Memorabilia was written in 2016 followed by a premiere at JazzFest in Trondheim. The music is written by jazz bassist and composer Mats Eilertsen and performed by two trios: Mats Eilertsen Trio (Harmen Fraanje, piano: Thomas Str�nen, drums and Mats Eilertsen, bass), and the vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval (the acclaimed trio of Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth and Jorunn Lovise Husan), both known for numerous recordings for ECM. This recording was made in Newtone studio in Oslo January 2020. The music unites the two trios in a sacred, lyrical expression, giving the piano trio room to improvise and the vocal trio space to shine. The lyrics are a mixture of traditional masses and poems by the Norwegian lyricist Tor Ulven. About faith, doubt, nostalgia and time.

The Background Our planet houses over 8 billion humans at the moment, and we move around an awful lot. Migration is not new. It's been going on for millennia. The reasons may be geological, climate based, oppressive, work related or voluntary. This album focuses on one small aspect of migration, the eviction and subsequent migration of farmers and crofters from the Scottish highlands during the Clearances. The Album Internationally renowned harp and electronica duo FitkinWall follow threads of migration, loss and longing in their new album Uist. Composer Graham Fitkin has produced new work based on old Gaelic songs and Highland tunes. Scottish harpist Ruth Wall performs on concert, electro and wire-strung harps with Fitkin conjuring up mesmerising soundworlds with electronics, samples and loops. Ruth and Graham combine the very old with the very new placing ancient instruments in unusual contexts. The Music The music is constructed with care, precision and space to breathe - eery melodic fragments, pulsating patterns, sumptuous harmonies - drawn together in a beguiling but understated synthesis. Allusions can be drawn to new-classical, folk, even ambient and systems music, with hints of artists such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Lau or Haushka somewhere in the ether. FitkinWall Ruth Wall performs on wildly different harps - Gaelic wire-strung, Bray, Concert and Electro harps. Graham Fitkin uses a Moog Voyager, Ableton and various FX modules. Their work combines the very old with the very new. They provide unusual contexts for these ancient instruments. Their previous albums Still Warm and Lost, toured with live VJ, through the UK and Europe, before heading out to Japan. Uist has toured in the UK in 2024 and will tour mainland Europe in 2025 with a light installation from artist Peter Freeman. Both artists work independently too. Ruth has worked with Goldfrapp, Kathryn Tickell, RLPO, BBC Orchestras and film composers John Lunn and Clint Mansell. She tours extensively in venues from Radio City New York and Glastonbury Mainstage to Sydney Opera House and Roskilde Fest. Graham's music has been performed by artists such as Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, New York City Ballet, BBC Philharmonic, Yo-Yo Ma, Will Gregory, choreographer Wayne McGregor and artist Shezad Dawood. His music has been released by Decca, Sony, BIS, Naxos and many others. He has won three BASCA Composer Awards, an International Grand Prix Dance Music Award and the Royal Philharmonic Society Composer Award

Exploring the haunting beauty of one of the Earth's most exquisitely majestic landscapes, "Hidden Soul Of The Fjords" is a musical journey, an 'Elemental-Sonic Soundscape' artfully expressing the primal origins, mythic mysteries and life and death realities of the stark and stunning Fjords of Western Norway. Co-created by Norwegian Singer/Composer Heidi Torsvik and Grammy Nominated American Producer/Composer Lazerus Winter, the new double album includes performances from renown soloists: Karl Seglem (tenor sax and Bukkehorn), Stein Urheim (electric guitar), Benedicte Maurseth (Hardanger Fiddle), Alexander Grieg (Contrabass), David Chelsom Vogt (Violin) and drummer Ivar Thormods�ter. "Hidden Soul of the Fjords" is the first in a new "Hidden Soul Series" for Naxos International Records new subsidiary label NXN. Initially composed in an old wooden home on the edge of the fjord waters and including multiple field recordings and found sounds from travels throughout the region, "Hidden Soul Of The Fjords" album production touches the heart, mind and Soul with a unique musical vision that that might remind the listener of such diverse musical references as Arvo Part and Massive Attack. "Hidden Soul of the Fjords" seeks to bring the magic of one of the Earth's greatest natural eco-systems to the all who listen in a one-of-a-kind 'Elemental-Sonic Soundscape."

Leave your thoughts here is Mr Mibbler's third album following The Long Journey released in January 2021. Mr Mibbler is musicians and producers Thom Hell, J�rn Raknes and Vidar Ersfjord, and this time they have invited an incredible number of first-class Norwegian musicians to play around in their musical world. The guest musicians have been the starting point for the tracks and Mr Mibbler has built the songs around their contributions. Among the guest artists we find very exciting names such as Knut Reiersrud, Lindstr�m, Andreas Ulvo, Mathias Eick, Jan Bang, Bj�rn Klakegg, J�rgen Munkeby, Sigmund Groven and Nils Petter Molv�r, all experienced and acclaimed within their genres in Norway and internationally. This makes Leave your thoughts here a musical journey of different moods, exciting instrumentation and a wonderful mix of genres. You will hear folk, jazz, ambient and electronica performed by the very best musicians in Norway.

Norwegian composer and pianist Andreas Ihleb�k is ready for his solo piano album debut. After the release of pop/soul album "the Guest" German press including Bild, Stern and Jazz Thing reacted with rave reviews for the album and his performances. Back in Norway Andreas wanted to explore a more naked and warm soundscape and turned to well-known Norwegian folk tunes and lullabies. Growing up in Hamburg and later San Francisco Andreas found calmness and identity playing and improvising these familiar tunes. Northern Lullabies has become a tender and sweet listening experience for late evenings and nights.

The excellent performances captured on Ghosts were recorded in May 2018 at the unique venue Kulturkirken Jakob in Oslo, also called The St. James Church of Culture. The album contains selections from the Norwegian trios five albums released since 2007, and as journalist Audun Vinger states in the liner notes: seamlessly blending into each other, like old friends meeting up at the end of the year, a bit more mature and perhaps also a bit weary, but still able to find the excitement of early beginnings through conversation. The sublime percussion of Jonas Howden Sj�vaag in tandem with the hungry fingers and drifting bow work from Sigurd Hole invites piano craftsman Andreas Ulvo to wring moments of pure power and elegance from his beautiful grand piano. Enjoy the ghosts of Eple Trio!

The 2021 album Leave Your Thoughts Here (NXN4005) was described as 'clearly a major recording event of the year' (JazzViews, UK) and 'ten mouth watering pieces of music' (UK Vibe) and was embraced by listeners worldwide. As usual Mr. Mibbler continues to surprise and delight and their follow up Falling Ladder contains two longer pieces of music. Though this is not in the traditional song format, you will recognize the sounds and ambience that characterise the releases from this exciting Norwegian three-piece music collective.

Exploring the haunting beauty of one of the Earth’s most exquisitely majestic landscapes, “Hidden Soul Of The Fjords” is a musical journey, an ‘Elemental-Sonic Soundscape’ artfully expressing the primal origins, mythic mysteries and life and death realities of the stark and stunning Fjords of Western Norway. Co-created by Norwegian Singer/Composer Heidi Torsvik and Grammy Nominated American Producer/Composer Lazerus Winter, the new double album includes performances from renown soloists: Karl Seglem (tenor sax and Bukkehorn), Stein Urheim (electric guitar), Benedicte Maurseth (Hardanger Fiddle), Alexander Grieg (Contrabass), David Chelsom Vogt (Violin) and drummer Ivar Thormodsæter. “Hidden Soul of the Fjords” is the first in a new “Hidden Soul Series” for Naxos International Records new subsidiary label NXN. Initially composed in an old wooden home on the edge of the fjord waters and including multiple field recordings and found sounds from travels throughout the region, “Hidden Soul Of The Fjords” album production touches the heart, mind and Soul with a unique musical vision that that might remind the listener of such diverse musical references as Arvo Part and Massive Attack. “Hidden Soul of the Fjords” seeks to bring the magic of one of the Earth’s greatest natural eco-systems to the all who listen in a one-of-a-kind ‘Elemental-Sonic Soundscape."

Following the internationally acclaimed improvised solo piano album The Trondheim Concert and the digital album release The Nidaros Concert, NXN now release The Hamar Concert recorded in front of a live audience in The Hamar Concert Hall.

Norwegian artist and singer/songwriter Maria Brym explores modern songwriting and popmusic in a retrospective sound. Some of her songs appear epic and bold, while others are stories told in kind and gentle musical surroundings. Her love for 80’s pop and inspiration from Kate Bush might seem evident at times, but Maria has a personal and wonderful way of writing her melodies. Together with her production team Bård Berg and Anders Egil Meyn Jensen she has created a modern album with lots of charm and nostalgic references.

On the album Years of Ambiguity, experienced composer and jazz artist Kjetil Husebø has created music at the crossroads between ambient, drone and jazz. The grand piano has been replaced with synthesizers, samplers, electronics and programming. Internationally renowned musicians Arve Henriksen (trumpet) and Eivind Aarset (guitar) collaborates with him on several of the tracks. The moods on the album is cinematic and full of contrasts, alternating between being minimalistic and maximalist, sometimes light, sometimes dark. Musically oriented towards huge sonic landscapes, abstract sounds but also with a sense for melody. The album is recorded and mixed in the artist’s own Grandis studio in Oslo, Norway, and mastered by sound engineer Morten Lund. Coverart by designer Lucas Dietrich.

Marius Gjersø is a trumpeter, composer, conductor and artist based in Oslo, Norway. He’s been playing trumpet and working as a musician in all aspects of the industry, for over a decade after attaining his degree at the highly acknowledged NMH in Oslo. He creates wonderful soundscapes combining trumpet sounds and electronica, and adding creative visuals to his live-concept. Before Marius Gjersø started producing Yûgen, he traveled around Japan, where his encounter with Japanese culture, manners and aesthetics made a big impression. On his return to Norway, these impressions from the east remained very much alive for him, and became a major influence on the album. Nine soulful pieces of electroacoustic improvisation lay a perfect foundation for his exquisite trumpet lines. Combining improvisation with melodic, ambient and minimalistic electronics, he creates a musical space to really embrace. Yûgen is his debut album as a solo artist. Yûgen is a word that describes an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and powerful for words. It has also been called "mysterious grace", "subtle profundity" and the "beauty of the unseen". It doesn't describe beauty itself, but describes the feeling that you have when you see something beautiful, or hear something profound. It's felt with the heart, not seen with the eyes.

The Distance is a piece of modern rock and pop art created by duo Tov Ramstad and Django Novo. Centered around the cello playing of Tov and Django's vocal they have managed to build a new exciting sound around well-written lyrics giving the listener a deep cinematic experience. To further expand their sound they have invited a selection of brilliant musicians to add trumpet, keyboards and harmonica always with carefulness and true to the duo's vision.

Norwegian-Brazilian Gabriela Garrubo has already made a mark on the live-scene in Norway with her incredible voice and her lovely blend of modern Nordic jazz and influences from Brazilian 80’s music and bossa nova. Her lyrics performed in both English and Portuguese is about finding yourself and finding strength in a chaotic and unfair, yet beautiful world. Through 2021 and 2022 Gabriela has been working with producer Vetle Junker on her debut album "Rodando". Together they have created a unique listening experience balancing a modern and fresh sound with retro associations. Touring Norway journalists have found her performances stunning and BT gave her show 6/6 stating “The way she moves silky smooth through the scales and alternates between soft tones and attacking lines is admirable.”

Ingi Bjarni is a pianist and a true Nordic artist. Coming from Iceland and traveling around the Nordics and Northern Europe to both perform and find new musicians to play with, he has created a fine blend of musicians from different countries to complete his musical vision. His music is clearly inspired by jazz traditions and nordic folksongs, still he has a distinct own sound. Farfuglar is proof to that.

Christina Sandsengen is an educated classical concert guitarist, and has performed in concert halls around the world. Solace is her debut album as a composer and the album highlights her technical skills as well as a wide range of contrasts, emotions and feelings. Sometimes dark and dramatic, then suddenly brighter and melodic. Christina says: “The classical guitar is the key to my unconscious world of emotions and thoughts, and so I put the classical guitar in the center and use different soundscapes and elements to highlight or enhance the colors and the expressions from the guitar, and I use a lot of imitation of church bells played on the guitar to capture the empty and painful feeling of a funeral.” The album consists of 13 tracks and invites the listener on a personal musical journey from dark and light, grief, passion, and pain. The melodic language of the music are similar to Norwegian folk music. Fredrik Falk has produced the album and also contributes with piano and soundscapes. Recorded by Ole Teigen in Crowtown recordings and mastered by Kenneth Amundsen. Artwork by Nihil.

Inner View is the follow up to the exciting Outer View by Anders Lonne Gronseth and Multiverse. Their music is in many ways theoretical, but the immense quality of the musicians and their excellent flow makes this a unique listening experience.

Organ and tuba - not the most common ensemble - but a very exciting soundscape with unexplored sound possibilities. Organist Magnus Moksnes Myhre and jazz tuba player Daniel Herskedal met for the first time as students at the music conservatory in Trondheim, and the duo have now created a completely new vibe with their Desert Lighthouse. The sources of inspiration are many, and they meet in their common fascination with the oriental tonal language. Coverart by Bendik Kaltenborn.

Memorabilia was written in 2016 by jazz bassist and composer Mats Eilertsen and premiered at JazzFest in Trondheim the same year. The work is written for two trios: Mats Eilertsen Trio (Harmeen Franje, piano; Thomas Stronen, drums; and Mats Eilertsen, bass), and the vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval (the acclaimed vocal trio of the three sopranos Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth and Berit Opheim.) Recently recorded in Newtone studio in Oslo, the album is now available, and has been released alongside a concert in the Norwegian Opera House. The music unites the two trios in a sacred, lyrical expression, giving the piano trio room to improvise. The lyrics are a mixture of traditional masses and poems by the Norwegian lyricist Tor Ulven. Darkness and drama meet nicer views of life. About faith, doubt, and time. “Minutes, maybe hours, of your own existence. That you forgot, but I still remember. You live a secret life in someone else’s memory.” (Tor Ulven)

Marius Klovning is already an experienced guitarist, and is often seen on stage at jazz clubs around Norway with one of his many bands. Late Nights, Early Mornings is his second solo album with the guitar in focus, recorded during corona times with producer and technician Hans Martin Austestad. The album is a collection of personal, melodic gems mainly performed on various guitars. You will first and foremost hear Klovning's exquisite melodic taste and his love for folk tunes, blues and the singer/songwriter tradition. The songs vary from cheerful, fast melodies to longer, atmospheric and dreamy sequences. Late Nights, Early Mornings is a beautiful and well-played album that explores a number of genres and moods with the guitar as a guide.

Members of the group Mr. Mibbler, have come up with a kind of music that digs for gold in bits and pieces of musical driftwood, elusive thoughts and ideas, and immediate reactions to each other’s ideas.

Time and Mass challenges our perception of how a guitar sounds. It pulls you in its abstract way through intense emotions in a roller coaster of an album. (NXN Recordings)

Thomas Torstrup is a jazz pianist and organist from Stavanger. In 2014, he debuted with the poetic album "Snøkorn", together with Hanna Paulsberg (sax), Trygve Fiske and Tore Sandbakken . He has also worked on exciting, cross-genre organ projects with John Pål Inderberg, Martin Högberg and Heidi Skjerve, resulting in the albums "Still" (2017) and "Selbu Sessions" (2018). In recent years, Torstrup has composed new material for jazz quartet. The songs on Two Brothers were recorded in New Tone Studio in Oslo in August 2019. The music can be characterized as melodic jazz with an original touch and a wide palette of stylistic references. The sources of inspiration range from American jazz tradition to sacred music and Olivier Messiaen's universe. Thomas also find inspiration from sounds in nature as raindrops and wind, and the sound of children trying instruments for the first time!

REVIEW:

Two Brothers reflects pianist and organist Thomas Torstrup’s idea that inspiration can come from any avenue in life. The first track, Transcribed Raindrops, was written in a church in the Norwegian mountains; the music slowly coalesces into a superb piano solo by Torstrup himself.

As simple an act as mountain hiking can inspire Torstrup; the bass solos here from Andersen are magnificent, while Torstrup’s rhythmic shiftings in his solos are captivating. Inspired by solar winds at the end of a short summer.

How fascinating it is to hear the influence of Olivier Messiaen in Modes; and also to hear how those characteristic sounds can morph into something truly of jazz (and lead, in turn, to a fabulous bass break). 

Another inspiration for Torstrup was Jimmy Giuffre’s 1947 jazz standard Four Brothers. Immediately Torstrup’s proclivity for deconstruction is evident: Two lines, one trumpet, one single-line piano, provide a skeletal basis that leads to a simple but effective piano solo. It’s interesting how Woody Herman and Giuffre’s own takes are so different, and Torstrup’s piece creates yet another soundscape.

The recording is superb. There is plenty of presence, and the instruments are nicely placed in the sound perspective. This is a superb disc, its music delivered by four massive jazz talents from Norway.

-- Fanfare (Colin Clarke)

Tomorrow’s finally here is the second long play album from energetic jazz band Bangkok Lingo. This Quintet is filled to the brim with both high-octane rhythm and intense solos as well as laidback grooves and delightful melodies, and they have established themselves as a sought after act on the Norwegian live scene. The five young musicians hail from Oslo and are inspired by exotic music from other parts of the world. Their music mixes swing, free jazz and catchy melodies in a raw and unfiltered landscape. Tomorrow’s finally here is inspired by both legendary 60’s jazz, swing and world music, all performed with excellence and joy.

REVIEWS:

These guys aren't from Bangkok, they're from Norway, but you would never have expected that when you hear the music from their second long player "Tomorrow's Finally Here". Trumpet and saxophone as well as a rhythm section of bass, drums and percussion create a sound that is transparent despite its density, whose melodic variety seems to come directly from South Africa and is sometimes reminiscent of Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath or Abdullah Ibrahim's masterpiece "African Marketplace". The two horns play lively melodies, but they are also up to all the tricks of free jazz and Olav Imerslund's heavily syncopated bass ensures a constantly grooving drive.

-- Jazz Thing

Five years after releasing his second solo album, Acres of Blue, Espen Berg decided to do a fully improvised piano concert and a live recording. This one-taker is a culmination of years of development, reflection and research. The music created in the moment reflects his emotions in a profound way, and every time he play it’s different. Every second of music is unique, and it feels like an endless resource both musically and spiritually. The Trondheim Concert is recorded at Dokkhuset.

REVIEWS:

Having had the pleasure in recent years of reviewing a couple of Norwegian pianist Espen Berg’s trio albums, I was intrigued when this new release, “The Trondheim Concert” landed in my inbox. Five years after releasing his second solo album, “Acres of Blue” Espen Berg decided to present a fully improvised piano concert in a live setting. This album is the recording from the one-off concert. As I started listening to Part 1- the album being split into 10 parts – my intrigue soon turned to surprise, and then to awe. This is so good, brilliant actually. The music I’m listening to for the first time is stunning. As the album progresses, I am astonished at how beautiful this is, on every level. After several listens through, my considered appraisal would be this; What we have here, is quite possibly one of the finest improvised solo piano performances I have had the pleasure of listening to in the last decade or so.

Espen Berg, for those who are new to his music, is a Norwegian pianist and composer. He lives in Trondheim, and in 2011 started working on his first solo project “Noctilucent” which was released in 2012 and became the starting point for his career as a band leader. My own experience of his music, up to this point in time, comes from listening to his excellent trio releases. Espen Berg Trio was formed in 2014 with fellow band members Bárður Reinert Poulsen (bass) and Simon Olderskog Albertsen (drums). The trio is now considered one of the most innovative and highly recognised piano trios from Norway. And rightly so, I might add. As a sideman Berg has worked with Hildegunn Øiseth Quartet, A Tonic for the Troops, Seamus Blake (Bridges), Daniel Herskedal, Anders Grønseth (Multiverse), Mathias Eick Quintet, and Marius Neset and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, as well as with duo partner Silje Nergaard.

As I listen to this wonderful concert, it’s clear in my own mind that I’m not going to get through this review without mentioning the obvious name that will spring immediately to mind; Keith Jarrett. The words “solo piano improvised concert” are synonymous with the legend’s name. Yes there are others, of course, but over the last six decades (almost), Jarrett has invented and reinvented this genre of music time and time again. And there are similarities in “The Trondheim Concert” to Jarrett’s work, stylistically and emotively. There’s an intense luminescence to Berg’s performance here that reminds me of Jarrett in his prime and pomp. Throughout the wholly engaging ten parts, there are many changes of mood, pace and style. But there’s one thing that holds it all together; a charismatic feel that is all of Berg’s making. Melodies shift seamlessly from light to dark, sublime motifs repeat and take delightfully unexpected twists and turns, tender, reflective passages give way to unabridged excitement, all wrapped up in a warm blanket of gorgeous lyricism. And as much as I use Keith Jarrett’s name as reference, it’s important to highlight the fact that it’s Espen Berg’s personality that shines through with remarkable clarity on this fabulous recording.

With the undoubted depth, sincerity and individuality of this recording comes a large amount of charm. There’s a mystique about it, with Berg casting a magical spell on his listeners from the very first note to the last. I’m totally captivated, lost in my own little world as I let the pianist’s notes entrance and engulf me. It’s a fabulous, joyous journey, and one I wholeheartedly recommend.

-- UK Vibe