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Froy Aagre

Saxophonist and composer Frøy Aagre is a rising Norwegian jazz star. Despite her young age she has developed a highly individual expression and her compositions are both imaginative and original. Reviewers have compared Aagre with saxophone legends such as Jan Garbarek, David Liebman and Wayne Shorter. Frøy Aagres recent album Countryside has received world-wide acclaim from critics and musicians alike. The album was rated as one of the top ten albums in 2007 by the Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen.

Born in Tønsberg, Norway, Frøy Aagre began playing saxophone at the age of twelve and later moved to England to study saxophone at Birmingham Conservatoire. Her fascination of tango music, resulted a semester as an exchange student at Conservatoiro Nacional Lopez Bouchardo in Buenos Aires. After receiving Bachelor of Music with Distinction at Birmingham Conservatoire, she moved to London to pursue a Masters degree at Middlesex University. Back in Norway, she studied Twentieth-Century Composition at Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. In 2001, she studied with the world famous saxophonist David Liebman in New York.

Besides being leader for Offbeat, Frøy has performed with such musicians as Pee Wee Ellis, Mike and Mark Mondesir, Kris Davis, Jeff Davis, Annette Aguilar, Eivind Opsvik, Michael Bates, Thomas Strønen and Bjørn Kjellemyr. Aagre has toured in Europe, USA and Africa and played at festivals like Copenhagen Jazzfestival, Aarhus Jazz Festival and Prague Jazz Open.

She has received numerous prizes and scholarships. In 1999 she received the annual jazz prize from the Norwegian Association of Jazz and in 2005 she received the prestigous 1-year Composition Scholarship from the Norwegian Government.

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330
Album Review

Froy Aagre: Cycle of Silence

Read "Cycle of Silence" reviewed by John Kelman


For her first album on the internationally distributed ACT label, saxophonist Frøy Aagre continues along the path begun with her earlier releases on the Norwegian AIM label--Katalyze (2004) and Countryside (2006)--mining her own combination of melancholic Nordicism, Baroque classicism and American jazz tradition. As on Countryside, she expands her core piano/bass/drums quartet on six tracks, enhancing the disc's overall chamber vibe with cello, and the surprisingly vocal combination of French horn and trombone. This time, Aagre puts down ...

436
Album Review

Froy Aagre: Katalyze

Read "Katalyze" reviewed by Stephen Latessa


Norway, the land of fjords, reindeer, and Vikings has presented us with an album of cerebral grace. Frøy Aagre Offbeat's debut album Katalyze is a beautifully recorded and musically diverse offering. Consisting of Aagre on saxophone, Andreas Ulvo Langnes on piano, Roger Williamsen on double bass, and Freddy Augdal on drums, the band plays with an expansive sweep, simulating the sound of a larger ensemble.

Aagre, who composed Katalyze 's eight tracks, often recalls Wayne Shorter, particularly on ...

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"Frøy Aagre has done it again, she has put together a blend of compositions that further demonstrates her skill and talent...a collection of original compositions that uplift, carry and deliver the listener to a place that is pleasant and demands return. This music was so easy to listen to, so engaging. It is downright entertaining, at an emotional level, like the soundtrack to a great movie..." Chuck Vecoli, jazreview.com (US)

"Featuring finely crafted compositions and precise, yet stirring performances, Countryside is an ambitious and lovely followup to Frøy Aagre Offbeat's debut album, 2004’s Katalyze..

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