In autumn 2022, they met at a jazz event in Trondheim. Last year, they won Norway's award for best young jazz musicians of the year, and this year they are releasing their first album: it's called Lightning, and the trio is aptly named Lightning Trio.

The debut album, which is just under 40 minutes long, comprises nine tracks. They were all penned by pianist Sondre Moshagen, who forms the Lightning Trio together with Kertu Aer on bass and drummer Steinar Heide Bø.

The three young musicians play as if from a single piece/flow/source – choose your own term for this coherent, closely interwoven harmony. And it extends beyond the interplay itself, beyond technical skills and their application in the flow of the music.

In fact, there is a lot of flow in the music. It is not the lively alternation between the manifold possibilities, nor improvisation as the connecting link between the musicians that is in the foreground, but rather a basic harmonic understanding, including blue notes.

Even if, in some passages, such as at around the 1-minute mark in Past, one might wonder whether this is musical expression taking shape or a young composer's search for it, the nine compositions present themselves as appealing, insightful and comprehensible pieces. Much of it surprises with its astonishing maturity, both in the musical lines and in the artistic execution. This applies, for example, to Astraphobia, which maintains this attitude for more than seven minutes.

Lightning is recorded on a medium-sized stage, beyond the living room and intimate clubs. It is more of a slightly larger club, and it is impressive how much detail, right down to transients, is captured by the microphones and contributes to the musical event. This creates considerable intimacy despite the spaciousness of the room.

Lightning by the Norwegian Lightning Trio is a successful debut, and it would come as no surprise if the three also collected an award for it, for example for the best jazz debut of the year. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Sondre Moshagen, piano
Kertu Aer, double bass
Steinar Heide Bø, drums