Drawing on traditional folk music as well as classical music they prove that it is truly possible to find valuable source material in any corner. Although clearly still jazz by any definition, their interpretations possesses a breadth that has excited audiences in Hong Kong and many other places before.
The trio consists of Dag Arnesen (piano), Pål Thowsen (drums) and Ellen Andrea Wang (bass). They have received much praise for their albums Norwegian Song and Norwegian Song 2 and have greatly enjoyed playing for audiences in Asia.
Dag Arnesen is a pianist and a composer who grew up in Bergen, Norway and started classical piano lessons when he was seven years old, and at the age of sixteen appeared as a soloist with The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.However, as time passed, jazz became his main interest. Since the mid-seventies Dag has led many jazz groups and composed for larger constellations including a nine and a thirteen piece band, and written three movie scores. Arnesen has been a regular guest at jazz festivals in Norway and Europe, as well as performing in India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Argentina, New York and Canada. Dag has released ten CD/LPs and played on numerous other recordings.
Pål Thowsen started his professional career with the Arild Andersen Quartet (1974-1979), before playing with the Radka Toneff Band (1978-1981) and Terje Rypdal Group (1979-1985). Later he played with Ketil Bjørnstad, Jan Garbarek and Jon Eberson, among others. Pål Thowsen has played with most of the top musicians in Europe and in 1985 he was voted number five on a list of the best drummers in Europe. He has recorded eight CDs, two of which have won the Norwegian Grammy “Spellemannprisen”. Thowsen can be heard on over ninety recordings with diverse known artists.
Ellen Andrea Wang studied jazz bass with Bjørn Kjellemyr at Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Ellen works as a freelance musician and is a member of different bands, such as Pixel, SynKoke, and Sigrun & The Kitchen Band. She has also participated in various album releases and she teaches at JazzAkks in Oslo and Drammen.
They are playing at Hong Kong’s Skylark Lounge at 2 and 3 October and are looking forward to engaging with the Hong Kong audience once more!