{{Short description|Norwegian jazz group}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Masqualero | image = | caption = | image_size = | origin = Oslo, Norway | genre = Jazz | years_active = 1983–1991 | label = Odin, ECM | website = {{URL|www.arildandersen.com/tag/masqualero}} | current_members = Arild Andersen<br />Jon Christensen <br />Tore Brunborg <br />Nils Petter Molvær <br />Jon Balke<br />Frode Alnæs }}
'''Masqualero''' (1983–1991) was a Norwegian jazz group. Originally named The Arild Andersen Quintet,<ref name="lea">{{cite news |last1=Lea |first1=Nick |title=Arild Andersen – A New Group & a Positive Affirmation |url=https://jazzviews.net/arild-andersen-a-new-group-a-positive-affirmation/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |work=Jazz Views |issue=November 25 |publisher=[Jazz Views] |date=2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Arild Andersen |url=https://ecmrecords.com/artists/arild-andersen/ |website=ECM Records |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref> the group soon changed its name to Masqualero<ref name=snl>{{Cite web |url=http://snl.no/Masqualero |title=Masqualero Biography - SNL.no|date=18 June 2024 }} Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian)</ref> in celebration of the Wayne Shorter composition.<ref name=kelman>{{cite web |last1=Kelman |first1=John |title=Masqualero: Masqualero |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/masqualero-masqualero-by-john-kelman |website=AllAboutJazz |publisher=Elite Cafemedia |access-date=18 January 2022 |date=8 January 2015}}</ref> Masqualero recorded four albums, three of which were awarded the Spellemannsprisen.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tucker |first1=Michael |title=Obituary: Jon Christensen |url=https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2020/03/01/obituary-jon-christensen/ |website=Jazz Journal |access-date=19 January 2022 |date=March 2020}}</ref> The group were considered an important influence on the evolution of Nordic jazz<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jenkins |first1=Todd S. |title=Free Jazz and Free Improvisation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkAHIkNh3CIC|date=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=9780313333132 |pages=12 |access-date=19 January 2022}}</ref><ref name=nicholson>{{cite book |last1=Nicholson |first1=Stuart |title=Is Jazz Dead? Or Has It Moved to a New Address |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rnp9AwAAQBAJ|date=2014 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=London |isbn=9781136730931 |pages=210 |access-date=19 January 2022}}</ref> and have subsequently become known as a 'Norwegian supergroup'.<ref name="kelman"/><ref name="bares">{{cite journal |last1=Bares |first1=William |title=Sounds of Silence: The Politics and Poetics of Norwegian |journal=American Music Review |date=2011 |volume=XLI |issue=1 |url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/academics/centers/hitchcock/publications/amr/v41-1/bares.php |access-date=20 March 2023}}</ref>
==Biography== Conceived by Arild Andersen (double bass) and Jon Christensen (drums) as a vehicle for their talents, the ensemble assumed a group dynamic with the inclusion of Jon Balke (keyboards), Tore Brunborg (saxophone) and Nils Petter Molvær (trumpet),<ref name="lea" /> all of whom contributed compositions to the group's recordings.<ref name="kelman"/> The group dynamic was considered by Andersen to be an important component of Masqualero's sound, with a keen focus on musical interplay such that no single player was a soloist or leader.<ref name="biermann">{{cite web |last1=Biermann |first1=I.J. |last2=Andersen |first2=Arild |title=ECM50 - 1991 Arild Andersen on Masqualero |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzN23K1goGc |publisher=YouTube |access-date=20 March 2023 |date=2019}}</ref>
Initially called The Arild Andersen Quintet,<ref name="grillo">{{cite news |last1=Grillo |first1=Tyran |title=MASQUALERO: BANDE À PART (ECM 1319) |url=https://ecmreviews.com/2012/01/05/bande-a-part/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |work=Between Sound And Space: ECM Records And Beyond |issue=January 05 |date=2012}}</ref> the group name of Masqualero was one that listeners inadvertently selected for the group.<ref name="lea" /> Interviewed in 2022 about the change of group name, Andersen commented:
{{Blockquote |text=We recorded the first album for the Norwegian jazz federation's own label, Odin. The record was called 'Masqualero' after the Wayne Shorter tune. People started to refer to the band as the Masqualero Quintet, so a couple of years later we decided to go for that name and it worked well in Scandinavia. But the second time we came back for a tour in England under the name Masqualero, nobody really knew that this was the same quintet touring the year or so before [...] Then I understood I should have kept the Arild Andersen Quintet name.<ref name="lea" />}}
Balke left the group following the release of ''Bande À Part'' in 1986 to pursue his own musical projects,<ref name="biermann" /> to be replaced by Frode Alnæs (guitar) on Masqualero's third album, ''Aero''.<ref name="grillo2">{{cite news |last1=Grillo |first1=Tyran |title=MASQUALERO: AERO (ECM 1367) |url=https://ecmreviews.com/2012/01/16/aero/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |work=Between Sound And Space: ECM Records And Beyond |issue=January 16 |date=2012}}</ref> The group performed as a quartet for their final album, ''Re-Enter'', recording with neither a pianist or guitarist.<ref name="kelman" /><ref name="grillo3">{{cite news |last1=Grillo |first1=Tyran |title=MASQUALERO: RE-ENTER (ECM 1437) |url=https://ecmreviews.com/2012/06/14/re-enter/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |work=Between Sound And Space: ECM Records And Beyond |issue=June 14 |date=2012}}</ref>
As frequent recipients of the prestigious Spellemannprisen,<ref name="Spellemannprisen2">{{cite web |last1=Spellemannprisen |title=Masqualero vinner Årets Jazz (Spellemannprisen 1983) |date=7 June 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl8RJwRDSEg |publisher=Spellemannprisen [YouTube] |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref><ref name="Spellemannprisen1">{{cite web |last1=Spellemannprisen |title=Masqualero vinner Årets Jazz (Spellemannprisen 1986) |date=3 April 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frSZwS0CZ9A |publisher=Spellemannprisen [YouTube]}}</ref><ref name="Spellemannprisen3">{{cite web |last1=Spellemannprisen |title=Masqualero vinner Årets Jazz (Spellemannprisen 1991) |date=18 May 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=644Kart8TWU |publisher=Spellemannprisen [YouTube] |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref> Masqualero are influential for being an early distillation of the Nordic or Scandinavian jazz style,<ref name="nicholson"/> a style which has continued to be developed by its original members through other musical projects<ref name="medboe">{{cite book |last1=Medbøe |first1=Haftor |date=2019 |editor-last=Howell |editor-first=Tim |title=The Nature of Nordic Music |publisher=Sage |orig-date=1st pub. 2019 |pages=123–138 |chapter=Chapter 7: Cold commodities: Discourses of decay and purity in a globalised jazz world |chapter-url=https://napier-repository.worktribe.com/output/2406865/cold-commodities-discourses-of-decay-and-purity-in-a-globalised-jazz-world |isbn=9781315462851 }}</ref> and cultivated by Manfred Eicher's ECM Records more generally.<ref name="bares" /><ref name="medboe" /><ref name="porter2">{{cite news |last1=Porter |first1=Christopher |title=The Sound of Young Norway |url=https://jazztimes.com/features/profiles/the-sound-of-young-norway/ |access-date=2 June 2023 |work=JazzTimes |issue=May 09 |publisher=Madavor Media, LLC. |date=2019}}</ref> Masqualero's recorded output remains highly influential among present-day jazz performers, including Tord Gustavsen<ref name="glasser">{{cite news |last1=Glasser |first1=Brian |title=Life-changing albums: 'Bande À Part' by Masqualero [Tord Gustavsen] |url=https://www.jazzwise.com/Features/article/life-changing-albums-bande-a-part-by-masqualero |access-date=2 June 2023 |work=Jazzwise |issue=January 11 |publisher=MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd |date=2019}}</ref> and Petter Frost Fadnes.<ref name="fadnes">{{cite book |last1=Frost Fadnes |first1=Petter |title=Improvisational Architecture |work=Doctoral thesis, University of Leeds |date=2004 |publisher=University of Leeds |location=Leeds (UK) |url=https://www.academia.edu/36040707 |access-date=2 June 2023}}</ref> Critical appraisal of Masqualero reflects this, with their impact frequently deemed to be "seminal"<ref name="conrad">{{cite news |last1=Conrad |first1=Thomas |title=Arild Andersen: Burning in the Cold, Dark North |url=https://jazztimes.com/archives/arild-andersen-burning-in-the-cold-dark-north/ |access-date=9 June 2023 |work=JazzTimes |issue=April 01 |publisher=Madavor Media, LLC. |date=2009}}</ref> and "ground breaking".<ref name="nicholson2">{{cite news |last1=Nicholson |first1=Stuart |title=Tore Brunborg: Slow Snow |url=https://www.jazzwise.com/review/tore-brunborg-slow-snow |access-date=9 June 2023 |work=Jazzwise |issue=June |publisher=MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd |date=2015}}</ref>
In recent interviews Andersen has expressed regret that the band changed its name to Masqualero,<ref name="biermann" /> since both he and Christensen were well known in Scandinavia and even internationally.<ref name="kelman" /> Recognition of Masqualero's music was therefore lower than it should have been, while the name also gave a false impression of the group's music.<ref name="lea" /> While performing in Santa Monica, Andersen has noted that audience members, who were unfamiliar with the group's music, thought Masqualero was a "Mexican salsa band".<ref name="biermann" />
==Honors== * Spellemannprisen 1983 for ''Masqualero'' <ref name="SpellemannprisenArkiv">{{cite web |title=Spellemannprisen Arkiv |date=2 September 2019 |url=https://spellemann.no/arkiv/ |publisher=Spellemannprisen |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref><ref name="Spellemannprisen2" /> * Spellemannprisen 1986 for ''Bande a Part'' <ref name="SpellemannprisenArkiv" /><ref name="Spellemannprisen1" /> * Spellemannprisen 1991 for ''Re-Enter'' <ref name="SpellemannprisenArkiv" /><ref name="Spellemannprisen3" />
==Discography== * ''Masqualero'' (Odin, 1983) * ''Bande À Part'' (ECM, 1986) * ''Aero'' (ECM, 1988) * ''Re-Enter'' (ECM, 1991)
==References== {{Portal|Norway|Jazz}} {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.arildandersen.com/tag/masqualero/ Masqualero at Arild Andersen Official Website]
{{s-start}} {{s-ach|aw}} {{s-bef | before = Knut Riisnæs Quartet}} {{s-ttl | title = Recipient of the Jazz Spellemannsprisen | years = 1982}} {{s-aft | after = Laila Dalseth}} {{s-bef | before = Per Husby}} {{s-ttl | title = Recipient of the Jazz Spellemannsprisen | years = 1986}} {{s-aft | after = Bjørn Johansen}} {{s-bef | before = Oslo Groove Company}} {{s-ttl | title = Recipient of the Jazz Spellemannsprisen | years = 1991}} {{s-aft | after = Knut Riisnæs & Jon Christensen}} {{s-end}} {{Arild Andersen}} {{authority control}} Category:Norwegian jazz ensembles Category:Musical groups established in 1982 Category:1982 establishments in Norway Category:Musical groups from Oslo Category:Spellemannprisen winners Category:ECM Records artists