"Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b. 1971, Oppdal) - studied Jazz at the Music Consevatory in Trondheim, Norway (1992-1995) under the tutelage of bassplayer Odd Magne Gridseth.

When one listens to the great bassists in modern jazz history, a striking thing (though it may not be immediately arrived at) is that greatness is reached through open-mindedness and diversity. William Parker, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Peter Kowald, Wilbur Ware, Bertram Turetsky, Buell Neidlinger - all of these bass players have embraced a lifestyle of playing all sorts of music and the breadth of each musicians' technique is a testament to those experiences. Norwegian bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is also a musician whose experience is both geographical and aesthetic. While the fertile Scandinavian new jazz scene offered a vast amount of opportunities to work in different bands with musicians whose concepts are as individual as the grains in a reed, Flaten has found home and on-the-bandstand education in places as far flung as Chicago and his current residence Austin, Texas.

A muscular player whose tone and attack run the gamut from Paul Chambers to Buschi Niebergall, his sense of both openness and control serves ensembles as diverse as The Thing, Free Fall, Atomic, Scorch Trio and the Kornstad/Håker Flaten Duo. In addition to his own Chicago Sextet and Austin-centric Young Mothers, Flaten has also recorded and performed with Frode Gjerstad, Dave Rempis, Bobby Bradford, the AALY Trio, Ken Vandermark, Stephen Gauci, Tony Malaby, Daniel Levin, Dennis Gonzalez and numerous others. Flaten studied at the Conservatory in Trondheim (1992-1995), turning professional shortly afterward, yet his hunger to play in new situations with new musicians - schooled or amateur, frequently recorded or just starting out - puts him in a rare class, that of a truly broad-minded artist. That mettle has served him well, living and developing the music under his own steam and drawing from influences as diverse as Derek Bailey, George Russell, Chris McGregor, filmmakers Ingmar Bergman, contemporary pop melody and gritty punk music as well as everyday sights and sounds.

There is a calmness and self-assuredness that imbues all great artists, in that the diversity of their work comes with very little ego. Flaten's artistry is often in collective, leaderless ensembles and in fact, following a decade of professional musicianship it wasn't until 2004 that his leader-debut was released - Quintet (Jazzland, followed in 2008 by The Year of the Boar, and a Sextet recording is upcoming). This latter fact is partly due to the necessity of a copacetic situation - in an interview in 2010 with the Austinist he noted that "I use people where I'm located. It's inspiring to have your own band to write for, but you have to make sure that people feel free and not limited by the music; the compositions should lead the way to a player's open mind, and that is a challenge." Certainly not every bandleader/composer thinks this way.

In 2011, he formed another ensemble, The Young Mothers, which includes drummers Stefan Gonzalez (Dallas) and Frank Rosaly (Chicago), trumpeter/poet/rapper Jawaad Taylor (New York), saxophonist Jason Jackson (Houston), and Jonathan Horne (Austin) on guitar. It's a group of varying levels and influences and as it grows organically, will be another excellent lens through which to view Flaten's aesthetic, philosophy, and musicianship. The next few years see him in a position where established ensembles can steep and spread their influence, while experimenting with and nurturing a wide range of new relationships."

"Mette Rasmussen is a Danish saxophone player based in Trondheim, Norway. She works in the field of improvised music, drawing from a wide range of influences, spanning free jazz to textural soundwork. Rasmussen works on exploring the natural rawness of her instrument - experimenting on what the saxophone is capable of in sound and expression, with and without preparations. Much in demand, she has performed with the likes of Alan Silva, Chris Corsano, Ståle Liavik Solberg, and with her Trio Riot group with Sam Andreae and David Meier."

Karl Hjalmar Nyberg is a Norwegian saxophonist and clarinetist, known for the groups Kalle, Kimchi Moccasin Tango, Left Exit, Mr K, Megalodon Collective, Pumkin.

Erik Kimestad Pedersen is a Copenhagen-based trumpeter, known for the groups Akmee, Horse Orchestra, JKA Quintet, MMO-Ensemble, RødssalG nEEn GlassdøR.

"Grönberg is a graduate of the Jazz program at Trondheim Musikkonsevatorium in 2011,[1] where he joined the Hanna Paulsberg Concept.[2]

O. G. Trio, including Trygve Waldemar Fiske (double bass) and Tomas Järmyr (drums), is a new, young, creative, exciting and fearless trio that played its debut concert in 2009. Together they create a world of groove, improvisation, humor and playful interaction, all based on Grönberg's subtle and original compositions. The trio is at the same time deeply respectful of the compositions, but also irreverent and free in their interactions over the well-established and endangered species line. The music is inspired by the likes of Thelonious Monk, Ahmad Jamal and Andrew Hill."

Jonathan Farrell Horne (b. 1983, Knoxville, Tennessee) is a self-taught guitarist whose work spans free jazz, experimental, indie and psychedelic contexts. Since relocating to Austin, Texas (circa 2004), Horne has participated in numerous creative collaborations, including with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (in projects like Young Mothers). In 2018, a serious hand injury (a ruptured tendon) threatened his playing career; after multiple surgeries-one of which was facilitated through the Musician Treatment Foundation-he returned to active performance. His guitar work is known for its textural boldness and willingness to embrace risk, distortion, feedback, and abstraction alongside melodic gestures.

Olaf Moses Olsen is a Norwegian drummer active across jazz, rock, improvisation, and adjacent genres. He is active in jazz & experimental circles, in performance Olsen brings energetic rhythmic drive, dynamic sensitivity, and an ability to respond to both texture and force in ensemble settings.

"ILJA (Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir) is a guitarist, singer and composer from Oslo, Norway.

She has performed at various venues in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, New York and throughout Europe, and has collaborated with major names in the world of jazz and traditional music from around the world.

She currently plays with her group Moksha who released their debut album "The Beauty of an Arbitrary Moment" at Jazzland records in 2016. and also with New Conception of Jazz by Bugge Wesseltoft. In addition, she collaborates on several projects, one with the Pakistani sitar virtuoso Ustad Ashraf Sharif Khan and one in trio, with the Norwegian saxophonist Marthe Lea and the Moroccan gnawa master Zakaria Houaouara. In her solo project LILJA she collected her favourite musicians and made one piece of music to 10 of the cities she has visited the past years."

Joakim Rainer Petersen (born circa 1996) is a Norwegian pianist, synthesist, composer, and improviser whose voice has become prominent in the Nordic jazz/improvised music scene. He studied at the Jazz Institute of Trondheim and refined compositional skills during the pandemic. He currently splits his base between Norway (Trondheim) and Berlin, performing across Europe and collaborating with ensembles like the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten's Knarr, ASQ, Goose Green, and others. In 2022 his Joakim Rainer Trio won Jazzintro at Moldejazz and was named Young Jazz Musicians of the Year; the trio is known for compositions that interlock rhythmic complexity, asymmetric loops, open formal logic, and improvisational openness.