Eriksen followed pianists Tord Gustavsen and Helge Lien into Silje Nergaard’s band. One of Scandinavia’s top jazz singers, she is a shrewd judge of musical talent, with each pianist emerging the better for their experience and going on to become successful bandleaders in their own right.

Since 2010, Eriksen has released four very well realised trio albums on Rune Grammofon with 2018’s Perfectly Unhappy with Andy Sheppard added on tenor sax. In the Mountains, his sixth album for the label, continues this association on three live tracks – ‘1974’, ‘Anthem’ and ‘In the Mountains’ – recorded at Oslo’s Nasjonal Jazzscene during their joint tour of northern Europe. Both Eriksen and Sheppard are elegant, lyrical and melodically assured improvisers, mature and secure in their conception. Their tracks together, plus several videos on YouTube, suggest Sheppard had found the ideal context for his playing. The remaining tracks on the album are taken from appearances by the trio at the Nasjonal Jazzscene in 2020, Oslo’s Propellor Music Division from the same year and the Poznań Festival in Poland in 2021, which includes an excellent version of ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ a composition by Polish jazz legend Krzysztof Komeda. Together these tracks comprise an album of classy, inventive jazz improvisation that’s pretty near perfect.