Nils Petter Molvær (), also known as NPM (born 18 September 1960), is a Norwegian

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trumpeter, composer, and record producer. He is considered a pioneer of

future jazz The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently e ...

, a genre that fuses jazz and

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, best showcased on his most commercially successful album, '' Khmer''.

Biography

Molvær was born and raised on the island of Sula, Møre og Romsdal,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and left at age nineteen to study on the Jazz program at Trondheim Musikkonservatorium (1980–82). He joined the bands

Jazzpunkensemblet Jazzpunkensemblet (established 1983 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz ensemble orchestra led by the famous musicians Jon Eberson on guitar and Nils Petter Molvær on trumpet, and known for a clean style duel between two rhythm sections, and the ...

with

Jon Eberson Jon Arild Eberson (born 6 January 1953) is a Norwegian jazz guitarist and composer, the son of jazz guitarist Leif Eberson (1925–1970), and the father of keyboardist Marte Maaland Eberson. He was a member of the bands Moose Loose (1973–77), ...

and Masqualero, alongside Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen and Tore Brunborg. Masqualero (named after a

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

composition originally recorded by

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

) recorded several albums for

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

, and Molvær recorded with other ECM artists before his 1997 debut solo album, ''Khmer''. The record was a fusion of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, electronic soundscapes, and hip-hop beats – and quite unlike the delicate "chamber jazz" typically associated with ECM. Molvær's muted trumpet sound, sometimes electronically processed, had an obvious debt to Miles Davis's work of the 1970s and 1980s, but without being a slavish copy. For the first time, ECM released singles: "Song of Sand", backed with three remixes, and "Ligotage". In 2000, a second album followed, ''Solid Ether'', after which Molvær left ECM. He has recorded several albums since, and has also produced film and theater music. He often works with guitarist Eivind Aarset. He has also played with

Tabla Beat Science Tabla Beat Science was a musical group founded in 1999 by Zakir Hussain (musician), Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. Its style consists of a mixture of Hindustani music, Asian Underground, ambient music, drum and bass and electronica. In 2001 Kar ...

, created by Zakir Hussain and

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...

Honors

*1996: Kongsberg Jazz Award *1997:

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

in the Open class *1998: Gammleng-prisen in the class Jazz *1996: Kongsberg Jazz Award *2000: Spellemannprisen in the Open class *2003: Buddyprisen *2005: Spellemannprisen in the Open class

Discography

In Masqualero

* 1983: ''Masqualero'' * 1985: ''Bande À Part'' * 1987: ''Aero'' * 1990: ''Re-Enter''

Solo

* 1997: '' Khmer'' * 1998: ''Khmer: The Remixes'' (promo only) * 1998: ''Ligotage'' (EP) * 2000: '' Solid Ether'' (feat. Sidsel Endresen and others) * 2001: ''Recoloured'' (remixes) * 2002: ''NP3'' * 2004: ''Streamer'' (2002, live) * 2005: ''Er'' * 2005: ''Edy'' (soundtrack to the film by Guérin-Tillié) * 2005: ''Remakes'' (remixes) * 2005: ''An American Compilation'' (compilation) * 2008: ''Re-Vision'' (OST outtakes merged into an album) * 2009: ''Hamada'' * 2011: ''Baboon Moon'' * 2014: ''Switch'' * 2016: ''Buoyancy'' * 2021: ''Stitches''

Collaborations

* 1990: ''So I Write'', with Sidsel Endresen,

Django Bates Django Bates (born Leon Bates, 2 October 1960) is a British jazz musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader and educator. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. Bates has been described as "one of the most talented musici ...

, Jon Christensen * 1995: ''Hastening Westward'', with Robyn Schulkowsky * 1997: ''Small Labyrinths'' (recorded 1994), in Marilyn Mazur's Future Song * 2005: ''Electra'', in Arild Andersen Group * 2008: ''Corps Electriques'', with

Hector Zazou Hector Zazou (11 July 1948 – 8 September 2008) was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists. He worked on his own and other artists' albums, inclu ...

/ KatieJane Garside,

Bill Rieflin William Frederick Rieflin (September 30, 1960 – March 24, 2020) was an American musician. Rieflin came to prominence in the 1990s mainly for his work as a drummer with groups (particularly in the industrial rock and industrial metal scen ...

, Lone Kent * 2013: ''1/1'', with Moritz von Oswald * 2015: ''Infolding'', in Spin Marvel ( Martin France - drums, Tim Harries - bass, Terje Evensen - live electronics, Nils Petter Molvaer - trumpet, Emre Ramazanoglu - production and further drums) * 2015: ''Høst: Autumn Fall'' (OST), with Mapping Oceans * 2018: ''Nordub'', with Sly & Robbie * 2019: ''Music for Paintings'', with Terje Evensen, Leo Abrahams, Anna Stereopoulou, Anthony Cox, Manongo Mujica * 2023: '' The Harmony Codex'' with Steven Wilson * 2024: ''Liminal Animals'' with

Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian Experimental electronic music, experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album ''Bergtatt – Et eeventyr i 5 capitler, Bergtatt'', ...

As featured artist

* 1990: ''Nonsentration'' - Jon Balke * 1992: ''Night Caller'' - Rita Marcotulli * 1993: ''Exile'' - Sidsel Endresen * 1997: ''Brytningstid'' - Kenneth Sivertsen * 1998: '' Électronique Noire'' - Eivind Aarset * 2001: '' Radioaxiom: A Dub Transmission'' -

Jah Wobble John Joseph Wardle (born 11 August 1958), known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; ...

* 2003: ''Digital Prophecy'' -

Dhafer Youssef Dhafer Youssef (; born 19 November 1967) is a Tunisian composer, singer and oud player. Biography Dhafer Youssef was born in Téboulba (a small village of coastal Tunisia); his grandfather was a muezzin. He calls the radio "the most important s ...

* 2004: ''Seafarer's Song'' - Ketil Bjørnstad * 2006: ''Mélange Bleu'' - Lars Danielsson * 2007: ''A Pure Land'' - Sienná * 2007: ''Ataraxis'' - Deeyah * 2007: ''23 Wheels of Dharma'' - Somma * 2008: ''Dome'' - Johannes Enders * 2008: ''Lodge'' - Fanu &

* 2012: ''Manu Katché'' -

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusio ...

* 2015: ''Deeper Green'' - Christof May * 2017: ''Hypersomniac'' - Lef * 2019: ''Hyperuranion'' - Chat Noir * 2021: '' Roses of Neurosis'' - Sivert Høyem

Also appears on

*''Beginner's Guide to Scandinavia'' (3CD, Nascente 2011)

References

External links

* *
Nils Petter Molvær Biography
by Johs Bergh on

Store Norske Leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' (, abbreviated ''SNL'') is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. It has several subdivisions, including the Norsk biografisk leksikon. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian publishe ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molvaer, Nils Petter Norwegian jazz composers Norwegian male jazz composers Jazz fusion musicians Avant-garde jazz musicians Spellemannprisen winners 20th-century Norwegian trumpeters 21st-century Norwegian trumpeters Norwegian University of Science and Technology alumni 1960 births Living people Musicians from Langevåg Norwegian jazz trumpeters Norwegian male trumpeters ECM Records artists 20th-century Norwegian male musicians 21st-century Norwegian male musicians 1300 Oslo members Jazzpunkensemblet members Masqualero members Thirsty Ear Recordings artists