SOLO
Sebastian formed his solo project in 2012. The band is a jazz quartet with saxophone, piano, bass and drums. The group contains some of the most experienced musicians in Norway.
The music is rooted in the Nordic jazz tradition and the songs are lyrical, melodic and rhythmic. With a background in traditional jazz, free improvisation, Norwegian and American folk music, soul, pop and rock, the musicians in the band have a wide range of musical references, which contributes to the group's unique sound.
Fremtidsfabler (Future Stories) is Sebastians second album and will be released january 19th 2024.
The compositions depict interpersonal relationships, important events and feelings that have characterized various eras so far in life.
The album is a jazz record where the bandleader and fellow musicians play around with mixing the Nordic improvisational tradition with traditional, American groove and riff-based music. The instrumentation on the record is both electric and acoustic, and the soundscape bears the stamp of the composer's fascination with the raw and unpolished ideal of sound from the 1970s.
Beside from the quartet, the orchestra on the album contains a string quintet with some of the best classical musicians in the country.
Even tough the parts are written, the band is given a lot of freedom to color the sound of and add playfulness to the music.
The single JEFF releases november 24th.
"... It's both cool and unusual for someone to have the huge breadth of musical skills that Sebastian Haugen-Markussen displays here. Both it - and he - are highly welcome."
(Tor Hammerø)
Skarvesteinen (Rock of Cormorant) is a tribute to Andøya, a weather-beaten island in Northern Norway. Some of the stories the composer portrays through the music are taken from the hard lives led by fishermen 200 years ago, the bird life on the outer edges of the island or the mighty Northern Lights over the mountain peaks at Bleik.
Some of Sebastian’s strongest childhood memories come from being on Andøya.
Fishing trips, playing on the shore, hide-and-seek with the Northern Lights and mountain walks on the peaks are some of the things he can thank his grandparents for.
"... he composed all the music on Skarvesteinen himself; it starts with a bass solo that is accompanied only towards the very end by a small amount of vocals. This is a beautiful melody that gives a clear picture of Haugen-Markussen's skills. "
(Jan Granlie, salt-peanuts)