Harald Lassen
| Harald Lassen | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Harald Hagen Lassen |
| Born |
1987 (age 27–28) Kristiansand, Vest-Agder |
| Origin | Norway |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Saxophone, piano, percussions, vocals |
| Labels |
Jazzland Recordings Cuneiform Records NorCD Havtorn Records |
| Associated acts |
Duplex Mopti Pixel |
| Website |
haraldlassen |
Harald Lassen (born 1987 in Kristiansand, Norway, raised in Greipstad, Songdalen) is a Norwegian jazz musician (saxophone piano, percussions and vocals) and composer, known from collaborations with musicians like Jon Christensen, Mats Eilertsen, Eyolf Dale, Arild Andersen, Morten Qvenild, Mathias Eick, Espen Rud, Per Oddvar Johansen, Rob Waring, Anja Lauvdal and Torgrim Sollid.
Career
Lassen didn't pick up the saxophone until after many years of playing the piano. The relationship with the saxophone did not flourish until the last year of high school on the Music program at "Vågsbygd Videregående Skole". He experienced the traditional mainstream jazz as theoretical, structured, intellectual, and difficult to grasp, before the turningpoint when he discovered Masqualero, a Norwegian band representing an improvisational expression the young Lassen could identify with. He attended the Toneheim Folkehøgskole (2006–08) and did further studies in jazz and improvised music at the Norwegian Academy of Music (2008–12).
As residing in Oslo, Lassen works as a freelance musician with saxophone as the main instrument. Collaborating with bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen in the duo "Duplex", and in bands like "Mopti" including Svendsen, Kristoffer Eikrem (trumpet), David Aleksander Sjølie (guitar) and Andreas Wildhagen (drums), and "Pixel" including Ellen Andrea Wang (bass and vocals), Jon Audun Baar (drums, percussion and backing vocals), and Jonas Kilmork Vemøy (trumpet and backing vocals), he has released several albums.[1][2] The gig by "Pixel" was noted as "one of the most memorable moments" of the Match and Fuse Festival in London 2012, by the jazz magazine Down Beat.[3]
Honors
- 2012: "This year's young jazz musicians", the Jazzintro award at Moldejazz, within Mopti[2]
- 2013: Featured at Young Nordic Jazz Comets within Pixel[4]
Discography
His own projects
- Within Duplex
- 2013: Duolia (NorCD)
- Within Mopti
- 2013: Logic (Jazzland Recordings)[5]
Collaborations
- Within Pixel
- 2012: Reminder (Cuneiform Records)
- 2013: We Are All Small Pixels (Cuneiform Records)
- With "Bendik Baksaas Band»
- 2012: The Shape of Beats To Come (Dayladore Collective), feat. on "Nobody Will Laugh»
- With Andrea Kvintett
References
- ↑ Mosnes, Terje (31 August 2013). "Med ilden full av jazzjern" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Brauer, Camilla Slaattun (17 July 2012). "Mopti vant Jazzintro" (in Norwegian). JazzINorge.no. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
- ↑ Graham, Stephen (26 June 2012). "Match & Fuse Artists Light Up London". Down Beat. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
- ↑ "Young Nordic Jazz Comets". Young Nordic Jazz Comets. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
- ↑ Wicklund, CErling (17 September 2013). "MOPTI utfordrer – Logic Review" (in Norwegian). NRK Jazz. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
- ↑ "Andrea Kvintett" (PDF). NorCD. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 2013-11-16.