"Lotte Anker. Soprano- alto- and tenor saxophone. Composer.

Lotte Anker is born 1958 in Copenhagen. As a child and young she studied classical piano but took up the saxophone and improvised music in 1980, primarily influenced through the music of John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter but also the more experimental jazzscene in Scandinavia at that time.

She studied music at the Copenhagen University from 1980-84 and in the 80'ties par- ticipated in several courses and workshops lead by e.g.: Joe Henderson, David Liebman, John Tchicai, Marilyn Mazur, David Murray.

As a composer she is mostly selftaught but has a degree in composition fromRhytmic Music Conservatory, Cph. Compositionclass led by Bob Brookmeyer and with assisting guest teachers Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgren, Svend Hvidtfeldt-Nielsen ao.

In 1988 she formed her own quartet with pianoplayer Mette Petersen:Lotte Anker/Mette Petersen Quartet. In 92 the quartet transformed into a quintet with Norwegian trumpetplayer Nils-Petter Molvær.In 95 she became a member of the free improvising trio Anker,Friis,Poulsen (with Hasse Poulsen, guitar and Peter Friis-Nielsen: bass)

1996-2013 co-leader (together w/ trombonist/composer Ture Larsen) of the 12-piece orchestra Copenhagen Art Ensemble. Cph. Art Ensemble is performing new music and besides playing new Danish music, the band has done projects/tours with e.g.: Tim Berne, Django Bates, John Tchicai, Marilyn Mazur, The Zapolski Quartet, Mats Gustafsson, Marc Ducret.

In 97 L. Anker formed a trio with Marilyn Crispell and Marilyn Mazur. The collaboration with M. Crispell has continued through the years in various formations: as duo, trio and quartet.

In 2003 the trio : anker,taborn,cleaver was formed with pianoplayer Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver.

In 2006 the quintet Sonographic July (LA, Tim Berne, altosax, Sylvie Courvoisier, pno, Ikue Mori, electr, Tom Rainey, dr) was established and also a trio: Anker, Courvoisier, Mori.

In 2010 LA was invited to do a special project at Huddersfield Contemporary Musicfestival & Wundergrund Festival which resulted in the forming of the 8-piece-group: What River Ensemble. WRE includes: Phil Minton, LA, Anna Klett, Garth Knox, Jesper Egelund, Fred Frith/Kim Myhr, Ikue Mori & Chris Cutler.

Other recent group collaborations : Anker, Leandre, Strid (w/ Joelle Leandre & Raymond Strid), Quartet (w/ Johannes Bauer, Clayton Thomas, Paul Lovens). Anker, Frith,Mori (w/ Fred Frith & Ikue Mori) and duo w/ Fred Frith.

Besides working with own groups Lotte Anker has been a member of various Danish/Scandinavian groups e.g.: Marilyn Mazurs Primi Band, Two Bass-Hit, Saxmachine (saxophonequartet), Jazzgroup 90, Art-Out, Ictus, Mokuto, Konvoj-Art.

Projects/collaborations/tours with Peter Brotzmann, Miya Masaoka, Michael Formanek, Tim Berne, Marc Ducret, Dylan van der Schyff , Paal Nilssen-Love, Herb Robertson, Arve

Henriksen, Anders Jormin, Sten Sandell, Andrew Cyrille, Fred Frith, Benoit Delbecq, Wilbert de Joode, Thomas Lehn, Paul Lovens, Okkyung Lee, Fred Lonberg-Holm ao."

Anna Högberg is a saxophonist, a member of Dog Life, Fire! Orchestra

"Saxophonist, flautist and composer Julie Kjær's edgy and thoughtfull playing and 'dark, otherworldly imagery' (Jazzwise) has become incerasingly evident around Europe, inhabiting ground between composition and free improv. Experimenting with extended techniques, sound and rhythm she pushes her instruments to their limits.

She has toured internationally and recorded with Django Bates and his band StoRMChaser. Currently her main focus is on her trio, Julie Kjær 3, with bass player John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble. Their debut album 'Dobbeltgænger' was just released on 14th March '16 on Clean Feed Records.

She tours internationally with Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and his Large Unit. Other main projects are a trio with Rachel Musson and Hannah Marshall and Danish-English sextet 'Pierette Ensemble', which she co leads with Danish composer and piano player Signe Bisgaard. The ensemble's debut was cd released February 2014. She plays with London Improvisers Orchestra and is a leader and sidewoman of several other English and Danish ensembles.

She associates herself with prized performers like Mark Sanders, Dave Douglas, Louis Moholo-Moholo, John Russel, Dave Liebman, Laura Jurd, 'Leafcutter' John, Mira Calix, Veryan Weston and Steve Beresford."

"Thomas is born and raised in Skien,Telemark. With a bachelor degree from the University of Stavanger, and Masters from The Norwegian Academy of Music, he is a part of the strong young Norweigan jazz elite. He has done extensive touring in Scandinavia, Europe, Japan and USA, with both his own projects and as a sideman in several other bands.

His main project is Cortex, which is a quartet consisting of Thomas, Kristoffer Alberts, Ola Høyer and Gard Nilssen. Cortex is a Norwegian band which plays enerergetic jazz of the finest brand. With over one hundred live perfomances and four highly acclaimed albums, they position themselves as one of the strongest additions to the Norwegian jazz scene.

Thomas is also active in several other projects, such as: All Included, Friends & Neighbors, Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit, and Scheen Jazzorkester.

Thomas currently lives in Skien, working as a freelance trumpet player and composer. Thomas has in recent years toured and played at several festivals and clubs at home and abroad, with both his own and others projects. For projects and livedates, check the pages on the menu at the top of the page."

"Goran Kajfes, born 22 June 1970 in Tyreso Assembly, is a Swedish trumpeter. Kajfeš is the son of Davor Kajfeš.

Goran has worked with, among others, Eric Gadd, Stina Nordenstam, Fläskkvartetten, Kent, The Tiny, Bruno K. Öijer, Neneh Cherry, Robyn, Mando Diao, Lester Bowie, Blacknuss, Sugababes, Nicolai Dunger, Håkan Hellström, Janet Jackson, Moneybrother, Freddie Wadling, José González, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Eric Malmberg, Club Killers, Monica Zetterlund, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Eldkvarn, Matti Bye and Bo Diddley, The Thing XL, weeping willows, Cheik Lo.

Solo debut Home (2000) was released on the EMI (Kaza / Blue Note) and a lot of attention for his mix of jazz and electronics. Sequel HeadSpin won a Grammy (2004). The third album, X / Y (2010) was nominated for this year's jazz album in The Independent, and was hailed around the world including magazine Mojo. He was also awarded the Nordic Music Prize for the disc. After the album was released (with his Subtropic Arkestra) The Reason Why Vol.1 (2012) and most recently, The Reason Why Vol. 2 (2014). Both featured in Mojo, Uncut, Songlines, The Wire, Jazz Journal and so on.

Kajfeš is also featured in the jazz group Oddjob, together with among others Per "Ruskträsk" Johansson and Daniel Karlsson, who has released six full-length albums (Amigo Music, ACT, Headspin Recordings) and beyond that also Grammy Award winning children's album Jazzoo. He is also a member of the free jazz band Nacka Forum (Moserobie Records) with Kjell Nordeson, Jonas Kullhammar and Johan Berthling, Angles 9, Fire! Orchestra, Magnus Carlson & The Moon Ray Quintet and skabandet Jobalites.

He runs the record company Headspin Recordings, with David Österberg.

Kajfeš has also composed music for films and television series including Kristian Petri's The Well documentaries and feature films Details, The Mouse of Bigert Bergstrom, The Sun of Ulf Rollof, vignette music to the SVT Cobra, All wild, a film about Birgitta Stenberg, Havana Motor Club by Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt. He has written and performed music for Saw The White Buffalo Dancing with dance group Vindhäxor.

Oddjob The group performed a large part of the music (composed by Matti Bye) to the hundred year old who climbed out the window and disappeared.

Kajfeš produced weeping willows albums The Time Has Come, Magnus Carlson and the Moon Ray quintet and most of Titiyos album Hidden.

In 2014 asked Kajfeš in collaboration with David Osterberg audio installation Batysphere on Färgfabriken."

Trumpeter Emil Strandberg is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and is a member of Fire! Orchestra, Seval, and Pan-Scan.

"Composer / musician / producer - piano, organ, voice, electronics,Sound/Text/Image Real-Time Composer, Doctor of Philosophy In Fine Arts in Musical Performance and Interpretation, University of Gothenburg, 2013

Cooperation with musicians/composers including Emil Strandberg, Paal Nilssen-Love, Sverrir Gudjonsson, Johan Berthling, Evan Parker, Sven-Åke Johansson, Chris Cutler, Mats Persson, Sofia Jernberg, Carl-Axel Dominique, Mats Gustafsson, Nina de Heney and Raymond Strid. Music Inside the Language was winner of Contemporary Sound in 2011 of the Journal Contemporary Music. Music and visual arts, including Bo Samuelsson, Katarina Eismann, Inger Arvidsson. Music and dance, including Jukka Korpi, Ingrid Olterman, Bo Arenander, Anne Külper. Music and Drama including Fredrik Nyberg, Magnus Florin, Magnus Jacobsson, Willy Kyrklund, Karl Dunér, Rolf Skoglund, Peter Oskarson, Stina Ekblad and Jörgen Gassilewski.

Sten Sandell was awarded the Royal Academy of Music's Jazz Award in 2012 with the motivation: "The pianist Sten Sandell is one of Swedish improvised music's most brilliant, captivating and independent voices. His musical activities are characterized by a strong artistic integrity, and he has with great consistency developed a characteristic aesthetic attitude that inspires countless musicians. " "

"Paal Nilssen-Love was born in Molde, Norway, Dec 24. 1974, and raised at a jazz club in Stavanger, run by his parents. It was natural to choose his fathers drums as his instrument and jazz as his work. From 1990 on he took actively part in the jazz milieu in Stavanger and joined bands with established musicians such as trumpeter Didrik Ingvaldsen and saxophonist Frode Gjerstad. In many ways, these collaborations were essential as they pointed out the directions for Paal's later musical development and career. During his studies at the Jazz dept at the University in Trondheim, where the first self initiated bands were established, things developed really fast - and Paal was nationally acknowledged at the age of 20.

The forming of the quartet Element in 1993 in many ways represented the start of a new phase in Paal's musical life. Element musically became a platform for several other groups with bassist Flaten and pianist Wiik, and lead to collaborations with Iain Ballamy and Chris Potter, amongst others. Paal moved to Oslo in 1996, where he joined and/or took part in the forming of bands like Vindaloo, SAN, Håkon Kornstad Tio, The Quintet and Frode Gjerstad Trio. He later on got more into self initiated projects and collaborations with Swedish musicians, such as pianist Sten Sandell and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson.

Paal played his first solo concert in 1999, and since then the solo concept has been an important part of his work: "Everyone should try doing some solo work, just to feel who you really are and what gets you going". His solo album "Sticks and stones" was put out in 2001 on SOFA Rec.

Being active in several bands at the same time has always been Paal's deliberate working method. He is constantly conscious about the projects he is in, as his participation in each and one of them is fully dedicated. Playing is not about getting from start to goal, but rather being in an everlasting process, a continuous movement where each new piece of music performed is a prolongation of the latest. Hence, keeping focused and concentrating all energy around what's happening there and then is of greatest importance - as is the freedom in the music, the ability of being free within the expression.

All bands, although various styles and musical versatility in general, represent important pieces that make up a total, and all bands are formed or joined with a clear vision. Today Paal's portfolio includes Atomic, School Days, The Thing, Frode Gjerstad Trio, Sten Sandell Trio, Scorch Trio, Territory Band, FME, and various duo projects such as with reedmen Ken Vandermark, John Butcher, Mats Gustafsson, organist Nils Henrik Asheim and noise wizard Lasse Marhaug. And not to forget the recently joined Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet."

"Solberg holds a Masters degree in improvisation at the Norwegian Academy of Music and has since worked in the Norwegian and European improvisation scene, u. a. with Øystein Eldøy, Frode Gjerstad, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Eivind Lønning, Stine Janvin Motland, David Stackenäs, Joe Williamson and Per Zanussi in the formations Hot Four, Motsol, S / S Motsol and VCDC. He also played in a duo with John Russell and in a trio with Steve Beresford and Martin Kitchen, 2014 in trio with Alan Silva and Mette Rasmussen . With Paal Nilssen-Love, he organized the Blow Out! Festival in Oslo. [3] Solberg lives in Oslo."