Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen
founded Hedvig Mollestad Trio in 2009, and the still consisting members are Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen – guitar, Ellen Brekken – bass, Ivar Loe Bjørnstad – drums. The group was founded by Thomassen after she was awarded the prize «the young jazz talent of the year» at Molde Int. Jazz Festival the same year. The following year they toured Norway, recorded their material, and got a record deal on the highly acclaimed record label Rune Grammofon. The trio have since then released Shoot! (2011), All Of Them Witches (2013) (for which they were nominated for Norwegian Grammy in the Rock Category), Enfant Terrible (2014), Black Stabat Mater (2016), the live album Evil in Oslo (2016) and Smells funny (2018). All releases got stunning reviews in national and international press, to mention a few: The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Mojo, Uncut!, Classic Rock and All About Jazz. Next release is nov 30th in Norway and jan 18th international, titled Smells Funny.

Hedvig Mollestad Trio have played hundreds of concerts, including jazz clubs all over Norway, all the big jazz festivals in Norway (Kongsbergjazz, Moldejazz, Trondheim Jazzfest, Maijazz, Nattjazz, Sildajazz), but also large music festivals like SXSW, Berlin Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz, Tampere Jazz Happening, Coastal Jazz, Ottawa Jazz Fatival. Øyafestival, Varangerfestivalen, Tons of Rock, Utkantfestival and PstereoFestivalen to mention a few. They have toured extendedly in Europe twice (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, France, Italy) and also Japan and Malaysia. They played at SXSW in 2014 and had new songs premiered in Wall Street Journal and on Guitar Player, and also a great review of both their gig and record by senior editor in Rolling Stone David Fricke.

In 2013 and through 2014 Hedvig Mollestad Trio started touring for Concerts Norway. Concerts Norway is Norway’s largest communicator of live music, and owned by the Ministry of Culture. Their primary target groups are children and young people, and each year they organize some 9000 school concerts in Norway.

Their latest release has again been covered and applauded by medias like Rolling Stone, Classic Rock, Down Beat, The Wire, Mojo, Uncut to mention a few. They have previously also teamed up with the highly acclaimed and long time saxophone rrrrriot boy Mats Gustafsson, known for his extended work as a musicien beyond borders, with no bounderies or limitations, as Mollestad and Bjørnstad also takes part in several versions of Gustafssons NU-ensemble.

They are currently doin extensive touring both in Norway and Europe to promote their latest album.