov 25-26 2018, by Lars Nilsson and Michael Dahlvid. The international release will be in September 2019 on the Norwegian label Odin Records.
The album features eight new compositions, freely improvised music, and fresh arrangements done in collaboration with Bárdur and Simon. We can’t wait to share it with the world!
I just started a collaboration with the fantastic sax player and composer Seamus Blake. Here’s a recording from Rainbow Studio of us playing freely improvised. This is from a session with the quintet BRIDGES together with Hayden Powell, Jesper Bodilsen and Anders Thorén. The following day we headed to Trondheim and played a duo concert at Antikvariatet, and recorded more in Øra Studio. Expect to hear more soon!
My newest album, “Bølge”, will finally be available in the whole wild world Friday March 16 on Odin Records! It will be released both as CD and 2LP, and also on all digital platforms. The CD has arrived already and will be available on our imminent concerts, and the LP will be available later this month.
We’re releasing our latest album “Bølge” on Odin Records, March 16. It will be available both as CD and LP. This release will be followed by 12 concerts in Norway, Greece and Estonia. We’re really looking forward to this tour and our album release!
Big thanks to the Norwegian Embassy in Athens, Arts Council Norway, Musikkprofil AS, and Juu Jääb Festival for helping us out with the tour. Also thanks to Rainbow Studios, Odin Records and Propeller Mastering for superior sound and support with our new album.
Summer 2017, we flew to Lofoten together with video artist André Løyning to create a few spectacular live videos. These are made entirely on site, with actual sound recording (6 channels only), piano tuning at location (a bit short on time, bare with me on that), and with some amazing drone footage as well.
We only had ONE SHOT, one take, before the sun set. The weather on this side of Lofoten was perfect – no wind and totally clear. A long working day had come to an end, and we were really happy with the recording outside Henningsvær, but I had this location in mind for days and it would be silly to drive just past it on the way back to Leknes. I’m very happy we went there!
The sun was hanging low, shining directly into the valley nearby Unstad. We went up on this old carriage road, high above the tunnel leading to the beach further down. The clock was well beyond 11 PM and we only had a few minutes until darkness. In only a couple of minutes we were ready to roll. We had to hold back when playing this quite mellow tune, because the kick of doing this upon a mountain in Lofoten, in near-midnight-sun, amongst sheep was nearly overwhelming. After this one take happening, André Løyning managed to get some nice drone footage as well, and we could call it a day. BIG THANKS to Arts Council Norway for making this possible, and to Åse Andreassen and Knut Abrahamsen for helping us out big time.
ENJOY our new video from Ballstad, Lofoten. Big thanks to one-man-movie-maker André Løyning. This song, “MAETRIX”, is originally a part of my commissioned work to the fabulous Trondheim Jazz Orchestra – which will be touring Norway next week!
A few days ago I had the honor of playing a duo concert with the fantastic musician and good friend Seamus Blake. Here’s a short clip:
I really hope we can do this again sometime, and I look forward to continue playing with Seamus in the quintet BRIDGES going on a European tour in two weeks:
Sept 6: Urijazz, Tønsberg (NO)
Sept 8: Bergen Jazzforum (NO)
Sept 9: Voss (NO)
Sept 11: The Vortex, London (UK)
Sept 12: Ronnie Scotts, London (UK)
Sept 13: Jazz Evidence, Kongsberg (NO)
Sept 14: Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo (NO)
Sept 15: Jazz Colmar (FR)
I had a fantastic week at Molde Jazz Festival, working with some of the greatest musicians from this part of the world – absolutely nailing my music, in addition to being awesome persons. The premiere of “MAETRIX” was a huge success, described as “a work for the eternity” and receiving overwhelming reviews. More importantly, the atmosphere in the concert hall was crazy: totally packed, both listening intensely and celebrating vocally together with us on stage. What a joy it was, and I REALLY look forward to touring with this extremely expensive and superb band in October!
