Harald Lassen
 | This article is an autobiography or has been extensively edited by the subject or by someone connected to the subject. (November 2015) |
Harald Lassen | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Harald Hagen Lassen |
| Born | 13 March 1987 Kristiansand, Vest-Agder |
| Origin | Norway |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instrument(s) | Saxophone, piano, percussions, vocals |
| Labels | Jazzland Recordings Cuneiform Records NorCD Havtorn Records |
| Website | haraldlassen |
Harald Lassen (born 13 March 1987 in Kristiansand, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz musician who has devoted his career exclusively to his own band. His unpredictable, but characteristic, mixture of saxophone, voice, effects and percussion has become his "brand" and emphasizes his quote "I´m not a saxophonist - I´m a musician". He is also a composer, and known from the bands Pixel, Mopti (feat. Bendik Baksaas on the album Bits & Pieces) and DUPLEX. He has beside that collaborated with musicians like Jon Christensen, Arild Andersen, Bugge Wesseltoft, Morten Qvenild, Ole Morten Vågan, Emilie Stoesen Christensen, Espen Rud, Anja Lauvdal, Rob Waring, Mathias Eick, Ray Phiri, Ediz Hafizoglu Nazdrave and Torgrim Sollid.
Career
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (July 2015) |
Lassen was raised in Greipstad, Songdalen. He took up the saxophone after many years of playing the piano. He attended the Toneheim Folkehøgskole (2006–08) and did further studies in jazz and improvised music at the Norwegian Academy of Music (2008–12).
Since 2012 Lassen has been working as a freelance musician with saxophone as the main instrument, with base in Oslo. Collaborating with bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen in the duo "DUPLEX Lassen & Svendsen", 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 acclaimed albums,[1][2] and 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]
Lassen has worked with African musicians and dancers in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Uganda. In 2013 Lassen moved to Zanzibar for three months to teach and build up a jazz department for young music students at Dhow Countries Music Academy.
Lassen is currently a board member of Oslo Jazzfestival (2015).
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
- Within Mopti
- 2013: Logic (Jazzland Recordings)[5]
- 2015: Bits & Pieces (Jazzland Recordings)
Other collaborations
- Within Pixel
- 2012: Reminder (Cuneiform Records)
- 2013: We Are All Small Pixels (Cuneiform Records)
- 2015: Golden Years (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 20 September 2013.
- ^ a b Brauer, Camilla Slaattun (17 July 2012). "Mopti vant Jazzintro" (in Norwegian). JazzINorge.no. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- ^ Graham, Stephen (26 June 2012). "Match & Fuse Artists Light Up London". Down Beat. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- ^ "Young Nordic Jazz Comets". Young Nordic Jazz Comets. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- ^ Wicklund, CErling (17 September 2013). "MOPTI utfordrer – Logic Review" (in Norwegian). NRK Jazz. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- ^ "Andrea Kvintett" (PDF). NorCD. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
