Cutting Edge, 1982. Morten Halle second from the left in the first row.
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Cutting Edge, 1982. Morten Halle second from the left in the first row. |
Inspired by Jan Garbarek, during his school days he formed a quartet with (then pianist) Georg Reiss (Halle / Reiss Quartet 1974-1977), participated in amateur workshops at Kongsberg, had a quintet with trumpeter Bror Hagemann 1977-1978 and a quartet with Rune Klakegg 1979-1980. At the same time he studied music at Oslo University, played in the soul band Chipahua (1979-1981), was among the founders of "Oslo 13", in 1980 he joined the Knut Værnes Quartet and the group "Spice" (Vossajazz 1981), two bands that were merged into Cutting Edge in 1981.
With the popular Cutting Edge (1981-1986) he went on several tours, in England for instance , played at many festivals and recorded "Cutting Edge" (1982), "Our Man in Paradise" (1983) and "Duesenberg" (1986). He played in some fusion bands, such as Larsen 1982-83, Geir Holmsen Group 1983-84 and again in Chipahua from 1984 (recording same year), in addition to taking part in lots of recording sessions.
From 1987 he led his own quartet, from 1989 it was called the Halle / Eberson Quartet, later it usually bore the name of all band members (Morten Halle / Jon Eberson / Bjørn Kjellemyr / Finn Sletten, later Pål Thowsen). This excellent quartet recorded the albums "Blow!" 1989, "2" 1991 and "The Eagle" 1994-1995.
From 1988 Morten Halle also played in Oslo 13 (TV portrait 1988, the CDs "Nonsentration" 1990 and "Live" 1992), the Latin band Desafinado (from 1990), Knut Værnes Band (from 1992, the album "Roneo" 1993), various projects in the name of Jon Balke ("Il Cenone" 1992, "Magnetic North" 1993 and "Kyanos" 2002), the group Søyr from 1993 (CDs "Bussene lengter hjem" / 1993-1994 and "Med kjøtt og kjærlighet" 1995 and "Alene hjemme" released 2001), Horns For Hire, Appaloosa Nova, participated in the Olav H. Hauge project at Voss 1995, and recorded with Helge Iberg (released 1997), Thorbjørn Sunde (one recorded 1997 and one released 2001), Jon Eberson's Jazz Punk Ensemble (1997), a CD in the names of Beate Slettevold Lech, Jon Eberson and Morten Halle (released 1999) and also the Geir Lysne Listening Ensemble (1999 and 2001). Oslo 13 went on in 1993 as 1300 Oslo, led by Morten Halle and has so far appeared on the CD "Live in the North" (released 2001).
As himself he has made the album "Etterlatte sanger" (with Sidsel Endresen and Jonas Fjeld, 1979), created music for many films, theatrical and ballet productions, such as "Forvirringens ulemper" (with Carte Blanche, Bergen 1992), and the work "Kun kort opphold" made for Dølajazz 1992 and Halles Komet at Molde 1996. He was elected as TONO's (Norway's Performing Rights Society) chairman for the 2002-2004 period.
Norwegian Jazz Archives / December 2002