From his work as successful pop producer in the 1990s his creative thrust and pioneering work in developing the concept of live remix- improvising with electronics alongside more conventional instruments and performers -  has led him today being constantly in-demand  as producer and performer. His musical career began in the late ‘80s, when he cut his first albums in a synth-and-vocals duo with Erik Honoré. By the ‘90s he was a producer of Norwegian pop acts, when pianist Bugge Wesseltoft invited him on stage with an improvising ensemble. “I had the idea of using musicians as ‘input’ to my sampler instead of vinyl,” recalls Bang. “We called it ‘live sampling.’ I found it appealing to work in a live situation with improvised music where things change at the blink of an eye … . I was able to work in past, present and future, according to what the other musicians were doing and how they reacted to what I was throwing back into the mix.”

There are times when it seems everything that has come before suddenly coalesces, reaches critical mass and engenders near-exponentially increased success and opportunity. For Jan Bang and Erik Honore, their Punkt live remix festival has evolved, since its early inception in Kristiansand, Norway, into a musical aesthetic brought to other festivals like Mannheim's Enjoy Jazz and Estonia's Jazzkaar. In ten years it's become a multinational event of world renown, its ever-expanding "Punkt Family" including a network of musicians that has— beyond Norwegian stalwarts like Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Sidsel Endresen—also welcomed British avant-songsmith David Sylvian, Estonian guitarist Robert Jürjendal, Japanese composer Dai Fujikura, and Spanish guitarist David Soler, amongst many others

2018:

ATMOSPHÉRES is a new prosject between Jan Bang (samples), Arve Henriksen (trompet, vocals), Eivind Aarset (guitars) and Tigran Hamasyan (piano).
An album will be released late 2016, and this collaboration bodes for some spectacular live shows. More

ATMOSPHÉRES

Med et omfattende dobbeltalbum introduseres en ny gruppe; Tigran Hamasyan, Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset og Jan Bang. Nordmennene har spilt i ulike konfigurasjoner på ECM – Jan Bang på Eivind Aarsets Dream Logic eksempelvis, og Band og Aarset på Arve Henriksens Cartography – men med Hamasyan i sentrum av musikken, medbrakt gamle folkemelodier forklart i komposisjonene av Komitas, kommer nye inspirasjonskilder inn i bildet. Her er alle fire musikere på et kreativt høydepunkt, enten fritt reflekterende over armenske temaer eller ved instinktivt samspill former det atmosfæriske lydbildet

This far-reaching double album, recorded and mixed in three days in Lugano, introduces a new group with Tigran Hamasyan, Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang. The Norwegians had played in diverse configurations on ECM - Jan Bang on Eivind Aarset’s Dream Logic, for instance, and Bang and Aarset on Arve Henriksen’s Cartography - but with Hamasyan at the centre of the sound, bringing with him ancient folk melodies transfigured in the compositions of Komitas, other inspirations come into play. All four players are at a creative peak here, whether freely reflecting upon Armenian themes or spontaneously shaping atmospheric soundscapes together..

JAN BANG - NARRATIVE FROM THE SUBTROPICS

"Narrative From the Subtropics" is an esoteric, yet remarkably attractive set of new compositions from Norwegian producer, composer and electronic musician Jan Bang. During the three years since the highly acclaimed  “…and Poppies From Kandahar” released on David Sylvian's Samadhisound label, Bang has kept himself busy writing new material, and co-composing the soundtrack to Hamsun's "Victoria", as well as co-producing "Dream Logic" by Eivind Aarset (ECM) with creative partner Erik Honoré, both of  whom contribute to several pieces on the album. During this time Bang and Honoré also completed  the forthcoming “Places of Worship” by Arve Henriksen; “Died in the Wool: Manafon Variations” by David Sylvian; and the “Uncommon Deities”  album, derived from Sylvian´s stint at the Punkt Festival in 2011and  based upon poems by Nils Christian Moe-Repstad and Paal-Helge Haugen (the former reading his poetry in the setting of “Singers Ashes”, the album´s second track).
 
Recorded over a period of three years, this set of thirteen miniatures includes a stellar roster of musicians. The delicate trumpet of  Nils Petter Molvær and synthesizer programming of Erik Honoré on “funeral Voyage”, the naked trumpet and vocals on “Sinking Ship” courtesy of Arve Henriksen, and contributions from the two equally distinctive guitarists Eivind Aarset and Stian Westerhus which also appear on the album. The genuinely unique singer Sidsel Endresen appears on the Undark/Russell Mills collaboration “Tide” where Erik Honoré contributes with a field recording along with the sparse double bass of Swede, Lars Danielsson.
 
The acclaimed classical composer and Boulez protégé, Dai Fujikura - whom Bang and Honoré met while working on Sylvian´s Died in the Wool: Manafon variations album – co-wrote “Melee of Suitcases”, where he contributes with prepared piano and electronics,  and also appears as sampled material on “Flooded Corridors.” The latter piece is part of “Noticing Things”, Bang´s re-composition of the Fujikura´s composition “Spirit of Beings” commissioned by the English cellist Matthew Barley as part of the Britten centenary in 2013.
 
The Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan contacted Bang to record for his new solo album and, in return, Hamasyan was invited back by Bang to contribute on “Singers Childhood,” a traditional Estonian rune song that Bang first heard on a recording by Estonian classical composer Veljo Tormis. This led to an ongoing relationship with musicians in Tallinn, including guitarist and member of Weekend Guitar Trio, Robert Jürjendal who also introduced Bang to the traditional singer and kannel player, Tuule Kann. Both are present, together with Hamasyan, on “Singers Childhood”, which was recorded in both Tallinn and Paris, with editing and final mixing performed at Bang´s Punkt studio in Kristiansand, where Bang lives with his family.

The Norwegian photographer, Freddy Larsen, took the "Gherkin" album cover photo, while the design is by the eminent Nina Birkeland

JAN BANG - ....AND POPPIES FROM KANDAHAR

… And Poppies From Kandahar, Jan Bang’s first album under his own name, evokes a powerful sense of place – but it’s not a place you would recognize, or ever expect to find.  A descendent of Jon Hassell’s “fourth world” concept, it sketches scenes of struggle and malice, in locales both primitive and urbane.   As a producer, Bang stitches it together like a patchwork atlas and then makes the seams disappear: live recordings and studio constructions, old samples and new solos come together to form an exquisite whole.

Bang recruits a cast of collaborators from Norway and beyond, who will be familiar to anyone who’s followed his recent productions: trumpeter and vocalist Arve Henriksen, whose albums Cartography and Chiaroscuro were co-produced by Bang; the stunning vocalist Sidsel Endresen, whose captivating turn on “The Midwife’s Dilemma” grows out of a moan and a half-croak; and samadhisound founder David Sylvian, who wrote the titles for each piece and the album as a whole, setting these abstract scenes in a disruptive context. 

This is music of the world, but it’s rooted in Kristiansand, Norway, Bang’s home and workplace.  His musical career began in the late ‘80s, when he cut his first albums in a synth-and-vocals duo with Erik  Honoré.  By the ‘90s he was a producer of Norwegian pop acts, when pianist Bugge Wesseltoft invited him on stage with an improvising ensemble.  “I had the idea of using musicians as ‘input’ to my sampler instead of vinyl,” recalls Bang.  “We called it ‘live sampling.’ I found it appealing to work in a live situation with improvised music where things change at the blink of an eye …  .  I was able to work in past, present and future, according to what the other musicians were doing and how they reacted to what I was throwing back into the mix.”

Bang started writing the material for … And Poppies From Kandahar in January 2009.   “As I often do, I started working on instrumentals which I then presented to the musician that I thought might benefit the track – not unlike the process of making the Cartography album with Arve. … I knew I wanted to write music that had references to my influences, but where I could use my own dialect.  I wanted to work with both composition and improvisation on an equal level – using contrasting forms, different dimensions, randomness, parallel directions which weren’t necessarily meant to express anything specific other than to work within the frame of the piece itself.”

The sounds on  … And Poppies From Kandahar come from the studio and the stage, close-mic’d instruments and field recordings, the clank of a bottle and the grandeur of an orchestra.   Says Bang, “As a ‘samplist’ I collect sounds that may become useful in other situations. It´s much like collecting sand shells without knowing how to use them – just keeping them because of their pure beauty.” 

The result transcends idiom or genre.  A sample of guitarist Eivind Aarset clicks over humble handclaps on “The Midwife’s Dilemma”; trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær solos over a melody by Robert Schumann.  “Self Injury” is a hybrid of live and studio tapes, where upright bass casts a pall over Arve Henriksen’s monastic falsetto.   And “Passport Control” excerpts  “Gammler Zen + Hohe Berge” by Germany’s Kammerflimmer Kollektief, marrying its urgent tempo to wary brass.

The conclusion, “Exile from Paradise,” is a performance of Sidsel Endresen’s “Undertow” that was taped at Punkt Festival 2008 – and that features Jon Hassell on trumpet.  “To me, Jon is one of the most important philosophers of our time.  I can hear his influence in a lot of peoples work, including my own.” Hassell’s solo, sweeping and pacifistic, blesses an unforgettable journey across borders and eras, from the fictional to the indescribable.