The Espen Berg Trio is an award-winning and critically acclaimed Norwegian piano trio that has achieved success far beyond the country’s borders, having sold out concert halls in Tokyo, Guangzhou, Milan, Berlin, Athens and Hong Kong. In 2019, Brittish Jazz Journal called the trio “an important new voice in the crowded field of post-E.S.T. trios”. The music creates associations with Brad Mehldau, Keith Jarrett, Shai Maestro or Tigran Hamasyan, but is first and foremost a renewal of the piano trio format in general and Nordic jazz in particular, where the combination of strong melodies and rhythmic complexity results in a playful interplay.
The trio’s third album, Free to Play, was listed in Downbeat as one of the best albums of 2019, and also received solid reviews in the BBC (4/5), UK Vibe (5/5) and Jazz Journal (4/5). They released their fourth album, Fjære, on Odin Records in May 2022, with Mathias Eick (trumpet), Hanna Paulsberg (sax) and Silje Nergaard (vocals) as guest artists. The album was called a new classic by Morgenbladet.
Espen Berg is otherwise known for his collaborations with, among others, Silje Nergaard, Hildegunn Øiseth, A Tonic For The Troops, Daniel Herskedal, Mathias Eick and Bridges feat. Seamus Blake and he has been called a true master pianist by AllAboutJazz.com (US) after the release of his debut album Noctilucent in 2012. He was awarded the JazZ scholarship at Moldejazz 2016, and in the same year wrote the commissioned piece MAETRIX for the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.
Espen Berg – piano
Bárður Reinert Poulsen – bass
Simon Albertsen – drums
