Nils Petter Molvær

Norwegian trumpet player, composer and producer, born September 18, 1960 in Langevåg on the island of Sula, Norway.

His musical role models include Miles Davis, Don Cherry, Billie Holiday, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, Joni Mitchell and Bill Laswell. He is considered a pioneer of the fusion of jazz and electronic music.

At the beginning of his career he played in the formation Oslo 13 led by Jon Balke. The quintet with Lotte Anker, Mette Petersen, Klavs Hovman and Ole Rømer released the album Being on Stunt Records in 1993. He became known to a wider audience through his debut album Khmer, on which Molvær contrasts his ethereal playing and his feverish, hoarse trumpet tone with powerful electronic beats. Khmer received a great deal of attention and excellent reviews; for example, Molvær received the German Record Critics' Award and the American newspaper L.A. Weekly named Khmer the Jazz Album of the Year in 1998. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album 92nd in its 2013 list of the 100 best jazz albums.

This was followed in 2000 by the album Solid Ether and the following year by the pure remix album Recoloured, on which various guest musicians and DJs participated, including Bill Laswell and Funkstörung. The album NP3 was released in 2002 and Streamer in the summer of 2004. Streamer was released on Molvær's own, newly founded label Sula. In 2005, Molvær released another studio album, ER, on which, in addition to himself, the singers Sidsel Endresen and Elin Rosseland, but also guitarist Eivind Aarset and pianist Magne Furuholmen (formerly of a-ha) set important accents.

He also wrote the music for the German film Stratosphere Girl by M. X. Oberg. In 1998 he received the Norwegian Gammleng Prize in the jazz category. In 2003 he was awarded the Buddyprisen from the Norwegian Jazz Forum. In 2021, Molvær received the European Film Award together with Peter Brötzmann for the music in the historical drama Große Freiheit.

He is the son of Jens Arne Molvær and nephew of Askjell Molvær.