Helge Lien

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title: "Helge Lien" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["20th-century-norwegian-pianists", "21st-century-norwegian-pianists", "norwegian-jazz-pianists", "norwegian-jazz-composers", "norwegian-male-jazz-composers", "spellemannprisen-winners", "grappa-music-artists", "people-from-ringsaker-municipality", "living-people", "1975-births", "20th-century-norwegian-male-musicians", "21st-century-norwegian-male-musicians", "helge-lien-trio-members", "edition-records-artists", "norwegian-male-jazz-pianists"] description: "Norwegian jazz pianist, composer and band leader" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helge_Lien" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Norwegian jazz pianist, composer and band leader ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Helge Lien
image	Helge Lien 2025-007.jpg
image_size	250px
caption	Helge Lien in 2025.
birth_date
birth_place	Moelv, Ringsaker, Norway
instrument	Piano
genre	Jazz
occupation	Musician, composer
label	Ozella Music
Curling Legs
DIW Records
Jazzaway Records
website
::

| name = Helge Lien | navn2 = | image = Helge Lien 2025-007.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = Helge Lien in 2025. | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Moelv, Ringsaker, Norway | death_date = | death_place = | origin = | instrument = Piano | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician, composer | years_active = | label = Ozella Music Curling Legs DIW Records Jazzaway Records | associated_acts = | website =

Helge Lien (born 23 April 1975) is a Norwegian jazz pianist, composer and band leader. He has in recent years also developed a passion for photography and digital processing of images and has passion for powerful melancholy, dynamics and detail.

Education

Lien attended Stange High School in Stange Municipality in 1991 and earned his Examen artium in 1994, before taking up musical studies at Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. He got a Cand.mag. degree fin 1998 under guidance of Mikhail Alperin, known as pianist of the Moscow Art Trio and from solo performances and recordings, and did postgraduate studies with the group Tri O'Trang culminating with cand.musicae exam in 2001.

Career

Lien is known from a variety of musical contexts, such as Tri O'Trang (with Torben Snekkestad on sax and Lars Andreas Haug on tuba), Helge Lien Trio, the duo Hero with saxophonist Rolf-Erik Nystrom, and with the vocalists Live Maria Roggen and Silje Nergaard.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Helge_Lien_at_Nattjazz_2016.jpg" caption="Helge Lien at the 2016 [[Nattjazz]]."] ::

The last decade Lien has given us a lot of evidence that a new Norwegian pianist of a very high caliber has entered the Jazz scene. We have encountered him in various constellations from solo piano, duos and as sideman, but it is first and foremost with Helge Lien Trio that he has moved up and out among the truly great. Here we can encounter, more than any other classic piano trio, the balance between jazz tradition and improvisation avantgardist excellent. With their seven albums and thrilling live performances they have already earned a large fan base, and when the Helge Lien Trio completed their first tour of Germany on the Berlin Jazz Club A-Trane in 2008, the album Hello Troll was the first Helge Lien Trio release for Ozella Music in Germany. This album was in many ways the ultimate breakthrough for Helge Lien Trio, although four previous releases on the Japanese DIW company had told us what Lien had to offer.

Lien, who has written all the music on the latest Helge Lien Trio album Natsukashii, is a melodic poet in temperament. In this classic trio format there are lots of references to trios with giants like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett but even more obvious are the links to the Brad Mehldau trio, which set a new standard for jazz trio for the new 2000 millennium. Along with bassist Frode Berg and drummer Knut Aalefjær, who was substituted with Per Oddvar Johansen from 2013, Lien has taken new steps over again and it is up to that category Helge Lien Trio is also moving.

Honors

• 2002: Norwegian Government Grants
• 2007: Nattjazzprisen
• 2008: Spellemannprisen in the class Jazz
• 2008: Kongsberg Jazz Award

Discography

As leader/co-leader

::data[format=table]

Year recorded	Title	Label	Notes
2000	Talking to a Tree	Lydlauget ANS	Solo piano
2000	Liker	Nor-CD	As Tri O'Trang; trio, with Torben Snekkestad (sax), Lars Andreas Haug (tuba)
2001	What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life	Curling Legs	Trio, with Frode Berg (bass), Knut Aalefjær (drums)
2002	Spiral Circle	DIW	Trio, with Frode Berg (bass), Knut Aalefjær (drums)
2002	Fordivi	Challenge	As Tri O'Trang; trio, with Torben Snekkestad (sax, bass clarinet), Lars Andreas Haug (tuba, trumpet)
2003	Asymmetrics	DIW	Trio, with Frode Berg (bass), Knut Aalefjær (drums)
2005	Live	Curling Legs	Trio, with Frode Berg (bass), Knut Aalefjær (drums); in concert
2005	Plays Jon Eberson	Curling Legs	As Tri O'Trang, quintet, with Torben Snekkestad (sax), Lars Andreas Haug (tuba), Jon Eberson (guitar), Per Oddvar Johansen (drums)
2005	Prøysen – musikken fra dokumentaren	Jazzavdelingen	As Hero; duo, with Rolf-Erik Nystrøm (sax)
2006	The Discovery & Exploration of Planet HERO	Jazzaway	As Hero; duo, with Rolf-Erik Nystrøm (sax)
2006	Må	Curling Legs	As Tri O'Trang; trio, with Torben Snekkestad (sax, bass clarinet), Lars Andreas Haug (tuba, valve trombone)
2006	To the Little Radio	DIW	Trio
2008	Hello Troll	Ozella	Trio, with Frode Berg (bass), Knut Aalefjær (drums); Spellemannprisen 2008
2010	Natsukashii	Ozella	last=Kelman
2011	Kattenslager	Ozella/Musikklosen	last=Shaw
2012?	Memnon	Ozella	Duo, co-led with Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer (vocals)
2013	Badgers and Other Beings	Ozella	last=Baekgaard
2015	Bridges	ACT	Co-led with Adam Baldych (violin); quartet, with Frode Berg (bass), Per Oddvar Johansen (drums)
2016	Guzuguzu	Ozella	Trio, with Frode Berg (bass), Per Oddvar Johansen (drums)
::

Collaborations

;With LiveLien

• 2011: Låvesalg (Jazzland/Universal)
• 2016: YOU (Ozella)

;With Arild Andersen and Gard Nilssen

• 2016: The Rose Window (Deutsche Media Productions), live at Theater Gütersloh

References

References

1. (12 February 2021). "Helge Lien Biography – Store Norske Leksikon".
2. "Helge Lien – iDekor.no".
3. "Helge Lien Trio – jena.de".
4. (12 August 2024). "Helge Lien Trio – Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene".
5. (18 May 2023). "Review: Helge Lien Trio – Musik-Kritik".
6. Wuethrich, Matthew. (2 July 2004). "Helge Lien Trio: Asymmetrics".
7. Henderson, Alex. "Helge Lien: Hello Troll".
8. "Albums".
9. Kelman, John. (17 August 2011). "Helge Lien Trio: Natsukashii".
10. Shaw, Anthony. (11 July 2013). "Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer and Helge Lien: Memnon".
11. Baekgaard, Jakob. (9 July 2014). "Helge Lien Trio: Badgers and Other Beings".

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