Pixel

Oslo, Norway-based modern creative jazz-pop quartet Pixel were founded in 2010 by bassist/singer Ellen Andrea Wang, who began playing the double bass at age 17 after first studying classical violin and piano. Trained at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Wang combines her confident bass playing with an appealing indie pop-flavored singing style in Pixel, a group also noteworthy for its instrumentation of bass, trumpet, saxophone, and drums -- lacking a chordal instrument in a manner similar to the classic Ornette Coleman Quartet. The three other members of Pixel -- trumpeter Jonas Kilmork Vernøy, tenor and soprano saxophonist Harald Lassen, and drummer Jon Audun Baar -- also studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, and have been involved in a number of jazz and rock projects. Pixel's debut album, Reminder, was released in 2012 by the Cuneiform label, which also issued the quartet's sophomore album, We Are All Small Pixels, the following year. ~ Dave Lynch