Mockūnas / Mikalkėnas / Berre by haakonberre

Renowned Lithuanian saxophonist Liudas Mockūnas put in 2014 together a new trio that connects the Norwegian/Danish and Lithuanian avant-garde jazz scene. Mockūnas has for many years been one of the most important avant­garde musicians from the Baltic region, with a wide range of collaborations across Europe. On piano and accordion, we have Arnas Mikalkėnas who is one of the most promising improvisers from the younger generations of musicians from Lithuania. The last member of the trio is Norwegian drummer Håkon Berre, who has been residing in Denmark during the last 15 years and has worked with Mockūnas in several contexts such as the noise trio Angel, and with the free jazz trio Peter Friis Nielsen Kalas.

The trio focuses on original material written by both Mockūnas, Mikalkėnas and Berre, and can be characterized as modern chamber jazz with inspiration from both contemporary classical music and free jazz. The compositions have a transparent structure where the rhythmic and melodic templates provide a starting point for a very open kind of improvisation.

In October 2014 the trio played a 2-­week tour with concerts in Lithuania, Estonia, Norway and the Czech Republic. The tour included a festival concert at Vilnius Jazz Festival, which was recorded digitally by Lithuanian state radio. The recording resulted in the CD “Plunged” which was released on Barefoot Records in March 2017; an honest and accurate documentation of the trio’s work. Since then, the trio has been active in Europe, performing at the Festival of the Centennial Nations in Bucharest and the Mama Jazz Festival in Vilnius, a.o.

Line-­up:

Liudas Mockūnas (LT) – saxophones
Arnas Mikalkėnas (LT) – piano, accordeon
Håkon Berre (NO) – drums

Contains tracks

• Study No. 3 by haakonberre