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Jazz Articles about Nils Petter Molvaer

About Nils Petter Molvaer

333

Album Review

Nils Petter Molvaer: Baboon Moon

Read "Baboon Moon" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
November 9, 2011

While Nils Petter Molvær's last release--the first after breaking up his band of ten years--demonstrated plenty of change for the Norwegian trumpeter, he still relied on two of that group's most significant players: live sampler Jan Bang and, most importantly, guitarist Eivind Aarset, who contributed to eight of its ten tracks. Still, Hamada (Sula, 2009) began to move away from the programmed beats of er (Sula, 2005), towards a harder-edged sound--driven, in no small part, by drummer Audun Kleive's thundering ...

784

Interview

Nils Petter Molvaer: Colors, Noises and Moods

by Adriana Carcu
January 3, 2011

Trumpeter/composer Nils Petter Molvær is one of the main exponents of Nordic Jazz--a geographic ramification that has acquired, especially during the last decade, the status of an independent genre. He has created his own style by combining traditional instrumental elements with electronic sound processing: a fusion characterized by pregnant rhythmical patterns and a meditative mood. Molvær performed recently at the 2010 Enjoy Jazz Festival in Mannheim, Germany, with Food--Thomas Strønen and Iain Ballamy--also featuring Christian Fennesz, and ...

559

Album Review

Nils Petter Molvaer: Hamada

by John Kelman
August 30, 2010

It's been four years since Norwegian trumpeter/Nu Jazz progenitor Nils Petter Molvær released a studio album (excepting Re-Vision (Sula, 2008), a collection of film music). When he performed at Punkt '07 in Kristiansand, Norway, it was one of his final performances with his longstanding group of guitarist Eivind Aarset, live sampler Jan Bang, turntablist DJ Strangefruit and drummer Rune Arnesen. Aarset and Bang return on Hamada, but it's a significant change for Molvær, representing a number of directional shifts and ...

1,629

Interview

Nils Petter Molvaer: Skeletons, Samples and Fish Fillets

by Paul Olson
August 30, 2010

There's no overstating the impact that Nils Petter Molvær's debut CD Khmer made when it was released on the ECM label in 1997. The Norwegian trumpeter/composer was no stranger to ECM and its founder/producer Manfred Eicher-- Molvær had been a member of the collective jazz group Masqualero, that had released records on the label, and he'd played on sessions by ECM artists such as percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky. With his impeccable European jazz credentials and his winsomely melodic, atmospheric trumpet playing--distilled ...

380

Album Review

Nils Petter Molvaer: Hamada

by Chris May
February 13, 2010

Despite ample evidence to the contrary, for many people trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær is synonymous with understated, electronica-drenched, ambient music. The perception gets stronger the further the Norwegian's name travels from its home turf, despite his record company's best efforts. In 2006, Sula Records released the fierce, high temperature An American Compilation, partly to increase Molvær's profile in North America, partly to define it more accurately. To little avail. Beyond his core audience, the trumpeter continues to be known as ...

472

Album Review

Nils Petter Molvaer: Re-Vision

Read "Re-Vision" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
May 12, 2008

The music of Norwegian trumpeter/Nu Jazz progenitor, Nils Petter Molvaer, has always been cinematic. Call it music for a non-existent movie or a film of the mind, Molvaer's albums, beginning with the groundbreaking Khmer (ECM, 1997), have always been about aural landscapes evocative of highly personal imagery and plenty of club-ready grooves. Even in performance, the lighting provided by Tord “Prince of Darkness" Knudsen is intended to provoke the imagination rather than focus attention on the musicians. It's ...

354

Album Review

Lars Danielsson: Melange Bleu

Read "Melange Bleu" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
April 21, 2007

Music--improvised or scored--is inextricably linked with how it's arranged or orchestrated, a point made crystal clear by Lars Danielsson's Mélange Bleu. The bonus track on the Swedish bassist/cellist/ pianist's Libera Me (ACT, 2004) hinted at the direction Danielsson would take on Mélange Blue--a blending of acoustic instruments, concert orchestra and technology to create a lush new mix (or Mélange) that retains Danielsson's innate lyricism, but places it in the sonic realm of Nu Jazz. With some of ...