Hakon Aase

Roraima, by Norwegian bassist and composer Sigurd Hole, was commissioned by Oslo World for the festival in 2020. The work reflects themes such as solidarity and ecological vulnerability and draws inspiration from the creation myth of the Yanomami people and the sound of the Amazon rainforest.

Encounters is the debut album of Sigurd Hole Trio, with Jarle Vespestad - drums & Håkon Aase - violin.

One of the pleasures of Mathias Eick s Midwest album was hearing his vaulting trumpet supported by violin, an instrumental combination further developed on Ravensburg. The new violinist in Eicks ensemble is Hakon Aase, one of the up-and-coming players of the new Norwegian scene, whom attentive ECM listeners will already know from his work with Thomas Stronens group. The core Eick road band is further shored up by the addition of Helge Andreas Norbakken, who interacts excitingly with fellow drummer Torstein Lofthus. Eick is in great form as a writer on this showing, deploying driving rhythm at the bottom end of his music and soaring melody at the top in this series of pieces which add up to a kind of collective family portrait. Ravensburg was recorded at Oslos Rainbow Studio in June 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher, and is issued on the eve of European tour.

Thomas Strønen & Time Is A Blind Guide - Lucus (2018) {ECM 2576 Official Digital Download}
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© 2018 ECM Records | ECM 2576
Jazz / Modern Creative / Post Bop / Drums

Norwegian drummer/composer Thomas Strønen presents a revised edition of his acoustic collective Time Is A Blind Guide, now trimmed to quintet size, and with a new pianist in Wakayama-born Ayumi Tanaka. Tanaka has spoken of seeking associative connections between Japan and Norway in her improvising, a tendency Strønen seems to be encouraging with his space-conscious writing for the ensemble, letting in more light. As on the group’s eponymously-titled and critically-lauded debut album there are excellent contributions from the string players – the quintet effectively contains both a string trio and a piano trio – and Manfred Eicher’s production brings out all the fine detail in the grain of the collective sound and the halo of its overtones, captured in the famously-responsive acoustic of Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo in March 2017.

Friendship is a groovy power trio from Oslo, Norway. The band was formed in 2010 and consists today of Fredrik Skalstad on drums and vocals, Sander Eriksen Nordahl on guitar and Martin Morland on bass. The gel that binds the trio is their years of experience and discipline to their craft as musicians. As a result, Friendship have forged a sound that is tight, groovy, dynamic and adventurous; a sound that is unmistakeably Friendship. Taking influence from the psychedelic vibe of the late 60’s and the heart and soul of the early 70s, Friendship bring something reinvigorating and fresh to the table of retro-rock bands. These influences become apparent when you experience Friendship the way they were meant to be heard, live. Feeding on the energy of the moment, Friendship soar seamlessly through cosmic jams, no performance ever the same, effortlessly demonstrating their craftsmanship and joy of music.

Thomas Stronen - Time Is A Blind Guide (2015) {ECM 2467}
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© 2015 ECM Records | ECM 2467
Jazz / Modern Creative / Avant-Garde Jazz / Drums / Percussion

Time Is A Blind Guide is both the title of Thomas Strønen’s album and the name of his new Norwegian-British ensemble. In contrast to Food and its electronic soundscapes, TIABG is an all-acoustic group which plays what its drummer-leader-composer calls “melodic music with a twist.” Its melodies unfurl sinuously over shifting rhythmic patterns. The band was built to include a number of overlapping musical sub-groups.