Marius

Marius Søfteland Neset (born 2 January 1985 in Os, Hordaland) is a Norwegian jazz musician (saxophone) living in Copenhagen.

During his final year at KMH, Marius worked to simulate different types of interactions with various recordings throughout jazz history, ranging from legends like John Coltrane and Jerry Mulligan to modern jazz musicians like Chris speed and Joris Rulofs.

Bjørn Marius was born 11.09.1987 and raised in a small town outside of Trondheim, Norway called Elvran. Exposed to music from an early age, he began playing the guitar at age seven.

The Norwegian saxophonist and composer Marius Neset (*1985) can look back on countless nominations and awards for his performances and recordings.

It is no exaggeration to say: Norwegian tenor saxophonist Marius Neset plays in his own league. In addition, he is one of the most fascinating and versatile composers in jazz and far beyond - which, among other things, currently takes him as far as London's Royal Albert Hall. Downbeat states, "Marius Neset is not the future, but the present of European jazz." The album "Happy" features Neset with a new, top-class quintet. The album is divided into two parts: In the first half, playful, intricate, energetic songs dominate. And in the second part, Neset & Band take the listeners into a calmer suite. What all pieces have in common: You can hear the musicians' pure joy of playing in every note.

Three musicians, who all make their homes in Copenhagen, met as a Trio for the very first time in a studio. That initial encounter was recorded, and this extremely fine record is the result. The instigator was Danish drummer Morten Lund. The seed was sown in a conversation with Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset and Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson, when all three were travelling back by train to Copenhagen from Jazz Baltica in 2012. That encounter gave Lund the idea that a session like this could work. Danielsson and Lund were already familiar with each other from their work in groups led by Caecilie Norby and Ulf Wakenius.

The 32-year-old Bergen-born saxophonist-composer Marius Neset has been at the height of his creative powers, especially on the evidence of a trio of consecutive albums released since 2014 on ACT, one of Europe’s leading jazz recording labels. He’s been keeping good company too. Aligning with other internationally-renowned, kindred spirits working at the borderline between jazz, improv and classical music, Neset released Lion in 2014, originally a ‘live’ commission in collaboration with the celebrated young Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and collected a Norwegian Grammy award (Spellemannprisen).