Recording in Arvo Pärt Centre, Estonia

Together with Estonian saxophone player Villy Veski, Jan Gunnar Hoff has recorded a new duo album in the spectacular Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia. The centre is located in the coastal village of Laulasmaa in Lääne-Harju Parish, Estonia, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) to the west from Tallinn. It was established in 2010 by the Pärt family.

Hoff and Veski have recorded original  works by both composers. Their album is still in process and will be released late 2025 or in 2026.

Successful “Heartlands” – premiere 20/12-24

Jan Gunnar Hoff´s new work “Heartlands” was premiered December 20, 2024, in the Bodø Cathedral, with an audience of 600 attending. The local reviews were effusive (Rune Slyngstad, Avisa Nordland):

“Powerful, sacred, melancholic and meaningful. The work Heartlands is gold”.  Local review (Norwegian): 

The theme for this new composition  is nature, climate, environment and not least: ourselves in this perspective. Why are we up here in the north, what does nature mean to us, what can’t we do without? The issue has been brought up to date in recent years with large projects that threaten to turn our mountains and nature into industrial areas, i.e. wind power and wind turbines. The untouched nature becomes the subject of speculation and major interventions, something we have to react to. This scenario is the background for the title “Heartlands”, which means: “an area that a nation cannot lose without losing itself”. Subtitles:

1. Dawn
2. Heartlands
3. Earth alert
4. The words
5. Freedom
6. Heartlands II

Line up: Bodø cathedral choir, Karoline Åseng (vocal soloist), Børge Petersen-Øverleir (guitar),  Rune Arnesen (drums/perc), JGH (keys, piano, church organ), Gjermund Silset (bass).

 

Hoff, Mathisen, Husband, Le at Harstad Arts festival, June 2024

Jan Gunnar Hoff & Per Mathisen feat Gary Husband, Nguyen Le performed at the Arts festival of Northern Norway in Harstad, June 26, 2024.

Quote from reviews: “Musically, this is one of the best things one can experience within jazz fusion. With its top musicians, the quartet delivered a superb product of the highest international brand! This is the fourth concert the group has held, – after one in Romania, Oslo and Bodø and they will go on to festivals in Vienna and the Czech Republic. It’s almost as if you want to follow suit, because this was a concert experience with the likes of whom deserve top marks plus!”

Full review in Norwegian.

  1. City Z (2018) Jan Gunnar Hoff Group feat Mike Stern 4:23
  2. Some Day (2018) Jan Gunnar Hoff Group feat Mike Stern 6:33
  3. Common Ground (2018) Jan Gunnar Hoff Group feat Mike Stern 7:39
  4. Living (Losen records 2014) Hoff, Mazur, Henriksen, Jormin 6:54
  5. FLY NORTH (Losen 2013) Hoff - Jormin - Mazur - Henriksen
  6. Beginning Hoff Ensemble: Jan Gunnar Hoff, Audun Kleive & Anders Jormin 3:14