Fourth episode of Talking & Improvising. This episode features conversations in words and music between the two bass players Jesper Nordberg and Brandon Lopez. The podcast was recorded in October 2024, with financial support from the Swedish Arts Council.

Brandon Lopez is a New York-based Puerto Rican/American musician working at the fringes of jazz, free improvisation, noise an,d new music. His music has been praised as “brutal” (Chicago Reader) and “relentless” (The New York Times).

He’s a frequent collaborator with the luminaries of NY’s avant-garde, including Fred Moten, John Zorn, Sun Ra Arkestra. His trio with Gerald Cleaver and Steve Baczkowski won Best Concert of the Year 2021 in the NYC Jazz Record for their performance at the prestigious Vision Festival.

Jesper Nordberg is a young Swedish double bass player. He has studied at the famed Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He has collaborated with numerous prominent European and American improvising musicians, including Okay Temiz, Zeena Parkins, Tomasz Dabrowski, Jesper Zeuthen, and Kasper Tranberg. With a grand tone and characteristic feel for rhythmical changes and displacements, he has established himself as an individual voice at the jazz scenes of Copenhagen and Malmö. He takesa big interest in folk music from the Balkans, and has collaborated with musicians from Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey, and Romania.

Third episode of Talking & Improvising. This episode features conversations in words and music between bass player Jesper Nordberg and the Swiss-Filipina pianist Margaux Oswald, based in Copenhagen. The podcast was recorded in February 2024, with financial support from the Swedish Arts Council. Margaux Oswald has played the piano since the age of 5 and is now committed to the art of free improvisation.Her solo piano debut album, Dysphotic Zone, released on Clean Feed Records, was chosen as one of the best solo albums of 2022 by the New York City Jazz Record.She is one of the new members of the artist-run label and collective ILK in Copenhagen, where she released the album Signals with Kasper Tranberg in 2022. June 2023 saw the release of Magnetite, a live recording of Oswald’s duo with Jesper Zeuthen on CleanFeed Records.Oswald’s latest project, Collateral Damage, an international septet with three double basses, two electric guitars, drums, and grand piano, has now released « In time, hollow oaks become chapels » on Clean Feed Records in June 2024.Jesper Nordberg is a young Swedish double bass player. He has studied at the famed Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He has collaborated with numerous prominent European and American improvising musicians, including Okay Temiz, Brandon Lopez, Jesper Zeuthen, and Kasper Tranberg. With a grand tone and characteristic feel for rhythmical changes and displacements, he has established himself as an individual voice at the jazz scenes of Copenhagen and Malmö. He takesa big interest in folk music from the Balkans, and has collaborated with musicians from Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey, and Romania.

Second episode of Talking & Improvising. This episode features conversations in words and music between bass player Jesper Nordberg and the American harpist Zeena Parkins, based in New York. The podcast was recorded in November 2024, with financial support from the Swedish Arts Council. Electro-acoustic composer and improviser Zeena Parkins is a pioneer of contemporary harp practices. Using expanded techniques, object preparations, and electronic processing, she has redefined the instrument’s capacities. Concurrently, Parkins self-designed a series of one-of-a-kind electric instruments. She leans into the harp’s physical limitations, pushing its boundaries and impossibilities. In her compositions, Parkins utilizes collections, recombination, historic proximities, geography, tactility, spatial configurations, and movement. Sonic presence and personality are revealed in explorations of subtle frequency shifts, feedback, over and under tones, melodic fragments, timbral and gestural intervals, perception, and residues.Jesper Nordberg is a young Swedish double bass player. He has studied at the famed Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He has collaborated with numerous prominent European and American improvising musicians, including Okay Temiz, Brandon Lopez, Jesper Zeuthen, and Kasper Tranberg. With a grand tone and characteristic feel for rhythmical changes and displacements, he has established himself as an individual voice at the jazz scenes of Copenhagen and Malmö. He takes a big interest in folk music from the Balkans, and has collaborated with musicians from Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey, and Romania.