Espen Eriksen Trio - In the Mountains (2022)

After five successful studio albums in 12 years, here is their first live album. A very popular international concert attraction on several continents, the trio have constantly been asked when they will release a concert recording. And here it finally is, an hour's worth of melodic, melancholy magic.

Five of the seven tracks were recorded live in concert at Oslo?s Nasjonal Jazzscene in 2018 and 2020, one at a special one-off intimate concert at Propeller Music Division in Oslo in 2020 and one in Poznan, Poland, in 2021. Six of the seven tracks are extended versions of Eriksen originals from four of the studio albums, adding instrumental vividness as well as dramatic and moving elements to the event.

The seventh is a splendid cover of Krzysztof Komeda?s iconic Rosemary?s Baby. Andy Sheppard is guesting on three of the tracks, and another welcome twist is that only one of these are from the “Perfectly Unhappy” album he did with the trio, while the version of the title track from that album is featured here without Andy Sheppard.