Bio – Live Foyn Friis

Short Bio:

Personal indie-jazz.

Norwegian Live Foyn Friis lived and studied in Denmark. From here, she has exploded onto the international stage with her personal type of indie-jazz.

Jazz Special’s critic was, to put it mildly, excited over her most recent album, Live Foyn Friis with Strings , where the string section gently becomes part of her sound.

Already her debut release, Joy Visible, was a nominated for Best Danish Jazz Album at the Danish Music Awards. Later on, she climbed all the way to the top and won awards for Young Jazz Composer of the Year and Denmark’s New Jazz Star.

Live Foyn Friis has toured in Europe, USA, Africa and South America, and has been selected for Denmark’s musical export shipment to Germany, where her concerts have been completely sold out. The emerging singer has performed with artists such as Brian Blade, John Scofield Überjam Band, Thomas Morgan and Bobby McFerrin.

‘There isn’t a single doubt that you a are listening to a singer-songwriter of divine grace.’ (GAFFA).

‘Live Foyn Friis has real X-factor’ (Jakob Hassing, Jazz Special).

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UTDANNING:
– Solist, (post-master, doctors) Rytmisk vokal –
Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium, Aarhus, 2012-2015

– Mastergrad, Rytmisk Sang og Pedagogikk –
Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium, Aarhus, 2009-2011

– Bachelor i rytmisk Vokal –
Musikkonservatoriet i Tromsø, 2005-2009

Ekstra/Videreutdanning:
NMH, Norges Musikkhøyskole – Live Electronics, 2015-2017

CVI, Complete vocal institute ved Cathrine Sadolin, København, 2010/2013

Utveksling på Master på Küngliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm, Afro 2010

Sund Folkehøyskole, Jazz – 2004-2005

Kunstnerisk produksjon:

Jeg har jobbet med bandene Friis & Co, Groove Design og Amok siden studiene i Tromsø. I Aarhus startet jeg trioen Foyn Trio!(med Jens Mikkel Madsen og Alex Jønsson), og utga debutalbumet Joy Visible i 2011. Vi ble nominert til Ungjazz/Jazz Comets, og fikk også spille på ’12 points festivalen, samt JazzAhead i Bremen med den utvidede besetning (oktett med stryk og trommer). I 2014 og 2015 kom platene Running Heart og With Strings, og vi fikk reise på dobbeltour i Tsjekkia med John Scofield Ûberjamband. Dessuten ble vi invitert til Sør Amerika på turné, og jeg var på min første turné i Brasil i 2013. Siden kom jeg tilbake til Uruguay, Brasil og Argentina hvor jeg opptrådte med strykeorkester og band på noen av de viktigste jazzscener og festivaler.
Jeg vant prisen Årets Unge Jazzkomponist og fremførte min musikk med DR Big Band i København. Dette ble starten på et prosjekt som munnet ut i albumet With Aarhus Jazz Orchestra som kom ut i 2017. Siden 2012 fikk jeg arrangert flere og flere av mine sanger ut for storband, og har opptrådt med forskjellige jazz orkester rundt om i verden. Med Aarhus Jazz Orchestra dro vi på turné til Russland i 2015, og albumet vårt ble nominert til The Years Big Band album i Japan og til DMA – Danish Music Awards. (Den Danske Spellemannsprisen). Mine tidligere utgivelser har også blitt nominert til DMA og samtlige priser.

I 2018 startet jeg labelet FOYN Records, og ga ut albumet WILLOW med Nikolaj Hess, AC og Daniel Sommer. Og videre dro jeg på turné i LA og New Orleans: Dessuten ble jeg signet på Universal i 2017 og slapp singelen København under navnet Liive. Flere singler har fulgt siden, og jeg har sunget musikk til TV2s Julekalender med Burhan G, og i 2018 vant vi prisen Årets Live Camp på SMUKFEST FESTIVALEN og fikk spille support for Kim Larsen, Mø og Britney Spears. Liive ligger mere over i pop sjangeren, mens jeg har prosjektene Live Sings Sassy, Live Foyn Friis og Liis som er mere over i jazz og indiejazz landskapet. Bizetstrasse med Liis kom ut i 2018, og albumet FOYN under mitt navn i 2019. Og i januar 2020 utga vi albumet Parents med The Baby Zebras.
Dessuten har jeg medvirket til mange andre albums med blandet annet Touché Monet på Mosaic (2018) og Gypset (2015) og The Bob Nova Project på The Golden Sun (2018) og Sleepers Express (2014), med Randers Big Band på Live Live (2015), med Echo Me på Sleep is Key (2018). Og div singler i eget navn og i duo med Thomas Torstrup, Smil (2020).

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Long Bio:

Live Foyn Friis (born the 10th of September 1985) is a Norwegian jazz singer and songwriter educated at the University of Tromsø’s Faculty of Fine Arts, The Royal College of Music in Stockholm, the Complete Vocal Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, and with a Master degree from The Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus 2009-2011. She is currently studying Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Music(speciale) at The Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus.

She has initiated and been a part of many different bands and musical projects, toured nationally and internationally with several different bands, such as Foyn Trio!, Liis & Live Foyn Friis. She has also performed with well-known names such as North Norwegian Symphonic Orchestra(NO), Danmarks Radios Big Band(DK), Aarhus Jazz Orchestra(DK), Brian Blade(US), Thomas Morgan(US) and Bobby McFerrin(US).

She was nominated for the Danish Music Awards 2012 with her debutalbum Joy Visible(The Best Danish Vocal Jazz Album), and in 2015 with Running Heart & With Strings(Vocal Jazz Album & Special Album of the Year), and she won the prise The Years Young Jazz Composer, and Denmarks New Jazz Star last year by DR and DPA.

MAIN PROJECT:
Currently she is working with “Foyn Trio!”/”Live Foyn Friis” which exists in three ways:
The trio, “Foyn Trio!” which started in 2009. They made the album Joy Visible, an improvised pop album, and they have toured around Europe with this music over the last years. Line up: Live Foyn Friis – vocals, loops, Alex Jønsson – guitar, voice, Jens Mikkel Madsen – bass, voice.

They also formed a quartet named “Live Foyn Friis”, consisting Live Foyn Friis – vocals, Alex Jønsson – guitar, voice, Jens Mikkel Madsen – bass, shynts, voice & Andreas Skamby – drums. This is the same band, only with drummer Andreas Skamby in addition. They made the next album: Running Heart. This is a indie-jazz album, where they stretch the borders between jazz and indie-pop. And this band is fit to play at pop-rock sceens, and festivals. The music is much louder!

Also the project “Live Foyn Friis with Strings” released the album – With Strings. Here they are 8th musicians, with the string quartet. (Featured an Euphonium on some songs). This music is more similar to the first Foyn Trio! album, and more fit to jazz scenes and jazzfestivals. The music is chamber-jazz. Crossover, with beautiful arrangements for strings made by Kasper Bai(DK) & Foyn.

This is her heart project, and Live is the bandleader and composer in the trio, quartet and 8th-tet. But as all many jazz musicians, she has also has other bands and projects where she are featuring artist.

Other projects:

Live Foyn Friis with Jazz Orchestra – Her music arranged out for big band. This started out with her performing with the DR Big Band in Copenhagen 2012. She got more of her songs arranged out for big band by the danish arranger Jesper Riis. Now she has a hole night concert concept with her music with big band, and is touring as a soloist and perform this with different big bands. She released an album with this music with Aarhus Jazz Orchestra in 2017, which was nominated for international prizes as “The Years Big Band Album” in Japan & Danish Music Awards, for “The Years Vocal Jazz Album”.

Live Foyn Friis Jazz Quintet – They play Live’s more jazzy music, made with inspiration by the nordic jazz, and american jazz. This is with much improvisation, and scat, and they mix the old american jazz standards with Lives jazz compositions. This band is concisting: Thomas Torstrup(NO) – piano, Trygve Fiske(NO) – bass, Jakop Janssønn – drums and Hanna Paulsberg(NO) – sax/Simen Kiil Halvorsen(NO) – trumpet. This band went on tour in Africa – Angola, november 2014.
They went in Propeller Studio in Oslo, with the drummer Erik Nylander(SE) and the trumpet player Hayden Powell(NO) and recorded the album Live & The Jazz Cats to be released in 2020.

KidDrum – A Danish-American-Norwegian group consisting Thomas Morgan(US) – bass, Nikolaj Hess(DK) – piano, Daniel Sommer(DK) – drums. They will play at some festivals in Denmark during the summer 2014, and record an album in System Two Studios in the fall 2014 with music of Live, and some jazz standards, with arrangements of Hess.

The album Willow was recorded in Copenhagen at The Village Studio with Nikolaj Hess(DK) – piano, Daniel Sommer(DK) – drums and Anders Christensen(DK) – on bass, and released in 2018.

And the album FOYN is the 5th from her band from Aarhus, released in 2019.

German Bio:

Live Foyn Friis

Indie-Jazz? Schonmal gehört? Nein? Halb so wild. Auch hier ist die skandinavische Jazz-Szene einmal mehr vorn. Es geht hier um genau die Sorte Jazz, die das über die Hamburger Landesgrenzen hinaus bekannte Überjazz Festival seit vier Jahren gekonnt präsentiert: Einen Jazz, der sich nicht der originalgetreuen Wiederholung zahllos gehörter Standards verliert, sondern neue Wege wagt und dabei andere musikalische Genres miteinbezieht. Die Musikerinnen und Musiker der nordischen Länder haben seit jeher drauf, diese vermeintlich gegensätzlichen Welten so miteinander zu verbinden, als sei es das normalste der Welt. Denn wer sagt eigentlich, dass Musiker immer auch nur genau die Sorte Musik hören müssen, die sie selbst machen? Eben. Und gerade im Jazz sollte größtmögliche Offenheit ja das Ziel sein.

Stilistische Offenheit kann man der in Norwegen geborene Sängerin, Songschreiberin und Komponistin Live Foyn Friis, die neben einem abgeschlossenen Masterstudium der Musik bereits zahllose Band-Projekte, internationale Tourneen und Kollaborationen mit Weltstars wie Bobby McFerrin, Brian Blade oder Bugge Wesseltoft vorzuweisen hat, in jedem Fall bescheinigen.

Ihr Debutalbum „Joy Visible“von 2012 war dann auch ein kunterbuntes, verspieltes, aber immer gekonntes Sammelsurium aus Jazz, Folk und Pop. Und, ganz nebenbei, aus dem Stand heraus ein Riesenerfolg, der ihr eine Nominierung als „Best Vocal Jazz Album of the year“ für den dänischen Grammy und gleich zwei Auszeichnungen als „Denmark´s New Jazz Star“ und „The Years Young Jazz Composer in Denmark 2012“ einbrachte. Bei einem derart warmen Empfang bleibt man als Künstlerin am besten einfach gleich im Land – und so nennt Live Foyn Friis nun Aarhus ihre neue Heimatstadt!

An der Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, an der sie weiter Musik studiert, finden sich natürlich jede Menge fähiger Gleichgesinnter – und so konnte sie für ihr neues Album „Running Heart“ mit Alex Jønsson (git, effects, vox), Jens Mikkel Madsen (Contrabass, vox) und Andreas Skamby (dr) ein äußerst fähiges Trio gewinnen, das ihren Eigenkompositionen noch mehr Dichte, Charakter und Tiefe verleiht – hier kommt neben mitreißender Lust an Zusammenspiel und gemeinsamer Improvisation zu den bereits bekannten Jazz- und Pop-Elementen auch noch eine gehörige Portion Indiepop und Electronica hinzu, was den Sound ihrer Band auf ein neues Level hebt und damit zu etwas völlig eigenem macht. Das blieb natürlich nicht lange geheim: Nicht umsonst wurden sie von niemand geringerem als Altmeister John Scofield für die Tournee seines Überjam Projektes persönlich ins Vorprogramm eingeladen!

Nach zahllosen Konzerten in ganz Europa, Brasilien und New York ist diese Band nun derart eingespielt, dass ihnen ein Ruf als grandioses und furioses Live-Erlebnis vorauseilt. Dem können wir nur zustimmen.

Und wenn man sich nur ein paar Schnipsel der Youtube-Mitschnitte von Live Foyn Friis ansieht, weiß man sofort, warum der skandinavische Jazz seinen exzellenten weltweiten Ruf völlig zurecht hat.

Frehn Hawel

Discography

Albums: