About Me
The Scorch trio came about as a result of Raoul Björkenheim and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten´s meeting at the Jyvaskyla Summer Jazz Festival in 1998. Hearing each other play, it was immediately obvious to both of them that a collaboration would lead to some highly inspired energetic music. Flaten knew that his heavy rhythm section partner from the group Element, Paal Nilssen Love, was the perfect choice of a drummer, and so several concerts in Finland and a recording for the Finnish radio were set up in early 2000 (part of that recording is included on the compilation CD produced by Wolf Kampman). From the very first sounds they made together, they knew that they were on the same wavelength and subsequent concerts were arranged in Copenhagen, Gothenburg and Oslo. This led to their first recording for Rune Grammofon in 2002, which received very good reviews and was voted as one of the 10 best jazz CDs of the year in The Wire. A second CD was recorded in the winter of 2004 and released on Rune Grammofon during the fall same year.Björkenheim gained recognition on the international scene with his own band Krakatau, recording two CD´s for ECM, and performing at many major European festivals. He developed a shamanistic intensity in his playing which reflects the influences of Hendrix, James Blood Ulmer and Ayler, bringing him to collaborations with Finnish drummer Edward Vesala, Toshinori Kondo, Bill Laswell, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Paul Schútze.Håker Flaten is one of Norway's most in-demand bassists. In addition to Scorch Trio he is a regular member of The Thing (with Mats Gustafsson), Atomic, Close Erase (with Christian Wallumrød), School Days and Petter Wettre Trio. He has also toured with Trygve Seim, Joe McPhee, Chris Potter, Iain Ballamy, Dave Liebman, Tony Oxley, Frode Gjerstad and SPUNK.Paal Nilsen-Love is one of the most profiled players on the Norwegian jazz scene. He has always been occupied with different forms of jazz, but the two factors that are consistently important to him are those of energy and creative freedom. In addition to Scorch Trio he is a regular member of The Thing, School Days, Frode Gjerstad Trio, Atomic and Håkon Kornstad Trio. He has recorded and performed with a number of musicians, from Pat Metheny and Django Bates to Svein Finnerud and Nils Petter Molvær.
