Ole Morten Vågan

Career

Vågan debuted as jazz musician in the Nord-Norsk Ungdomstorband at the end of the 1990es and had his own project Ole Morten Vågan Projekt on tour for Nordnorsk Jazzforum in 1999. This was also documented with a concert for radio on NRK P2, Jazzklubben, hosted by Erling Wicklund recorded at Nordland Musikkfestuke. He was a graduate of the Jazz program at Trondheim Musikkonservatorium (1998–2002).

In 1999 he formed the quintet Motif, together with Atle Nymo (tenor saxophone), Mathias Eick (trumpet), David Thor Jonsson (piano) and Håkon Mjåset Johansen (drums), where he composes the main part of the repertoire himself. In 2000 Vågan lead the band Motif at Moldejazz and was awarded "NOPA's Composer Prize" the same year, as well as "Young Nordic Jazzcomets" the year after, at Copenhagen Jazz Festival.

As both a bassist and composer, he has worked at the intersection of improvised and notated music, and in 2011 published his seventh disc with the aforementioned MOTIF, to critical acclaim. In 2009 he wrote an hour's music to a tentett, which besides Motif's permanent members, included Mathias Eick, Mattias Ståhl, Ola Kvernberg, Håkon Kornstad, and Petter Vågan. Vågan mottok DnB NOR prisen på Kongsberg Jazzfestival i 2009, and came back the following year with new music, this time for a band consisting of influential musicians from the European improvisational scenes: Axel Dörner and Rudi Mahall (DE), as well as Fredrik Ljungkvist and Jon Fält (SE).

He composed for Trondheim Jazz Orchestra (in cooperation with the Eirik Hegdal), and wrote 25 minutes of music for the Trondheim Soloists and bassist Knut Erik Sundquist, which was performed to great reviews at the Music Festival in Bodø. He has recorded a forty albums with various orchestras and participated in a number of pop-productions. Vågan's latest projects include the band Juxtaposed, which was formed in 2007 and consists of Atle Nymo (saxophone), Peter Vågan (guitar), and Erik Nylander (drums), documented on the album Tsar Bomba (2010). He is a member of keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft project New Conceptions of Jazz.

Honors

Discography