Marius Neset Quintet

"He is not the future of European Jazz, he's the present" (Brian Morton, Downbeat, 2022)

In February 2025, Marius Nesets new album will be released on ACT, the sequel to HAPPY, which came out in autumn 2022.

Marius Neset is a musician who embraces a wide range of music. He has written no fewer than three orchestral works for the internationally acclaimed London Sinfonietta: Snowmelt, Viaduct and Geyser, the latter of which was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in September 2022 as part of the BBC Proms series.

Geyser was also released on record in 2023, and came in 2nd place on The Guardian's list 10 best jazz albums of 2023. Europe's largest jazz magazine Jazzwise gave it 5 out of 5 stars, and the album received brilliant reviews worldwide!

Marius Neset has eventually won and been nominated for more than 20 awards. He got his first at Nattjazz in Bergen as a teenager, and in Norway he has won the Spellemannpris, and been nominated several times. He has both won and been nominated several times in the prestigious German ECHO Jazz. In addition, he has been nominated for the Nordic Council's Music Prize, and several times for the Edvard Prize.

The Guardian's legendary jazz critic John Fordham has described Neset as "a young titan in European new music", and he was the only musician living in Europe to be included in Downbeat's list "25 for the future, that will shape the future of the jazz in the years to come".

The common thread in Neset's career is that both as a saxophonist and composer he has attracted world-class musicians, not only from the jazz scene, but from many different genres in the musical world. In September 2024, a new and very special record came out; Who We Are, a collaboration with the classical star pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. He has also written major works for the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Big Band, DR Big Band, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and KORK.

Marius Neset's career now spans over 20 years. Already when he was 20 years old, he toured the world with JazzKamikaze - in Europe, the USA, Asia and North Africa. Today he tours both with his own band, in addition to several collaborations with renowned orchestras in large concert halls in Europe. The music in Neset's new band can best be described as modern contemporary fusion/jazz, with inspiration from genres and music around the world. It is complex, well-composed, rhythmically extremely advanced at times, full of energy, creativity and contrasts, but still has a strong melodic foundation that makes it widely appealing. Neset is an improviser of rank, who makes room for a lot of freedom in the music, and who makes each concert live its own life.

All the musicians in Neset's band are highly recognized musicians on the European jazz scene, and are handpicked based on their personality and creativity, as well as the musical and rhythmic excess required to be able to be free in the compositions.

Two of the musicians Marius has played with ever since 2003 when they met at Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium in Copenhagen; Magnus Hjorth, who has released three trio albums under his own name, collaborated with, among others, Chris Potter and otherwise toured the world for many years with various projects. Anton Eger, who has been the drummer in Marius Neset's projects from the very beginning, also known from bands such as Phronesis. In 2019, Eger also released his first solo record, "Æ". Pianist Elliot Galvin has released four trio records, and his latest solo record was named "Album of the Month" in The Guardian. Like Neset himself, he has also composed commissioned works for the London Sinfonietta. Bassist Conor Chaplin was also on Marius' last album Geyser, is a member of Dinosaur and has played with Jacob Collier, Billy Cobham, Bobo Stenson, and many others.

Crew:

Marius Neset (NO) – tenor and soprano saxophone
Elliot Galvin (UK) – keyboards
Magnus Hjorth (SE) – piano
Conor Chaplin (UK) – el. bass
Anton Eger (SE) – drums