Tingvall Trio

A sophisticated instrumental ensemble, Tingvall Trio (which takes its name from their leader, pianist Martin Tingvall) brings together contemporary and post-bop jazz with traditions from the members' Swedish, German, and Cuban backgrounds. They debuted with 2006's Skagerrak and charted in Germany with 2011's Vägen. They have earned three ECHO Jazz awards and continued to develop their globally minded jazz sound on albums like 207's Cirklar, 2020's Dance, and 2023's Birds.

Born in 1974 in the southern province of Schonen, Sweden, Martin Tingvall started on piano at a young age. He attended the local Skurups Folkhögskola community college and later honed his jazz piano, composition, and improvisation skills at the Malmö School of Music and privately with pianist Bobo Stenson. After college, he moved to Germany, where he played with a bevy of artists, including Udo Lindenberg, Inga Rumpf, and Gunther Gabriel, among others.

In 2003, he founded the Tingvall Trio, joining forces with Cuban bassist Omar Rodriguez Calvo and German drummer Jürgen Spiegel. Bringing together their modern jazz chops with traditions carried over from their diverse backgrounds, they debuted in 2006 with Skagerrak. The trio garnered wider attention with 2011's Vägen, which hit the German album chart. After a live album, they returned with the 2014 studio effort Beat. In 2017, the trio released their seventh album, Cirklar.

Along the way, they picked up accolades, including taking home three prestigious ECHO Jazz awards for ensemble of the year. In 2020, they returned with Dance, which found them drawing up an array of global styles, from reggae and Latin to Middle Eastern sounds. A mix of Latin, African, and European sounds also marked 2023's Birds. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi