BAG

Bugge Wesseltoft / Arild Andersen / Gard Nilssen 

Bugge Wesseltoft – B, Arild Andersen – A, Gard Nilssen – G. Just savour those names. It is almost impossible to get closer to a supergroup, both here in Norway and far beyond our borders.

Keyboard chief Jens Christian Bugge Wesseltoft, 61, bass maestro Arild Andersen, 79, and the great new drummer Gard Nilssen, 42, represent three generations of Norwegian jazz musicians, all of whom belong right at the top of the international elite.

A quite chance encounter a couple of years ago led to the three of them playing together for the first time. The result was obvious: that brief musical meeting was far too fine and exciting for it to end there and then.

Busy

All three are highly sought-after and busy musicians, both with their own projects and as guests with others. This has meant that it has taken some time to find room in their calendars for a longer tour, but now all three have cleared space for the collaboration they are all keen to prioritise highly.

Not the first time

Although this is the first time BAG is really getting going as a trio, it is not the first time they have met in other settings.

Since the 1970s, Andersen has been known for discovering young talent. First, it was the teenagers Jon Balke and Pål Thowsen who were brought forward, and in the 1980s, in connection with the iconic commissioned works Arv and Sagn, Bugge Wesseltoft became part of Andersen’s universe for the first time.

For understandable reasons, Nilssen came into the picture later, but he and Andersen have collaborated, among other things, in a trio with guitar giant Pat Metheny, in connection with Andersen’s 70th birthday celebration, and with Nilssen replacing Jon Christensen in the legendary Maqualero in 2024.

Bugge Wesseltoft and Nilssen, both originally from Skien, have met on a number of occasions since 2004: with an All Star Big Band rooted in Skien Upper Secondary School, at Bugge’s Organ Club at Cosmopolite in Oslo, at a tribute concert for Charles Mingus in 2014, and in connection with Andersen’s aforementioned 70th birthday celebration in 2015.

Three chiefs

All three are prominent bandleaders in contexts ranging from solo work to Nilssen’s large Supersonic Orchestra.

In BAG, they meet around a repertoire to which each brings his own compositions, including material from Bugge’s recent album Am Are and Andersen’s Arv and Sagn universe.

As a collective, they have further developed the material, and with their highly personal musical voices they take the audience on a unique musical excursion.

BAG is a trio of the very highest world class, featuring three of our foremost jazz musicians from three generations.

Photo by Andre Løyning