Helge Lien Trio

Jazz pianist, composer and band leader Helge Lien was born on April 23, 1975 in Moelv, Ringsaker, Norway. After graduating from Stange High School in 1994, he began to study piano under Mikhail Alperin (Moscow Art Trio) at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, receiving his degree in 1998. He moved on to post-graduate studies with jazz trio Tri O’Trang, recording a total of four albums with them between 2000 and 2006. Helge Lien released his debut solo album, Talking to a Tree, in 2000. He formed his own trio - featuring Frode Berg (bass) and Knut Aalefjær (drums) - and released What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life, the first album credited to the Helge Lien Trio, in 2001. That album was quickly followed by 2002’s Spiral Circle, which was nominated for a Spellemannprisen (Norway’s equivalent of a Grammy Award). While the trio remained his main focus, Helge Lien continued to record as a solo artist and other acts such as Tri O’Trang and duo Hero. The next Helge Lien Trio album was 2005’s Live followed by To the Little Radio (2006), the Spellemannprisen-winning Hello Troll (2008), and Natsukashii (2011). By the time 2014’s Badgers and Other Beings, Per Oddvar Johansen had replaced Knut Aalefjær on drums. The 2015 album Bridges was a collaboration between the Helge Lien Trio and violinist Adam Baldych. The album Guzuguzu was released in 2017, the same year the trio collaborated with Adam Baldych and saxophonist Tore Brunborg on Brothers. When the album 10 was released in 2019, Mats Ellertsen had replaced longtime bassist Frode Berg. In 2020, a new version of the trio debuted featuring new bassist Johannes Eick and the return of original drummer Knut Aalefjær.