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Espen Berg

Espen Berg (b. 1983) has been touring around the world since 2003, and has collaborated with artists such as Trondheim Jazzorkester, Marius Neset, Seamus Blake, Silje Nergaard, Mathias Eick, Hildegunn Øiseth, Daniel Herskedal, Mats Eilertsen and many more. He has played on 28 albums, of which 10 as a leader, and is frequently touring in Europe and Asia with Espen Berg Trio, which will be releasing its fourth album in May 2022. Espen was awarded Norway’s largest jazz scholarship «JazZtipendiatet» at Molde Int’l Jazz Festival 2016, which consists of a commissioned work for Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, premiering at Moldejazz in 2017. He is currently composing a commissioned work for Trondheim Jazzfestival, featuring a brand new sextet called Water Fabric, which will be premiered at several Norwegian jazz festivals in 2022. Espen has received government grant multiple times, and also works as an associate professor at NTNU’s jazz department. His trio was appointed official NTNU Ambassador in 2016.

Awards

JazZtipendiatet 2016, Norway's largest music scholarship NTNU Ambassador 2016 Best soloist, Hoeilaart Int'l Jazz Contest 2007


Tags

4
Album Review

Espen Berg: Water Fabric

Read "Water Fabric" reviewed by Chris May


The Norwegian pianist and composer Espen Berg has already carved out a formidable reputation with his trio. Earlier in 2023 he began a parallel strand with The Trondheim Concert (NXN), the recording of a wholly in-the-moment improvised solo concert, in the Keith Jarrett tradition, which he gave in 2019. Berg has since released two more albums in the same vein: The Nidaros Concert and The Hamar Concert (both NXN, 2023). Berg is also heard to advantage in ...

26
Album Review

Anders Lønne Grønseth & Multiverse: Inner View

Read "Inner View" reviewed by Chris May


Since George Russell published his influential Lydian Chromatic Concept Of Tonal Organization in 1953, other jazz musicians have attempted to reforge the theoretical construct of their music--with varying degrees of success and including some egregiously posturing examples of b.s. which bring to mind Hans Christian Andersen's salutary story The Emperor's New Clothes. One twenty-first century venture which authentically hits the mark is Israeli-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur's Middle Path, his deft recalibration of microtonal Indian ...

1
Liner Notes

Espen Berg: The Trondheim Concert

Read "Espen Berg: The Trondheim Concert" reviewed by Chris May


The idea of free improvisation means different things to different people. For some it suggests the lineage that began with the so-called “energy players" of the late 1960s, musically untutored berserkers whose enthusiasm for Albert Ayler, John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders inspired them to pick up a horn and play whatever notes fell at random under their fingers, typically at maximum volume. A possibly apocryphal story concerns one such energy player and New York City's Jazzmobile outreach ...

7
Liner Notes

Espen Berg Trio: Free To Play

Read "Espen Berg Trio: Free To Play" reviewed by Chris May


If you ask a jazz fan to name the greatest piano-trio albums ever made, the probability is that their top twenty choices will include most, if not all, of the following: Erroll Garner's Concert By The Sea (Columbia, 1955), Ahmad Jamal's But Not For Me (Argo, 1958), Bill Evans's Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961), Keith Jarrett's Standards Volume 2 (ECM, 1983) and Brad Mehldau's The Art Of The Trio Vol. 1 (Warner Bros., 1996), or in the cases ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

Keith Jarrett & Vince Guaraldi

Read "Keith Jarrett & Vince Guaraldi" reviewed by Joe Dimino


During the penultimate episode of Neon Jazz during 2020, we continue to honor the voices of modern jazz. We start things off with a talented musician from Norway in Espen Berg. We also hear from Doug Carn of the 2020 Jazz is Dead series. We profile the busy and talented Kansas City saxophonist Rich Wheeler and wrap up the 680th Episode with Vince Guaraldi as the musical voice of the holiday season. Playlist Espen Berg Trio “Meanwhile in ...

1
Album Review

Espen Berg Trio: Bølge

Read "Bølge" reviewed by Gareth Thompson


The highest wave ever measured by a fixed installation hit a Norwegian gas transporter in the North Sea. The wave was marked at 25.6 metres high. Award-winning pianist Espen Berg would probably approve such statistics, having named his trio's second album Bølge--the Norwegian name for wave. Berg is also keen to point out the many levels that 'wave' can be perceived from, including the mathematical. None of which should imply that Bølge needs logical analysis. But it is ...

6
Album Review

Espen Berg: Acres of Blue

Read "Acres of Blue" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


Acres of Blue is the second volume of solo piano albums by Norwegian pianist Espen Berg, an organic extension of the most beautiful, Noctilucent (Atterklang, 2012). This time Berg chose to present a mixture of original compositions, improvised pieces, and arrangements of pieces that reference the breadth of his musical vocabulary and his formative influences--romantic compositions of Frédéric Chopin, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Nordic pianists-composers as Esbjörn Svensson, Helge Lien and obviously, Keith Jarrett. All the compositions ...

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Recording

Espen Berg: The Trondheim Concert - A Fully Improvised Piano Concert And Live Recording

Espen Berg: The Trondheim Concert - A Fully Improvised Piano Concert And Live Recording

Source: Vivo Musique Internationale

Five years after releasing his second solo album, Acres of Blue, Espen Berg decided to present a fully improvised piano concert in a live recording. This one-taker is a culmination of years of development, reflection and research. The music, created in the moment, reflects his emotions in a profound way, and every time he plays, it’s different. Every second of music is unique, and it feels like an endless resource, both musically and spiritually. The Trondheim Concert was recorded at ...

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Recording

New Album by Norwegian Jazz Trio Listen

New Album by Norwegian Jazz Trio Listen

Source: Michael Ricci

The Norwegian trio Listen has won several international awards and toured in great parts of Europe, as well as Syria and Cuba. Their debut album received great reviews and a lot of media attention when released in 2007. The Norwegian National Broadcast described Listen as “a rarely interactional ensemble--regardless of genre", and the renowned reviewer Roald Helgheim called the record “a feast". II is Listen's second album, and their first pure trio album without guest musicians. It consists of original ...

"Like all the best music, this album reveals something new and pleasing on each successive hearing" - BBC Music on Espen Berg Trio's album Free to play (2019)

Free to Play was listed as one of the best recordings of 2019 by Downbeat (US), earning 4/5 stars

"EBT are rapidly becoming an important new voice in a crowded field of post-E.S.T. trios" - Jazz Journal (UK) on Espen Berg Trio's album Free to play (2019)

"But we all know what simplicity hides: A lot of rigor and precision in the detail that allow him to alternate the fluid and the collision with a certain mastery. And that's what gives this recording its particular brilliance. Espen Berg does not want to choose and manages to merge the opposites in order to obtain that original flair that is its charm. Well played." - Culture Jazz (FR) on Espen Berg Trio's album Free to Play (2019)

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Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

Trondheim

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

Associate professor at University of Science and Technology in Trondheim since 2006.

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Inner View

NXN Recordings
2023

buy

Water Fabric

Odin Records
2023

buy

The Trondheim Concert

NXN Recordings
2022

buy

Free to Play

Odin Records
2019

buy

Bølge

Odin Records
2018

buy

Acres of Blue

Atterklang
2014

buy

Part 4

From: The Trondheim Concert
By Espen Berg

Videos

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