John Taylor: Tramonto

by Neil Duggan
September 5, 2025

British pianist John Taylor (1942-2015) possessed a remarkable talent for eluding the global recognition his skills warranted. A former house pianist at London's Ronnie Scott's club, Taylor probably achieved his widest acclaim through Azimuth, the group he formed with vocalist Norma Winstone (his wife) and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. His trio recordings with drummer Peter Erskine and ...

Rob Waring

Rob Waring (1956) grew up in Yonkers and White Plains, New York and lived in Manhattan from 1974 until he moved to Oslo, Norway in 1981. While still in high school, Rob studied with Roland Kohloff, who had just become timpanist of the New York Philharmonic. He then studied percussion at the Juilliard School with Saul Goodman and Elden "Buster" Bailey (1974-79) and received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees. During that period, he also took elective courses in composition with Stanley Wolfe. Rob studied jazz vibraphone in 1975 with Dave Samuels. As a freelance musician in New York, Rob worked in symphony orchestras, jazz groups, ensembles for new music, and an experimental ensemble for homemade instruments. He was also a much sought-after accompanist for modern dance.

Northern Expo 2024

by Ian Patterson
July 1, 2024

Northern Expo 2024 Various venues Bod?, Norway June 13-15, 2024 The organizers of Northern Expo, a showcase for musical talent from Northern Norway, do not do things by halves. Why stop at Oslo, the logical meeting point for the 50 music industry delegates flown in from various points on the ...

Martin Tvedten

Born: September 5, 1992

Martin Tvedten is a Norwegian Jazz composer based in Oslo, and has a Masters in Jazz Composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music. His debut album "Sky Is an Island" came out in 2024 and is a celebration of play and wonder, and blends the Nordic Jazz sound with melodic thinking form Japanese Game Music.

He has previously composed music for Orchestras, Big Bands, Musical Plays, Art film and Documentary.

Hilde Marie Holsen

Norwegian Hilde Marie Holsen has carved out something very particular and niche in music. Processing her trumpet in the electronic realm, she blends the mournful tone of the brass instrument with the explorative field of electronic music to make music that lists somewhere between jazz, the contemporary and drone music. Holsen’s music has unpicked the frayed boundaries of traditions, calling in a new generation of artists that abandoned stale and repetitive conventions in favour of establishing something unique, in the realms of contemporary music.

Holsen’s debut album «Ask» was released on the Norwegian label Hubro in 2015, and hit the shelves with critical acclaim from amongst others The Guardian, The Wire and The Quietus

Erlend Albertsen Basspace

Active since: 2020

Erlend Albertsen Basspace

What science have discovered until now, is that the prerequisites for life seems to be a rarity, a non-comformist in the general activity of matter and whatnots in the universe. If you compress the history of the universe into 365 days, Earth would be born in the beginning of September, the human race at 1145pm on December the 31st, and a human life of 80 years would correspond to 1/3 of a second. How do you use that time? 

Doublebassist and composer Erlend Olderskog Albertsen has summoned a handful of dear colleagues from the Norwegian jazz scene for an expedition towards new musical habitats. The crew consists of personalities that are associated with names such as ECM, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Espen Berg, Stian Carstensen, Jaga Jazzist, Marthe Lea, Wako and Miman.

Lars Tormod Jenset

Born: January 17, 1978

Hein Westgaard

Born: March 4, 1996

Hein Westgaard is a guitarist, improviser and composer from Oslo, currently based in Copenhagen.  He can be heard in the post-minimalistic quartet Ototoi, his own genre bending project Hein Westgaard Trio, in ad-hoc free improvised constellations, or in the solo acoustic guitar format where he focuses on his own instrumental songs in the fingerpicking tradition.

The members of Hein Westgaard Trio met in Copenhagen in 2017, and since then they have deepened and matured their unique form of interplay, preparing themselves for the international stage. 

Playing their very own kind of experimental music, Hein Westgaard Trio is clearly inspired by free improvisation and jazz, but also by country, rock, folk and classical music

Cecilie Grundt

Born: July 13, 1991

Cecilie Grundt has performed and recorded with artists such as Vigleik Storaas, Knut Riisnæs, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra & Come Shine, Nils-Olav Johansen, Benny Bennack III, Bjørn Vidar Solli, ØyvindLAND, Cosmic Swing Orchestra and Alternatilla All Woman Jazz Band. As a solo leader, she has toured extensively in Europe and released four solo albums 'Contemporary Old School' (2019), 'Order and Chaos' (2020), 'Cecilie Grundt & Vigleik Storaas' (2022) and 'Live At Dokkhuset' (2024) to critical acclaim. On October 18, 2024, she will release her fifth album, 'Illuminate'.

Antti L?hdesm?ki

Born: June 14, 1990

Antti L?hdesm?ki is a Finnish pianist, composer and improviser working diversely within the fields of jazz and improvised music. Active in all Nordic countries, L?hdesm?ki can be spotted in various contexts ranging from avant-garde scene of Copenhagen to composing for big bands in Finland - through improvising on an church organ in Norway or playing jazzrock on Rhodes in Sweden.