Born October 27, 1945 in Norway. For more than 30 years, he has been Europe’s most prominent bass player. Jan Garbarek Quartet (67-73) was his first band. He was also a member of Jan Garbarek Quartet (67-73). In these years, he also worked with George Russell and Don Cherry. He visited New York many times between 1972 and 1974, and worked with Stan Getz Quartet and Sam Rivers trio. Sheila Jordan and Steve Kuhn were also among his collaborators. Arild Andersen started his own quartet in 1974. This band toured Europe and Scandinavia, and produced 3 albums for ECM. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, he also formed a band with Radka Toneff. In1980 Arild Andersen put together a band that included Kenny Wheeler,Paul Motian,and Steve Dobrogosz(Lifelines-ECM). He had a band in -81 with Alphonse Mozon, Bill Frisell, and John Taylor (A Molde Concert,ECM). The band also toured Europe with John Abercrombie as guitarist in -83. 1982, he founded The Arild Andersen Quintet»u003e with Jon Christensen, dr. Jon Balke, Tore Brunborg, sax, and Nils Petter Molvaer, tp. Later, the band was renamed to Masqualero. The band was at the forefront of European Jazz for 10 years, with the last two years being a quartet without piano. Masqualero toured the USA, Canada and East and West Europe, and recorded four albums, one for Odin and three for ECM. Three albums were nominated for the Norwegian Grammy»award. Arild Andersen recorded a trio with Ralph Towner, Nana Vasconcelos and released it on ECM in 1993. Arild Andersen spent many years researching the possibilities of combining traditional Norwegian folk music and improvised music. In 1988, he began a collaboration with Kirsten Braatenberg, a leading artist in Norwegian folk music. The result was the success of Sagn», which was premiered in 1990 and has been performed over 40 times, including at Town Hall, New York, Germany, and Scandinavia. Sagn»u003e was originally recorded on -91 by the Norwegian label Kirkelig Kulturverksted and then released on ECM. He also premiered an original work, titled ‘Arv» in 1993. It was also recorded by Kirkelig Kulturverksted. He composed the music for a theatre production of the Nobel-prized trilogy Kristin Lavandatter» by Sigrid Undset in 1994. The concert version of the music was also performed and recorded for Kirkelig Kulturverksted. Arild Andersen’s work » Hyperborean» was premiered at the Molde International Jazz Festival» in 1995. This band consisted of nine members, including the Norwegian string quartet Cikada. ECM released the music in September 1997. 1998, he formed a trio with Markus Stockhausen (German trumpeter) and Patrice Heral (French percussion-player). Terje Rypdal was a guest on the CD “Karta”, which ECM released in sept 2000. 1999 Andersen formed a trio with John Marshall, an English drummer, and Vassilis Tsabroupolos, a Greek pianist. Two cds were released by them on ECM, Achirana 2000, and The Triangle 2004. He performed at The Molde International Jazz Festival 2001 with Pat Metheney, who was “Artist In Recidence”, and Paal Nilsen Love, the Norwegian drummer. He premiered the music to Sophocles Greek Drama, “Electra”, at the Herodes Theater of Athens in June 2002. This performance was part of the Athens Olympic Games Cultural Issue. ECM 2005 released the cd as “Electra”. He began a collaboration with Ference Snetberger, a Hungarian Gutarist. This led to a Quartet Recording “Joyosa”, 2004 and a Trio Recording “Nomad”, 2005. He joined the Dahl/Andersen/Heral Trio in 2002, which recorded two CD’s for Stunt Records in Denmark. “The Sign” u0026 “Moonwater” Arild Andersen served as “Artist In Residence” for The Molde Jazz festival in 2005. He performed five concerts, including a Soloconcert and Electra trio, and a special project together with Nana Vasconcelos and Kudsi Ergunner. He also composed a commission piece for a duo featuring Tommy Smith, the Saxophonist. He called this “Independency” and it led to the formation his new trio, which included Paolo Vinaccia on drums as well as Tommy Smith on saxophone. The trio recorded a live recording in Oslo’s Belleville club, autumn 2007. It was released on ECM’s “Live at Belleville” in 2008. This album received rave reviews all over the globe and is Arild Andersen’s main project, with concerts across the globe. Arild Andersen was awarded the 2008 Prix du Musicien Europeen from the “Academie du Jazz” in France. He visited Japan in 2010 for the first time. His trio was deemed by the Japan media to be the highlight at the Tokyo International Jazzfestival 2010. from www.arildandersen.com
