Bendik Hofseth is a Norwegian musician, tenor and soprano saxophonist , composer and singer in the borderland between jazz , rock and modern contemporary music . He is particularly known as a member of the popular American group Steps Ahead.
Hofseth grew up in Lørenskog and became active in Oslo's jazz scene from the beginning of the 1980s, in collaboration with, among others, the Jon Eberson Group, the Erik Wallø Quintet and Pål Thowsen . He went to the USA and stayed there for 6 years, where he met Michael Brecker, among others , and became a member of the supergroup Steps Ahead. With that group he recorded the albums NYC (1989) and Yin-Yang (1992) and played at numerous festivals.
He has since moved back to Norway, and has mainly focused on his own ensembles. He has released a number of albums under his own name, and has otherwise collaborated with a number of other musicians and been a soloist with several symphony orchestras . Hofseth composed and performed the commissioned work Q for Vossajazz 1991, and Metamorphoses 1994 (released on CD 1995). He has also written music for, among other things, theatre, ballet and film.
In 1993 he received the Gammleng prize, and in 1996 his composition "Planets, Rivers and ...IKEA" was honored as Work of the Year by the association NOPA . - Bjørn Stendahl
*Selected releases
·IX (Columbia 1991)
·Amuse Yourself (Columbia 1993)
·Planets, Rivers, and ... IKEA (Verve Records 1996)
·Colours (Sonet/Verve Records 1997)
·The Story of the Smile (Sonet 1999)
·Ithaca (Grappa 2005)
·The Maze - with Mike Mainieri (Oslo Sessions Recordings 2016)
·Atonement (C+C Records 2018)
·Trunks (C+C Records 2020)
Tracks
01. Beginning
02. Jacob's Slate Blue
03. Ochre
04. Green
05. Blue
06. Red
07. Yellow
08. Brown
09. Orange
10. Cyan
11. End
ANDERS JORMIN bass
EIVIND AARSET guitar
DJANGO BATES piano
BENDIK HOFSETH saxophones, programming
AUDUN KLEIVE drums
Recorded at Puk Studios, Denmark
Sonet – 537 627-2 (Europe)