Hoff Ensemble consists of some of Norway's finest jazz and session musicians, fronted by trumpeter Mathias Eick, of ECM renown, who plays a leading role in several of the compositions. The ensemble's basic quartet features legendary veteran bassist Arild Andersen and arranger Jan Gunnar Hoff on piano. The music on Quiet Winter Night is created by film composers Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud and among the vocalists are some of Norway's top names in popular music: Helene Bøksle, Åsne Valland Nordli, Sondre Bratland, Unni Wilhelmsen, Tomine Harket, Bjørn Johan Muri, Cecilia Vennersten and Bjørn Eidsvåg.

In a quick follow-up to her masterful album "Lions", Russian-born and now North Carolina-based pianist Yelena Eckemoff offers up Everblue, the most "ECM Records-sounding" set not on that deservedly esteemed label. It is, rather, released on her own L&H Productions. The names of the sidemen on the date explain in part the ECM-like sound: saxophonist Tore Brunborg, bassist Arild Andersen, and drummer Jon Christensen, the Norwegian contingent, are all long time ECM Records artists, as leaders and hired guns for other players, and their long term contributions have been instrumental in shaping the ECM aesthetic of subtlety, intricacy, and fluid motion.

Markus Stockhausen, Vangelis Katsoulis and Arild Andersen will release their new album ACROSS MOUNTAINS on February 4th, 2022 at o-tone music/Edel Kultur. German trumpeter Markus Stockhausen, Greek pianist Vangelis Katsoulis and Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen have known each other since 1996 when they met at a concert in Athens. ACROSS MOUNTAINS was founded in a time when traveling and concerts were impossible.

Hoff Ensemble consists of some of Norway's finest jazz and session musicians, fronted by trumpeter Mathias Eick, of ECM renown, who plays a leading role in several of the compositions. The ensemble's basic quartet features legendary veteran bassist Arild Andersen and arranger Jan Gunnar Hoff on piano. Hoff has performed with his own group since 1993, collaborating with such artists as Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Maria Joao and Alex Acuna. This time in this great Norwegian band he mixes flavours in a "cross-over" setting… The music is created by film composers Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud and among the vocalists are some of Norway's top names in popular music: Helene Bøksle, Åsne Valland Nordli, Sondre Bratland, Unni Wilhelmsen, Tomine Harket, Bjørn Johan Muri, Cecilia Vennersten and Bjørn Eidsvåg.

Bassist Arild Andersen shines as the principal soloist in a celebration of music from ECM with specially-commissioned new big-band arrangements of well-known pieces by Dave Holland, Chick Corea, Trygve Seim, Jan Garbarek, and Keith Jarrett. The resourceful Tommy Smith adds powerful tenor solos, arranges Garbarek's "Molde Canticle", and directs the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra.

Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen, Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith and Italian expat drummer Paolo Vinaccia made waves around the world with their award-winning debut recording, the much lauded concert album Live at Belleville. "Mira", the trio's studio follow-up, is a programme of soulful ballads and midtempo free-floating sound explorations, pairing Anderson’s muscular bass with Smith’s vaulting tenor in an exceptionally compelling blend.