I’m extremely proud to announce that we will release a new album with Live & Lien this autumn, on Ozella Music. Release night: Nasjonal Jazzscene Victoria, Oslo, Sept 15.
Watch out for news!
http://nasjonaljazzscene.no/arrangement/live-maria-roggen-helge-lien-duo/
What an honor! The album “Bridges”, with Adam Baldych & Helge Lien Trio is voted as the best album of 2015 in the Polish magazine Jazz Forum! Congratulations also to Adam for being voted as violinist of the year, as well as a strong second place on the musician of the year-vote, only beaten by no other than Tomasz Stańko.
http://jazzforum.com.pl/main/news/jazz-top-20151
The double LP with the project “Østerdalsmusikk – 1975 | 2015”, led by trumpet player Torgrim Sollid, is nominated for Spellemannprisen (Norwegian “Grammy award”) in the Folk Music category. The original project is, in my opinion, nothing less than a groundbreaking part of Norwegian jazz history, and it has been a great honor to participate on the 2015 edition. If you can read Norwegian, check this link for some more info about it: http://bit.ly/osterdalsmusikk
The Spellemannprisen show takes place on January 30 in Oslo Spektrum, and is broadcasted live on NRK.
I’m immensely proud to participate on Per Oddvar Johansen’s debut album, in an inspirational trio setting with my good friend Torben Snekkestad on sax and reed trumpet. “Let’s Dance” will be released on Edition Records on March 25.
Read more here: http://bit.ly/PerOddvarJohansen_album
You can preorder it here: http://bit.ly/PerOddvarJohansen_preorder
I’ll start the new year playing three concerts with the project “Lyden av Prøysen”, mine and Sigurd Hole’s version of the Alf Prøysen universe. Frida Ånnevik (voc), Knut Aalefjær (dr), Rolf-Erik Nystrøm (sax), Håvard Lund (bass clarinet), Sigurd Hole (bs), Helge Lien (pno).
Jan 13 – Kongsberg Jazz club
Jan 15 -Tynset Jazz club
Jan 16 – Nasjonal Jazzscene Victoria, Oslo
On saturday the 15th of August I played at Oslo Jazz Festival with Arild Andersen Quartet, Tommy Smith (sax), Paolo Vinaccia (dr) and Arild on bass. We got some really good reviews in Norwegian media after the show. Roald Helgheim, one of the most active jazz critic in Norway, wrote in Dagsavisen that he thought this was the best concert of the festival! Here are links to the reviews:
Dagsavisen (Roald Helgheim)
Jazzinorge.no (Terje Mosnes)
Tor Hammerø
I’ve had a fantastic summer, with many inspiring gigs. Here are some photos from two of them, the concert with Daniel Herskedal Slow Eastbound Train in Molde, and the huge event in Jena with the E.S.T Symphony project.
We’re happy to announce the release of our latest project, a collaboration with the fantastic polish violin player Adam Baldych. The CD “Bridges” will be released on ACT Music in August 2015. Adam has written some great music specifically for this project. Watch out for tour dates!
I have done three concerts at the fantastic jazz club Kampenjazz (Oslo) this month, with exiting new projects. First, I played with a brand new quartet. Håkon Aase (violin), Øystein Aarnes Vik (drums) and Mats Eilertsen (bass). Two young and hungry talents, together with two older and also still hungry talents. It was a wonderul evening. Then, I finally got to bring one of my favourite nordic sax players to Oslo, Thomas Agergaard and his new Nordic Quartet, with Jon Fält on drums and Thomas Fonnesbæk on bass. It feels so good to play with this band, the music just floats in an easy, free way. The last concert was a Bill Evans tribute, in a trio with Jarle Vespestad (drums) and Christian Meaas Svendsen (bass). We played only Bill Evans-compositions. Extremely educational for me, and great fun! All of the concerts was recorded, and I can already now say that it sounds really great. Some of it might even be released! (By the way, the grand piano that I used on the first two concerts was an amazing C. Bechstein, delivered and tuned by Trond Hellstrøm. I must say, for the sake of both the concert and the recording, this lifted the quality a lot.) More concerts will come with all these projects, stay tuned for updates.
Next: On thursday I will perform in Aberdeen with Arild Andersen Quartet, with Paolo Vinaccia (drums) and Tommy Smith (sax).
And, in March I will record a new album with the polish violin player Adam Baldych, together with my trio.
Good days!
PS some reviews of the first concert (in Norwegian):
http://jazzinorge.no/anmeldelse/lekent-og-samspilt-i-kirka/
http://salt-peanuts.eu/consert/res-kamp-helge-lien-ordinert-i-kampen-jazzmenighet/
