After the highly successful "Perfectly Unhappy" (2018) album with Andy Sheppard, the trio is back with a new album featuring seven brand new songs from the pianist. Captivating and lyrical, always melodic and often melancholic and uplifting at the same time, these are all real tunes. The music has a rich sense of melody coupled with a poignant lyricism that is infectious... the symbiosis between the saxophonist and the trio is truly remarkable.All About Jazz "End Of Summer" was recorded in Oslo in April during lockdown. After getting all their concerts cancelled because of the pandemic, Espen says it was very inspiring to still be able to meet in a recording studio to make new music and keep it all alive. This being their first recording in five years as a trio, Espen is also keen to stress that the collaboration with Andy was not a one-off and that the plan is to "continue working together for a very long time". Espen Eriksen Trio was formed in 2007 and released their debut album in 2010, "End Of Summer" being their fifth. They have toured on four continents, becoming an increasingly popular live act, with a wealth of rich material on their repertoire. The music relies on highly melodic and lyrical instrumentals and a less is more approach and is often credited for its unique voice within today s jazz scene by the international press. To quote BBC in their review of the trio s second album; A wonderfully plaintive jazz record, abandoned to the lost art of melodic minimalism, stripped back and beautifully near bare. No smoke and mirrors, just the graceful chemistry of superb musicians at the top of their game All three musicians have versatile backgrounds ranging from pop to jazz and have played with musicians like Bugge Wesseltoft, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Dhafer Yousef, John Taylor, Vince Mendoza, Eivind Aarset, Knut Reisersrud, Mathias Eick, Nils Petter Molvær, Thomas Strønen, Odd Nordstoga, Håkon Kornstad, Jarle Bernhoft and Bendik Hofseth.
