Morten Halle

Though more widely recognized for supporting roles than for fronting ensembles of his own, and having issued only a modest handful of recordings under his leadership, alto saxophonist Morten Halle remains a steady figure across the European jazz and new-music circuits. Residing in Oslo, Norway, he first gained notice on the Scandinavian jazz landscape toward the end of the 1970s by directing the ensemble Oslo 13. Conceptually and structurally akin to Belgium’s Soft Verdict under Wim Mertens or England’s the Lost Jockey under Andrew Poppy, the ever-changing collective existed chiefly to perform Halle’s own pieces, which, while rooted in jazz, incorporated elements of minimalism and additional strands of twentieth-century composition. Oslo 13’s debut release arrived as 1982’s Anti-Therapy, succeeded by 1987’s Off Balance and the archival concert document Oslo 13 Live, issued posthumously in 1993.

Alongside Knut Vaernes and Helge Westbye, two fellow figures in the Scandinavian avant-jazz milieu, Halle established Curling Legs Records in 1987 to provide an outlet for this deliberately noncommercial yet engaging body of work. His first recording under his own name, Etterlatte Sanger, appeared on the label in 1988; it was followed by the 1990 and 1992 collaborations Halle Eberson Sletten Kjellemyr and Halle Eberson Sletten Kjellemyr 2, both featuring guitarist Jon Eberson, bassist Bjorn Kjellemyr, and percussionist Finn Sletten.

Throughout the 1990s Halle stayed active as a supporting player, contributing to such projects as 1995’s Further by the Magnetic North Orchestra, an ensemble directed by his onetime Oslo 13 colleague Jon Balke. Halle and Balke later reconvened Oslo 13 under the slightly altered name 1300 Oslo for performances in 1999 and 2000, two of which were captured for the 2001 Curling Legs release Live in the North.