Espen Eriksen Trio

The Espen Eriksen Trio brings together Norwegian pianist Eriksen with bassist Lars Tormod Jenset and drummer Andreas Bye. Eriksen’s compositions supply the group’s core identity, favoring a lyrical and frequently translucent style shaped by folk traditions, liturgical music, and jazz impressionism. Their initial three recordings—You Had Me at Goodbye from 2011, What Took You So Long from 2012, and Never Ending January from 2015—prompted reviewers to link the ensemble stylistically with E.S.T., the Necks, and the Tord Gustavsen Trio, although none of those outfits place comparable weight on lyric harmony. British saxophonist Andy Sheppard first appeared as a guest on the 2018 album Perfectly Unhappy and has remained a regular participant in both live performances and studio work ever since, even though he was absent from the 2020 release End of Summer; he rejoined for the live recording In the Mountains in 2022 and for As Good as It Gets in 2023.

Eriksen and Tormod Jenset first crossed paths as music students in Oslo in 1998 and collaborated briefly before the bassist moved to Copenhagen to finish his training. Upon returning to Norway in 2007, he found Eriksen assembling a trio and accepted the invitation to join. Eriksen knew of Bye’s reputation but had never met him personally; the drummer already possessed extensive experience, having appeared on Frode Berg’s 2003 album Dig It, Bugge Wesseltoft’s New Conception of Jazz, recordings with the Sigurd Køhn Quartet, Håkon Kornstad’s band, Jazzmob, and numerous additional projects. Eriksen contacted him via text message, and Bye, struck by the pianist’s demo material and by Tormod Jenset’s involvement, agreed at once.

The group spent several years refining its material and opening for established artists on the Norwegian jazz circuit before Rune Grammofon founder Rune Kristoffersen discovered them during a performance and offered a recording contract. Their debut, You Had Me at Goodbye, surfaced in 2010 and earned positive notices across the European jazz media, which again drew parallels to the Tord Gustavsen Trio, the Necks, and the ECM aesthetic—an association reinforced by the fact that longtime ECM engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug handled mixing, mastering, and later sessions as well. After touring Europe and appearing at festivals, they recorded and issued What Took You So Long, an album that drew acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic for its transparent yet sharply defined lyricism and its measured treatment of swing. Performances eventually extended to South Korea alongside their European dates.

During one festival set, Andy Sheppard encountered the trio and was struck by the harmonic consonance of Eriksen’s writing and the unhurried manner in which the music unfolded. An introduction followed, Sheppard accepted an invitation to sit in, and the results led to his appearance as a co-billed guest soloist on the widely praised 2018 album Perfectly Unhappy. Because of Sheppard’s numerous other obligations, he could not participate in the sessions for End of Summer, a recording that reached the public in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. When the musicians resumed touring in 2021, visiting Europe, South Africa, Japan, and the United Kingdom, Sheppard participated whenever his schedule permitted. He took part in the 2022 live album In the Mountains, which captured six Eriksen compositions drawn from the trio’s catalog plus a reading of Krzysztof Komeda’s “Rosemary’s Baby” theme, documented across concert, studio-live, and additional settings. Sheppard returned to the studio with the group for the 2023 album As Good as It Gets, where the composer’s characteristic lyricism remained central yet appeared at brisker tempos and with a heightened emphasis on improvisation, allowing the quartet to explore and clarify its material in equal measure.