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Kjetil Mulelid
Kjetil A. Mulelid has distinguished himself as an inventive artist, blending jazz, psalms, and rhythmic improvised music. He grew up in the small village Hurdal, Akershus, and started playing the piano in a early age. In 2010 he graduated from Jessheim high school where he had some really inspiring piano teachers: Ulrika Magdalena Lind, Morten Reppesgård and Jan Terje Augestad. Then he took one year at Høgskolen i Staffeldstgate in Oslo before he went to do a bachelor degree in jazz performance at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim (NTNU, Jazzlinja). Here he really learned to use the piano as his own language with the great teachers Erling Aksdal, Vigleik Storaas, Espen Berg and Eyolf Dale.
Mulelid has played concerts in Scandinavia, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, England, Ireland, The Faroe Islands, Iceland, Serbia, Poland and USA. Mulelid has played and worked with many great musicians such as Arve Henriksen, Barry Guy, Kirsti Huke, Ola Kvernberg, Eirik Hegdal, Nils-Olav Johansen and Petter Vågan. Since 2015 he has been working as a freelance musician.
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Kjetil Mulelid: Agoja
by Chris May
Over the course of three albums with his trio between 2019 and 2022, and the exquisitely pretty solo set Piano (Rune Grammofon, 2021), keyboardist Kjetil Mulelid has emerged as a bright new star in Norwegian jazz. His playing is vivacious, his composing melodic and his overall sound consonant but full of unexpected twists and turns. Mulelid has been mentioned in the same breath as Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau, and the comparisons, though excitable, have some merit.
read moreKjetil Mulelid Trio: Who Do You Love The Most?
by John Eyles
In an act which might have raised a few eyebrows, Rune Grammofon released Who Do You Love the Most? by the Kjetil Mulelid Trio on the very same day as In the Mountains by the Espen Eriksen Trio featuring Andy Sheppard. Surely these two piano trios on the same label must have been competing for the same audience? However, closer inspection reveals that such speculation is likely to be wide of the mark. Firstly, the two trios differ considerably in ...
read moreTwo Contrasting Rising Stars from Norway
by John Eyles
While it is comparatively easy to reel off the names of numerous Norwegian jazz and improv stars, such lists do not convey the breadth, depth and variety of the music that has been produced in the country in recent decades, a statement that is equally true of Norway's Scandinavian neighbours. Rather than copying musical styles from abroad, Norwegian players have developed their own distinctive variants, with such ingredients as the use of folk melodies and electronics making them recognizably Norwegian. ...
read moreWako: Wako
by Mark Sullivan
Bands will often self-title their debut album, as a kind of calling card to the world at large. But doing so on a fourth album implies a serious coming of age statement: this is really who we are. That is certainly the case here. Its third album, Urolige sinn (Øra Fonogram, 2018), was a blend of composed and improvised music: a collective voice, with a rare concision and focus. This album is entirely self-composed, with the bulk of the tracks ...
read moreKjetil Mulelid Trio: What You Thought Was Home
by John Eyles
What You Thought Was Home is the follow-up to the Kjetil Mulelid Trio's debut release, Not Nearly Enough to Buy a House (Rune Grammofon, 2017), which was widely praised on its release. The line-up remains unchanged, with double bassist Bjørn Marius Hegge and drummer Andreas Skår Winther joining pianist Kjetil André Mulelid, all of them being Norwegian and products of the jazz department at the Trondheim Conservatory of Music. In addition to this trio, all three are separately involved in ...
read moreWako: Urolige Sinn
by Mark Sullivan
Wako is a Norwegian jazz collective with a truly collective sound. Saxophonist Martin Myhre Olsen--heard as a leader on MMO Ensemble's Any Day Now (Øra Fonogram, 2018)--and pianist Kjetil Mulelid--leader of the Kjetil Mulelid Trio's Not Nearly Enough To Buy A House (Rune Grammofon, 2017)--each contribute three compositions. But the group identity is equally present on the jointly created tracks that dominate this program, their third album. Opener “Jernvilje" is a brief, atmospheric rubato exercise by the whole ...
read moreKjetil Mulelid Trio: Not Nearly Enough To Buy A House
by Mark Sullivan
Norwegian pianist/composer Kjetil Mulelid leads his young trio in a program with a maturity that contradicts their age. Their music is lyrical and exploratory, with a high degree of group interaction, and even a bit of free playing. Opener “Entrance" finds them moving together through the rhythmic waves. “Fly, Fly" begins with Mulelid in a slightly gospel mood, followed by a brief lyrical unaccompanied piano solo which gives way to a rubato feel, so loose that it almost feels free—the ...
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