On the album Sails Set, recorded at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, we can hear the same trio line-up as featured on the critically acclaimed album Elegy: bassist Mats Eilertsen (Tord Gustavsen), pianist Harmen Fraanje (Michael Moore) and drummer Thomas Stronen (Food, Meadow).Sails Set offers exclusively improvised material, relatively short and often melodic pieces in solo, duo or trio format. "Our goal has been to create improvised tunes, sounds and situations that could equally well have been composed and produced," says Eilertsen. The members of the trio communicate seamlessly and effortlessly, and all three possess a richly varied palette of sounds and make a creative contribution to the ensemble, both as soloists and accompanists. Mats and Thomas have joined forces on a wide variety of projects since they met at the conservatory in Trondheim in the mid-90s. Among these are bands such as Food, the Maria Kannegaard Trio, Parish and Turanga. Pianist Harmen Fraanje met Mats when the latter lived in the Netherlands for a period of time, and since then they have stayed in touch and played together regularly in various connections.
