Ivar Antonsen (born April 16, 1946, in

Fauske or is a municipality located in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Fauske. Some of the villages in Fauske include Nystad, Venset, Straumsn ...

, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz pianist and composer and had his debut at the Oslo jazz scene in 1967 together with

Jan Garbarek Jan Garbarek () (born 4 March 1947) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Østfold, southeastern Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław ...

Palle Mikkelborg Palle Mikkelborg (born 6 March 1941) is a Danish jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger and record producer. He is self-taught on the trumpet, although he studied conducting at the Royal Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He became a professio ...

, Arild Andersen, and

Espen Rud Espen Rud (born 29 January 1948 in Asker, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz musician (drums), composer, and music arranger, and the son of Norwegian author Nils Johan Rud (1908–93). He is known from numerous recordings and in collaboration with Kari ...

Career

Antonsen started early playing the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

and organ, inspired by jazz musician

Art van Damme Art Van Damme (April 9, 1920February 15, 2010) was an American jazz accordionist. Van Damme toured Europe and was popular with jazz enthusiasts in Japan. Van Damme was married, and had three children. After he retired to Roseville, California, ...

. 18-year-old he came in touch with bassist

Bjørn Alterhaug Bjørn Alterhaug (born 3 June 1945) is a Norwegian jazz bassist, arranger, composer and professor of music. Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian) Career Alterhaug was born in Mo i Rana, Norway. He is one of the grand masters among European basspl ...

, and they started their first jazz band together in Mo i Rana. He moved to Oslo and studied modern composition at Norges Musikkhøgskole under

Finn Mortensen Finn Mortensen (January 6, 1922 – May 23, 1983) was a Norwegian composer, critic and educator. Finn Einar Mortensen was born in Oslo. His parents were publisher Ernst Gustav Mortensen (1887–1966) and Anna Marie Damnæs (1886–1 ...

and came in contact with major jazz profiles. All along he was inspired, both as jazz musician and composer, by the piano music of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

and Igor Stravinskij. In the late 1960s he started his own Ivar Antonsen Trio including

(drums) and alternately

Terje Venaas Terje Venaas (born 30 March 1947 in Molde, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz musician (upright bass), known from dozens of recordings and a number of international cooperation. Career Venaas started playing music within several local bands in the M ...

Sture Janson Sture () was a name borne by three distinct but interrelated noble families in Sweden in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. It was originally a nickname, meaning 'haughty, proud' (compare the Swedish word ''stursk'' and the Old Norse ...

and

on bass. His strong contribution to guitarist

Thorgeir Stubø Thorgeir Stubø (12 November 1943 – 22 October 1986) was a Norwegian jazz musician (guitar) and composer. He was the father of Jazz guitarist Håvard, jazz singer Kjersti and theater director Eirik Stubø, and grandfather of electronica musi ...

's album ''Flight'' (1985) can be cited as a good example of Antonsen's sophisticated style. Here you can enjoy the hard swinging interaction with Thorgeir Stubø,

Alex Riel Alex Riel (born 13 September 1940) is a Danish jazz and rock drummer.''Jeg skal sgu sidde ved trommerne'' Af Bine Madsen. Dagbladenes Bureau, 9 February 2010. Same interview in Flensborg Avis, 17 February 2010, Side 18''Alex Riel'' Horsens F ...

(drums), Krister Andersson (tenor saxophone) and Jesper Lundgaard (double bass). Antonsen was principal of the "Tromsø Musikkskole" (1975–1977), and later, "Buskerud Musikkonservatorium". Then he relocated to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

in US (1985), where he was a music educator and later professor in Music at California State University (1995–2004). Since 2004 he has been

Associate Professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

at Norges Musikkhøgskole. With residence in San Diego for 19 years, Antonsen had many interesting collaborations, including with

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

's tabla player Abhiman Kaushal, drummer Duncan Moore, guitarist

Peter Sprague Peter Tripp Sprague (born October 11, 1955) is an American jazz guitarist, record producer, and audio engineer. He owns SpragueLand Studios and the label SBE Records. He invented a twin-neck guitar with one neck from a classical guitar and one ...

, bassist

Bob Magnusson Bob Magnusson (born February 24, 1947 in New York) is an American jazz bassist. Career Magnusson studied French horn for 12 years before switching to bass in 1967. He toured with Buddy Rich's Orchestra in 1968 and played with the San Diego Sympho ...

and pianist

Andy LaVerne Andy LaVerne (born December 4, 1947) is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator. Education and musical career Born in New York City, LaVerne studied at Juilliard School of Music, Berklee College, and the New England Conservato ...

on the album '' Dream Come True'' (2000). Antonsen's compositions often consist of strong rhythmic patterns, harmonically sophisticated and melodically complex, yet logical. His works include modern

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, and contemporary classical music. He is highly respected among both European and American musicians and has played with jazz greats such as

Jon Christensen Jon Christensen may refer to: * Jon Christensen (musician) Jon Ivar Christensen (20 March 1943 – 18 February 2020) was a Norwegian jazz drummer. He was married to actress, minister, and theater director Ellen Horn, Store Norske Leksikon (in ...

, Palle Danielsson,

John Surman John Douglas Surman (born 30 August 1944) is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet, and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music. He has composed and performed music for dance performanc ...

, Arild Andersen, Ben Webster,

Jimmy Heath James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually co ...

Slide Hampton Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugelho ...

Art Farmer Arthur Stewart Farmer (August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, double ...

, and Karin Krog. He established his own quartet in 2004 with

, Knut Riisnæs and

Terje Gewelt Terje Gewelt (born 8 June 1960) is a Norwegian jazz musician (Double bass, upright bass). Career Gewelt was born in Oslo and raised in Larvik, a small town on the southeastern coast of Norway. He started playing guitar at the age of 10, swit ...

, documented as an EBU radio concert on NRK P2 "Jazzklubben" in 2006 and he subsequently appeared in many other quartets with saxophone players like

Frode Nymo Frode Nymo (born 27 November 1975), is a Norwegian jazz musician ( alto Saxophone), and older brother of the tenor sax. player Atle Nymo. Career Nymo was born in Egersund and brought up in Valnesfjord, near Fauske. Early in his career, he ...

Atle Nymo Atle Nymo (born 9 June 1977) is a Norwegian jazz musician (tenor saxophone and bass clarinet), and the younger brother of Jazz saxophonist Frode Nymo. He is known for his contributions with the orchestras Motif, one of his main projects, and Tr ...

, and

Morten Halle Morten Halle (born 7 October 1957) is a Norwegian jazz musician (saxophone), composer and music arranger. He was born in Oslo, and he is known from the city's jazz scene and from a series recordings. (in Norwegian) Career Halle participated in ...

as well as with guitarist

Hallgeir Pedersen Hallgeir Pedersen (born 24 May 1973 in Tromsø, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz guitarist, well known for his Thorgeir Stubø, Wes Montgomery and Coltrane inspired bop guitar performances and recordings like ''West Coast Blues'' (2002) with his own ...

. Antonsen is considered one of Norway's foremost jazz pianists, and plays in a modern neo- bop style. His playing has a strong identity and is characterized by a sensitive approach, great imagination, complex harmony/rhythm and technical facility.

Discography

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.

As leader/co-leader

As sideman

*1985: '' Flight'' (

Hot Club Records Hot Club Records is a jazz record label established 1982, by guitarist Jon Larsen in Oslo, Norway.Dregni, Michael (2008) ''Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing'', OUP USA, , p. 229 The label has released over 350 ...

), live recording with

*2010: '' Flight Dec. 17'' (Ponca Jazz Records/Musikkoperatørene) with Hallgeir Pedersen, Bjørn Alterhaug, Roger Johansen *2011: '' Dobbeldans'' (Curling Legs) with Espen Rud Group

References

External links