Living Jan Gunnar Hoff

• 1 Living 05:45
• 2 Mirror I 03:31
• 3 Mountain High 03:22
• 4 Karlygash 03:41
• 5 Coming My Way 03:08
• 6 Mirror II 02:58
• 7 Florence 05:20
• 8 Brytning 03:52
• 9 Fly North 03:58
• 10 Valse de Décembre 04:53
• 11 Sommernat 04:55
• 12 Feberdigte 04:00
• 13 Å eg veit meg eit land (Barndomsminne frå Nordland) 04:54
• 14 Sacrifice 05:36
• Total Runtime 59:53

Info for Living

LIVING is Jan Gunnar Hoff's first solo piano album. His personal blend of different styles and influences is presented in its purest form - simply music. Some of Hoff's pieces are meditative and expressive, while others have a strong rhythmic nerve, creating contrast and variation in the programme.

Jan Gunnar Hoff has worked extensively as a bandleader and jazz artist since 1992, developing a distinctive musical style. His band with a.o. Audun Kleive and Bjørn Kjellemyr had its breakthrough at Vossa Jazz 1995 and later played at the London Jazzfestival, Molde Int. Jazzfestival and several major festivals and venues in Scandinavia.

Hoff's jazzcompositions have been performed in collaborations with Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Alex Acuña, Audun Kleive, Maria João, Mathias Eick and many others. He has made a number of albums in his own name and has composed 180 works for different ensembles. Hoff is also teaching as a professor at the Universities of Tromsø and Kristiansand.

As a sideman Hoff has contributed to numerous recordings in different genres. He was the arranger and ensemble leader of Quiet Winter Night, Grammy-nominated for Best Surround Sound in 2013, an album where he successfully merges elements of jazz, folk and popular music.

Hoff's collaboration with 2L and Morten Lindberg is continued on LIVING. This is a solo piano journey that carries Hoff's artistic identity further into his own musical terrain, enhanced by the crystal clear recording from Sofienberg Church in Oslo.

'Hoff's writing and playing possesses an almost pop-like clarity and concision, but with a far richer vernacular.' John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com

Jan Gunnar Hoff, piano

All compositions by Jan Gunnar Hoff except 4 by Akhmet Zhubanov and 13 by Adolf Thomsen

Recorded, August 2012 at Sofienberg Church, Norway Original source: DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)

Jan Gunnar Hoff
is a Norwegian jazz pianist, arranger and composer. He was born in Bodø in 1958. His career as a jazz musician started in a piano trio in 1976. In 1992 he made his debut as a solo artist and composed a suite in four movements for the occasion. The concert was a great success and the music was recorded for his first CD Syklus, described by the press as “the vitamin injection of 1993”. Since then Hoff has made a number of albums in his own name and composed 180 works for different ensembles. He received the Edvard Prize (named after Edvard Grieg) in 2005 for his jazz mass Meditatus and was composer of the commissioned work for Vossa Jazz the same year.

Jan Gunnar Hoff has worked extensively as a bandleader and solo artist since 1992, developing his distinctive musical style. His compositions have been performed in collaborations with Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Alex Acuña, Audun Kleive, Maria João, Mathias Eick and many others. As a sideman Hoff has contributed to numerous recordings in different genres. He was the arranger and leader of Quiet Winter Night, Grammy-nominated for best surround sound in 2013, an album where he success- fully merges elements of jazz, folk and popular music. LIVING is a solo piano journey that carries Hoff’s artistic identity further into his own musical terrain, enhanced by the crystal clear recording from Sofienberg Church in Oslo, August 2012.

Booklet for Living