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Jazz Articles about Espen Berg

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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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Album Review

Espen Berg: Noctilucent

Read "Noctilucent" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


It is rare to encounter an artist whose debut already radiates such sheer beauty, but pianist/composer Espen Berg--who has collaborated with fellow Norwegians such as saxophonist Marius Neset and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra--explains, in his liner notes, that he began to plan and experiment with his solo playing eight years ago. Over the years he has perfected a highly personal aesthetic, combining traditional folk elements with spontaneous improvised structures, both in a way that reflect his deepest emotions.


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