Credits:

Espen Berg Trio

Description:

This is the first collaboration (4th) by EBT (Espen Balg Trio) featuring Norway's national diva, Silje Nergård, Matthias Eijk, the country's most notable trumpeter who plays for ECM, and Hanna Paulusbalg, an up-and-coming female saxophone player in Norway. This Scandinavian masterpiece explores the diverse creativity of contemporary jazz with effective use of electrics, while showing a new direction. The Japan-only bonus track includes rare and previously unreleased material from Espen's solo piano work "Acres of Blue. "EBT (Espen Balg Trio) was formed in 2014 by three people of exceptional skill and creativity, and their debut album "Monstel" (BG006) was released in 2015, Borghe" (BG008) in 2017, and "Free to Play" (BG011) in 2019, establishing themselves firmly in Scandinavia. While the excellent originals, born of astonishingly odd time signatures and beautifully complex chord progressions that are unpredictable in their development, the most notable feature of this album is the collaboration with Matthias Eijk (tp) and Silje Nergår (vo). The two songs (1, 9) from Espen's pen with Matthias, create a visual/fantasy world typical of Scandinavia, with all instruments singing and forming a perfect ensemble, while delivering a profound performance that comes down to an aesthetic story.Silje, on the other hand, covers a song (10) from Paul Simon's Grammy Award-winning album "Still Crazy After All These Years. EBT's excellent arrangement and backing, which does not erase the good qualities of the original song, give the song a unique velvet voice that is soothing and comforting. The excellent and transparent Norwegian recording is also an important element of this work.

Tracklisting:

1. VINTERMORKE (FEAT. MATHIAS EICK)
2. INTRODUCTION TO XVII
3. XVII
4. AKERVISE (FEAT. HANNA PAULSBERG)
5. THE VERTICAL MOVEMENTS OF EOTVOS
6. NIKOLAI
7. THE FOURTH AWAKENS
8. SVALBARD
9. MAGNETIC PEAKS (FEAT. MATHIAS EICK)
10. I'D DO IT FOR YOUR LOVE (FEAT. SILJE NERGAARD)
11. BEYOND THE ACRES OF BLUE (BONUS TRACK)