Nils Petter Molvær is a Norwegian trumpet player, composer and producer from Langevåg, Norway, born in 1960. He works across contemporary jazz, dub, jazz, jazzstep and nu jazz, and his music also draws on ambient, house, electronic, breakbeat, hip hop, rock and pop. His sound combines acoustic and electric approaches and often brings together pop, rock, funk and modern jazz conventions.

Career

Molvær first comes to wider attention as the leader of a solo project with the album Khmer, which appears in 1997. The record focuses on an improvised style set against hypnotic beats and receives strong public and media response. It wins the German Record Critics Award and a Norwegian Grammy.

He follows it with Solid Ether, which appears in 2000 and develops his interest in club culture. Molvær describes the idea behind the record as music that is never fully finished, treating composition and production as ongoing processes. NP3, released in 2002, continues the ideas heard on his earlier solo work, combining contrasting structures and making prominent use of music production technology. His 2005 studio album ER ranges from soft, downbeat pieces to stronger, more forceful material, and gives more space to programmers Knut Sævik, DJ Strangefruit, Reidar Skaar and Jan Bang.

Collaborations and earlier work

Before his solo recordings, Molvær performs with Masqualero, with releases including Bande À Part in 1985, Aero in 1987 and Re-Enter in 1990. He also appears on recordings by Sidsel Endresen, Jon Balke, Marilyn Mazur, Robyn Schulkowsky, Arild Andersen and Deeyah. Verified group credits also include Marilyn Mazur’s Future Song, the Lotte Anker / Mette Petersen Quintet, Pulse Unit and Tania Giannouli & Nils Petter Molvær.

Style

Molvær is known for mixing jazz with ambient, electronic music and breakbeats, and for blending those elements into dense soundscapes. His style is often described as eclectic, and it is compared with the work of avant-garde trumpeter Toshinori Kondo.

Label

His label credit includes Molvær Music A/S.