Ellen Andrea Wang (born 10 October 1986 in

Gjøvik Gjøvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Gjøvik (town), town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Norway, Biri, Bybrua, ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

) is a Norwegian jazz musician (double bass and singer) and composer. She is the cousin of singer-songwriter Marthe Wang. Raised in Søndre Land, Oppland, she released her debut album, ''Diving'', in 2014. She formed the band

Pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

in 2010. Wang has toured with

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusio ...

and Marilyn Mazur and has performed with Sting. Since the summer of 2019, she has been touring with her ''Closeness'' project, a trio with London-based guitarist Rob Luft & Swedish drummer Jon Fält. They are signed to Brooklyn-based label Ropeadope Records and have performed at jazz festivals across Europe.

Career

Wang started playing the violin at a young age, but substituted an upright bass for the violin at the age of sixteen, and attended the

Norwegian Academy of Music The Norwegian Academy of Music (Norwegian: ''Norges musikkhøgskole'', NMH) is a university-level music conservatory located in Oslo, Norway, in the neighbourhood of Majorstuen, Frogner. It is the largest music academy in Norway and offers the ...

under guidance of the bassist

Bjørn Kjellemyr Bjørn Kjellemyr (born 4 December 1950 in Bamble, Norway) is a jazz double bassist, known from a variety of musical contexts like Terje Rypdal & The Chasers, Joe Henderson, Bob Berg, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Dag Arnesen, K ...

. She is leading her own Ellen Andrea Wang Trio and the band "Pixel", is a driving force in the band "SynKoke", and is in addition part of the band Dag Arnesen Trio (2010 -). The gig by "Pixel" including drummer Jon Audun Baar, trumpeter Jonas Kilmork Vemøy and saxophonist Harald Lassen, was noted as "one of the most memorable moments" of the Match and Fuse Festival, by the Jazz magazine

Down Beat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

At Oslo Jazz Festival 2013, Wang for the first time presented a band that bears her name Ellen Andrea Wang Trio. On the keyboards is Andreas Ulvo, well known from the "Eple Trio" and Mathias Eick's band. On the drums is Erland Dahlen, who collaborates with Nils Petter Molvær and Susanna Wallumrød among others. The trio play an innovative jazz with elements from the rock and pop world. At

Vossajazz Vossajazz or Vossa Jazz (established 19 December 1973) is an international jazz festival in Voss, Norway, which takes place annually during the week before Easter, and which also includes concerts throughout the year. The festival has been led by ...

2014, she appeared within Ivar Kolve's ''Polyostinat'' experience. Here she performed with Norwegian musicians. At Moldejazz 2014, Wang presented material from her debut solo album ''Diving''. The Ellen Andrea Wang Trio play a mix of jazz, pop and rock. In October 2014 the bands "Pixel" and "SynKoke" delivered gigs at the London venue Vortex Jazz Club during the 'Match and Fuse Festival'. Wang received the Kongsberg Jazz Festivals great musician prize in July 2015. The prize is awarded to a musician who has a leading position on the Norwegian jazz scene. In 2018 she released the album ''Run, Boy, Run'' with the vocal trio Gurls including Hanna Paulsberg and Rohey Taalah on the

Grappa Grappa is an alcoholic beverage: a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy of Italian origin that contains 35 to 60 percent alcohol by volume (70 to 120 Alcohol proof, US proof). Grappa is a protected name in the European Union. Grappa is made by ...

label.

In mid-2019, she began a new trio project with British guitarist Rob Luft and Swedish jazz percussionist Jon Fält. The band began as a tribute to the music of American double bassist

Charlie Haden Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than fifty years. Haden helped to revolutionize the harmonic concept of bass playin ...

, acquiring the name Closeness, which is in itself an homage to Haden’s 1976 release ’Closeness Duets’. However, after touring across Scandinavia, the U.K. & Central

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

the trio increasingly began playing Wang’s original compositions. Their debut album was released on Ropeadope Records in the autumn of 2020 & a second release is expected from in the autumn of 2024.

Honors

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

: "This year's Talent Award" at "DølaJazz» *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

: "Statkraft Young Star" at "

Oslo Jazzfestival Oslo International Jazz Festival (Oslo Jazzfestival, established 1986 in Norway) is a Norwegians, Norwegian music event, held in August, with a focus on music form the jazz genre, performed on stages in Oslo. History The pilot project (1984–1 ...

" *2012: "New Star of The Month" by the "Japan Magazine" *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

: Featured at Young Nordic Jazz Comets within

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: The Kongsberg Jazz Award (DnB Award) at

Kongsberg Jazzfestival Kongsberg Jazz Festival or Kongsberg Jazzfestival is an international jazz festival that has been held annually in Kongsberg, Norway, since 1964. Artists Several worldwide great artists have visited Kongsberg during this festival; internation ...

Discography

Solo albums

Ellen Andrea Wang Trio *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: ''Diving'' (

Propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

) *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: ''Blank Out'' ( Jazzland) *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: ''Closeness'' (Ropeadope Records, 2019 - with Rob Luft & Jon Fält) *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: ''There is a place'' - single (Ropeadope Records 2020) With SynKoke *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

: ''Hokjønn'' (AIMSoundCity) * 2011: ''The Ideologist'' (Kokeplate) With

* 2012: '' Reminder'' (

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

) * 2013: ''We Are All Small Pixels'' (

) * 2015: ''Golden Years'' (

) ; With Gurls *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: ''Run Boy, Run'' (

)

Collaborations

With Pastor Wang Quintet *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

: ''Blå Hymne'' (Wango Productions) With The Opium Cartel * 2009: ''Night Blooms'' (Termo) With Dag Arnesen Trio *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

: ''Norwegian Song 3'' (Losen) With Amherst * 2010: ''A Light Exists in Spring'' ( NorCD) With White Willow * 2011: ''Terminal Twilight'' (Termo) * 2017: ''Future Hopes'' (The Laser's Edge) With Lena Nymark * 2014: ''Beautiful Silence'' (

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Ellen Andrea 1986 births Living people 21st-century Norwegian upright-bassists Norwegian jazz upright-bassists Musicians from Gjøvik People from Søndre Land Women double-bassists 21st-century Norwegian women musicians 21st-century Norwegian singers 21st-century Norwegian women singers Pixel (band) members Jazzland Recordings (1997) artists Propeller Recordings artists