Appearing at Kings Place in London on Saturday and the Gateshead Jazz Festival in April supporting the Spring Quartet Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset’s debut release for new label ACT has been confirmed for a 21 April UK release.
Appearing with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra on this new album Lion is the 29-year-old’s first since signing to the Munich label. The material for the album stems in part from a commission Neset received three years ago to write for the forward-thinking orchestra that first saw fruition in a live setting at the Molde Jazz Festival in the Bergen man’s native Norway two years ago. Lion also includes new arrangements of Neset’s acclaimed albums Birds and Golden Xplosion.
Neset, who plays tenor and soprano saxophones on the album, is widely seen as the most exciting saxophone prospect to have emerged in Norway since Jan Garbarek first surfaced in the 1960s, and is joined by Hanna Paulsberg (tenor saxophone); Peter Fuglsang (alto sax, flute and clarinet); Eirik Hegdal (baritone and soprano saxophone); Eivind Lønning and Erik Eilertsen (trumpet); Erik Johannesen (trombone); Daniel Herskedal (tuba); Jovan Pavlovic (accordion); Espen Berg (piano); Petter Eldh (bass); Gard Nilssen (drums), percussion; and Ingrid Neset (flute and piccolo flute).
Marius Neset above. Photo: Lutz Voigtländer/ACT