2015-02-24 | News

Kampen!

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/