Live Maria Roggen & Helge Lien
Biography Live Maria Roggen & Helge Lien
Live Maria Roggen
(born 22 March 1970 in Oslo) is a Norwegian jazz singer, songwriter and composer, educated at Foss High School (violin and vocals), sociology and Musicology intermediate at the University of Oslo and Jazz Line at Trøndelag Conservatory of Music (NTNU) (1995–98). Worked as Jazz and singing teacher at the Sund folkehøgskole, Høgskolen in Agder (music conservatory) and at Trøndelag Conservatory of Music (NTNU). Since 2006, Associate Professor, and is since 2012 Professor of jazz singing at the Norwegian Academy of Music.
Roggen first appeared in the duo Tu'Ba with the tuba player Lars Andreas Haug 1994. She helped start the band Wibutee in 1997-2000, and then was the lead singer of the Norwegian jazz band Come Shine 1998-2004. In 2003-08, she appeared with their own lyrics and compositions in the Live Band. In 2007, a solo disc Circuit songs which won Spellemannprisen the Norwegian Grammy Award in the Open class.
Since 2004, Roggen has been co-singer and one of the driving forces of the improvisational vocal ensemble Trondheim Voices, for whom she made the compositions. In 2009, Roggen and pianist Helge Lien formed the Norwegian-language duo Live/Lien that performs original music written to texts by Norwegian poets, cover songs and jazz tunes.
In addition to her own bands and groups Roggen have sung with, among other Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Trondheimsolistene, Bugge Wesseltoft, Tom Steinar Lund & Trio de Janeiro, deLillos and Leieboerne, and she has since 1996 been a backup singer in the group Young Neils. In 2008 and 2009 she participated in four tribute concerts For Radka together with Arild Andersen, Jon Eberson and Jon Christensen, including in the Norwegian National Opera. In 2006-2009 she sang the tango and jazz compositions in the Atle Sponberg and Frode Haltli s La Fuente. She participated in children's records Magiske kroker & hemmeligheter, (Egmont 2008) and Go'natt, (Jazzland/Universal 2009).
Helge Lien
jazz pianist and composer, holds a master degree in music from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where Russian pianist Misha Alperin was an inspiring mentor and teacher of improvisation.
The core of Lien’s work has since 1999 centered on the Helge Lien Trio, consisting of the classical jazz constellation piano, bass and drums. In 2008 the trio won the Norwegian Grammy for their album Hello Troll, and has achieved international acclaim following tours in Japan, Germany and Canada, among other places.
With Tri O’Trang (1998–2006), consisting of piano, saxophone and tuba, Lien has cultivated a more structural music with strong melodic as well as abstract features, in which composed and improvised elements are interwoven.
The duo HERO (2005–6), with saxophonist Rolf-Erik Nystrøm, focused on “contemporary music,” emphasizing atonal and arhythmic elements and extensive experimentation with timbre. During this period, the two musicians participated in folksong artist Jørn Simen Øverli’s project Prøysenvisene som forsvant (The Prøysen songs that disappeared).
Helge Lien has shown himself to be a musician who is not afraid to explore the borders between different musical genres, but whose basic sound as a jazz pianist is always a distinctive feature. Originally influenced by Bill Evans’ lyric-dynamic style of playing, he also shows affinity with Keith Jarrett’s narrative inventiveness and the subtle strophic expression of Brad Mehldau. Lien is a technically brilliant player, with a solid and rich sound. His resourcefulness and briskly responsive playing comes in extremely handy as a “composer of the moment” in all of his work.
