Amalie Dahl is a Danish alto saxophonist, composer, and bandleader based in Oslo. She leads the quintet Amalie Dahl's Dafnie and works widely across Norway's improvising scene in groups such as the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, the trio Dahl/Dalen/Søvik, the genre-splicing outfit SUPERSPREDER, and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten's (Exit) Knarr. Her work is noted for a distinct, free-spirited voice and a focus on detail, energy, and dialogue.

Dafnie's self-titled debut appeared in 2022, earning strong notices for melodic writing that balances old-school free jazz impulses with contemporary clarity; the follow-up, Står Op Med Solen (2024, Sonic Transmissions/Aguirre), deepened the palette and expanded the band's profile through European touring.

Beyond her ensemble work, Dahl released her first solo album, Memories, in September 2023, and continues to collaborate with leading Nordic improvisers including Paal Nilssen-Love, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and Signe Emmeluth. With (Exit) Knarr she appears on the sextet's third studio album Drops (2025).

Born in Denmark, Dahl studied at Fridhems Folkhögskola in Sweden before enrolling at the conservatory in Trondheim, a path that rooted her in the Norwegian scene while shaping her forward-leaning approach to composition and improvisation. Reviewers frequently highlight her articulate phrasing, playful intensity, and the quintet's ability to render small gestures into vivid musical events.

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

"Pianist Marta Warelis (1986) is a vibrant performer with a strong preference for improvisation and experimentation in all genres. She continually aims for instant composing on the basis of new sounds and influences. Her work draws inspiration from music across the globe including cumbia, Angolan dance music, as well as jazz, western classical music and the various schools of free improvisation. Born and raised in Poland where she graduated with honours from WSJiMR in Wroclaw, Marta moved to Groningen in 2010 to attend the Prins Claus Conservatory. In 2014 she found her place in Amsterdam, very quickly becoming an active member of the local improvisers' scene. Marta has appeared frequently in the Bimhuis, where in 2017 she was given a Carte Blanche in recognition of her remarkable talents. She performs with a variety of creative musicians including Michael Moore, Ab Baars, Mike Reed, Andy Moor, Joost Buis, dancers Lily Kiara and Michael Shumacher, as well with such groups as Hupata!, Omawi, Future Neighbor, Polyband, Edge Ensemble, Strings5, Xavier Pamplona, Warelis/Rosaly/Lumley/Dikeman and Bazooka."

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.

"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."

"Olaf Olsen (born 8 August 1976) is a Norwegian musician, known as the drummer of BigBang (1999-May 2000, May 2001-current) with whom he has remained the longest after frontman Øystein Greni. He is renowned for his tall posture rising high above his drum kit, emphasized by his long blonde hair and beard. Olsen currently resides in Los Angeles, California, along with the other members of the band to try their luck in the United States."

"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."