First there’s Marius Neset, who has been hailed in the press as the best Norwegian saxophonist since Jan Garbarek. Then there’s Helge Lien, who has been compared to piano giants such as Brad Mehldau, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans. Drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen has previously collaborated with jazz innovators Bugge Wesseltoft and Nils-Petter Molvær. The repertoire mainly consists of songs by Andersen, who has previously released twenty-two albums under his own name on the ECM label.

Double basssist Arild Andersen is world famous for his big, warm tone, his imaginative compositions and his always surprising improvisations. He made name in the 1960s in Jan Garbarek’s Quartet and he collaborated with American legends such as Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Don Cherry. He quickly became one of the most recognizable bassists of his generation, characteristic for the ECM label together with musicians such as Paul Motian, Bill Frisell and Terje Rypdal. He combined traditional Norwegian music with improvised music. In the 1990s he formed the successful group Masqualero and he has been leading his own trio for fifteen years. ‘No bassist alive plays solos with a stronger sense of yearning. They tug at the heart’ (JazzTimes). ‘Arild Andersen has been one of Europe’s great double-bassists for 40 years. Blessed with a rhythmic drive and a big, growling tone, the Norwegian’s presence in a band is marked out from the opening notes’ (The Guardian).