Nils Petter Molvær

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Nils Petter Molvær (born 1960) is a Norwegian jazz trumpeter, composer and producer. He is considered a pioneer in the fusion of jazz and electronic music, showcased on his best-selling album Khmer, released by the German record label ECM in 1998.

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 External links

[edit] Biography

Nils Petter Molvaer at Moers Festival 2006, Germany

Molvær was born and grew up on the island of Sula, Norway, and left at the age of nineteen to study music at the conservatory in Trondheim. He joined the band Masqualero, alongside Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen and Tore Brunborg. Masqualero (named after a Wayne Shorter composition originally recorded by Miles Davis) recorded several albums for ECM Records, and Molvær recorded with other ECM artists before his debut solo album, Khmer, in 1998. The record was a fusion of jazz, rock, electronic soundscapes and hip-hop beats, and was quite unlike the delicate "chamber jazz" typically associated with ECM [1]. Molvær's muted trumpet sound, sometimes electronically processed, had an obvious debt to Miles Davis's work of the 1970s and 1980s, but without being a slavish copy. For the first time, ECM released singles - "Song of Sand", backed with three remixes, and "Ligotage". A second album, Solid Ether, followed in 2000, after which Molvær left ECM. He has recorded several albums since, and has also produced film and theater music.