Bugge Wesseltoft

Jens Christian Bugge Wesseltoft (born 1 February 1964) is a Norwegian jazz musician, pianist, composer and producer, son of the jazz guitarist Erik Wesseltoft.[1]

Bugge Wesseltoft
Background information
Birth nameJens Christian Bugge Wesseltoft
Born (1964-02-01) 1 February 1964
Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway
GenresJazz, nu jazz, electronica
Occupation(s)Musician, composer, music producer
InstrumentsPiano, keyboards, electronic instruments, percussion
LabelsJazzland Recordings
ECM Records
Associated actsNew Conception of Jazz
Websitebuggesroom.com

Career
Bugge Wesseltoft (with John Scofield) at Moers Festival 2006, Germany.
DJ Bugge at the 2016 Nattjazz
in Bergen, Norway.

Wesseltoft was born in Porsgrunn. After high school in Skien, where he was involved in the school brass band and dance orchestras, he became a professional musician in 1983 only 19 years old. By the age of 16, he joined a punk rock band, but the influence of the jazz guitarist father, stalked on him. After moving to his father in Oslo (1984), it was mostly music with roots in jazz that mattered, although he also worked as a back-up musician and producer for the pop and rock elite in Norway. He had originally intended to study music, but the gigs were too many, and therefore he never got any further formal musical education. Towards the end of the 1980s Bugge Wesseltoft was involved in a variety of pop, rock and jazz bands like the "U and Z", "Et Cetera" and most important the Oslo Groove Company, and he was recognised as a coming musical genius with a great talent for the piano. This led to collaborations within the Knut Riisnæs Quartet in 1989, and he was soon after contacted by Arild Andersen to join in on the commissioned work for Vossajazz - released on the album Sagn (1990) - and the follow up Arv (1993), and Jan Garbarek for his Molde Canticle (1990), a commission from the Moldejazz, released on the album I Took Up the Runes (1990).[1]

Bugge Wesseltoft had a great impact on the Norwegian Jazz scene at the beginning of the 1990s, while going through a transition from Nordic jazz traditions exemplified by the ECM label to a style sometimes referred to as "future jazz" or nu jazz. There after he toured extensively on the international Jazz scenes, performing both jazz and rock concerts to live audiences, and on a series of recordings on his own Jazzland label. Bugge Wesseltoft collaborated with a series artists in this period, like the guitarists Terje Rypdal and Jon Eberson, and in the mid-1990s he toured and recorded the album Billy Cobham presents Nordic – Off Color (1999) together with Billy Cobham. For many years he collaborated with the experimental jazz vocalist Sidsel Endresen, and was in the lineup for her commissioned work at the Moldejazz in 1993, which was released on the album Exile (1994). His own commissioned work A Little War Story for the Vossajazz was also performed in 1993. Bugge Wesseltoft formed his own band the 'New Conception of Jazz' in 1995, and their first album New Conception of Jazz (1996), was awarded a Spellemannprisen in 1996.[2]

During the 1990s the music of Bugge Wesseltoft found an audience on the Norwegian techno and dance music scenes. The connection with the club world led to the 2000 release of Jazzland Remixed, which enhanced his reputation even more with the younger audience. Firmly committed to electronic music, he completely eschews acoustic forms and is just as adamant that he will not be tied by genre boundaries, bringing hip-hop and other contemporary dance music forms into his concept of contemporary jazz. On the album Sharing (1998) many were taken by surprise by his extensive use of club DJ's and scratchers.[2]

The track "Existence" could be heard in Philippe Harel's movie Extension du domaine de la lutte, an adaptation of Michel Houellebecq's 1994 novel.

John Kellman of the All About Jazz magazine recognized Bugge Wesseltoft Solo appearance at The Punkt Festival, Kristiansand, Norway, September 2013, as one of his 25 "Best Live Shows of 2013".[3]

Honors

Discography
  • It's Snowing on My Piano (ACT, 1997)
  • New Conception of Jazz (Jazzland/Sonet, 1997)
  • Sharing (Jazzland/EmArcy, 1998)
  • New Conception of Jazz: Moving (Jazzland/EmArcy, 2001)
  • New Conception of Jazz Live (Jazzland, 2003)
  • New Conception of Jazz: Film Ing (Jazzland, 2004)
  • IM (Jazzland, 2007)
  • New Conceptions of Jazz (Jazzland, 2008)
  • Duo (Jazzland, 2011)
  • Songs (Jazzland, 2011)
  • Last Spring (ACT, 2012)
  • Trialogue (Jazzland, 2014)
  • OK World (Jazzland, 2014)
  • Bugge & Friends (Jazzland, 2015)
  • Everybody Loves Angels (ACT, 2017)
  • Bugge Wesseltoft & Prins Thomas (Smalltown Supersound, 2018)

As sideman

With Finn Coren

  • The Blake Project: Spring (Bard, 1997)
  • The Blake Project: Spring: The Appendix (Bard, 1998)
  • Lovecloud (Bard, 1999)

With Jan Eggum

  • Dacapo (Sigma Music, 1990)
  • Underveis (Grappa, 1991)
  • Nesten Ikke Tilstede (Grappa, 1993)
  • Deilig (Grappa, 1999)
  • Kjaerlighet & AErlighet 2 (Grappa, 2011)

With Bjorn Eidsvag

  • Til Alle Tider (Norsk, 1992)
  • Landet Lenger Bak (Norsk, 1995)
  • Rundt Neste Sving (Petroleum, 2010)

With Sidsel Endresen

  • Exile (ECM, 1994)
  • Nightsong (Curling Legs, 1994)
  • Duplex Ride (ACT/Curling Legs, 1998)
  • Undertow (Jazzland/EmArcy, 2000)
  • Out Here. In There. (Jazzland, 2002)

With Laurent Garnier

  • The Cloud Making Machine (F/PIAS, 2004)
  • The Cloud Making Machine Reworks (F/PIAS, 2005)
  • Retrospective (F/PIAS, 2006)
  • Public Outburst (F/PIAS, 2007)

With Knut Reiersrud

  • Soul of a Man (Kirkelig Kulturverksted, 1998)
  • Sub (Kirkelig Kulturverksted, 1999)
  • Gitar (Jazzland, 2009)

With Oystein Sunde

  • Du Ma'kke Komme Her Og Komme Her (Spinner, 1994)
  • Sann Er'e Bare (Spinner, 2005)
  • Bestefar (Spinner, 2016)

With Vamp

  • Godmorgen, Soster (Major Selskapet, 1993)
  • Horisonter (Major Selskapet, 1994)
  • 13 Humler (Major Selskapet, 1996)
  • Flua Pa Veggen (MajorStudio, 1998)
  • St. Mandag (MajorStudio, 2008)

With others

See also

References
  1. Halvorsen, Tore (13 February 2009). "Bugge Wesseltoft Extended Biography". Norsk Biografisk Leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  2. Kelman, John (4 March 2009). "Bugge Wesseltoft: New Conception of Jazz Box Review". All About Jazz. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  3. Kelman, John (13 December 2013). "John Kelman's Best Live Shows of 2013". All About Jazz. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
Awards
Preceded by
Vigleik Storaas Trio		 Recipient of the Jazz Spellemannprisen
1996		 Succeeded by
Vigleik Storaas Trio
Preceded by
Nils Petter Molvær		 Recipient of the Kongsberg Jazz Award
1997		 Succeeded by
Sidsel Endresen
Preceded by
Nils Petter Molvær		 Recipient of the Open class Spellemannprisen
1998		 Succeeded by
Krøyt
Preceded by
Nils Petter Molvær		 Recipient of the Jazz Gammleng-prisen
1999		 Succeeded by
Kristin Asbjørnsen
Preceded by
Anja Garbarek		 Recipient of the Open class Spellemannprisen
2002		 Succeeded by
Niko Valkeapää
Preceded by
Nils Petter Molvær		 Recipient of the Buddyprisen
2004		 Succeeded by
Arve Henriksen
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