Offsetting eerie, tranquil, tinkling piano lines with Latin bass rhythms and hard rock-style drum thunder, progressive jazz group Tingvall Trio have been turning heads with their dramatic, avant garde grooves since first forming in Ystad, Sweden, in 2003. In his youth Swedish pianist Martin Tingvall studied under the guidance of classical composer Bobo Svensson but moved to Germany in 1999 and learned his trade playing with local rock and pop acts such as Inga Hull, Gunter Gabriel and Udo Lindenberg. Teaming up with Cuban double bass player Omar Rodriguez Calvo and former heavy metal drummer Jurgen Spiegel, Tingvall's own compositions captured the secluded spirit of his upbringing in rural Sweden, but were transformed into more funky, climatic grooves when the trio came together on debut album Skagerrak in 2006. Their wild fusion of ideas drew comparisons to the Esbjorn Svensson Trio and Koop on albums Norr and Vattensaga, and their popularity with German critics landed them the ECHO Jazz Prize for Ensemble of the Year in 2010 and 2012. Continuing to mesmerise with their icy, free-form jazz-rock, they released albums Beat in 2014 and Cirklar in 2017 and remain a unique force in the world of avant garde, experimental music. In the 2020s, the trio followed with Dance (2020), Birds (2023), and Pax (2025).
