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Jan Gunnar Hoff is acknowledged as one of Norway´s leading jazzpianists, receiving the Buddy-award, the highest distinction in Norwegian jazz, for 2013. May 2014 Hoff was appointed an official Steinway & Sons Artist, as one of 7 Norwegian pianists. Hoff is born in Bodø, Northern Norway 1958. His background includes classical piano from the age of 10, progressive rock, pop and jazz. Jan Gunnar Hoff has played and collaborated with international artists like Alex Acuña, Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Maria Joao, Kenwood Dennard, Mathias Eick, Tore Brunborg, Lars Danielsson/Cæcilie Norby, Fathy Salama, Martin France, Anders Jormin, Marilyn Mazur, Arve Henriksen, Per Mathisen, Gary Husband a.o. As a composer, solo artist and co-leader Hoff has released 23 albums and composed 250 works for different settings. In 2005 he received the prestigous Edvard (Grieg)- prize for his jazz mass Meditatus. Meditatus has been performed by choirs in USA, Canada, Iceland, Latvia and Norway. Artists such as Acuña, Håvard Gimse and Marianne Beate Kielland have included Hoff- compositions on their own album releases. In 2013 Jan Gunnar Hoff and his "Hoff Ensemble" was nominated for US Grammy Awards with the album Quiet winter night (2L-087). Hoff´s 2014- album Fly North received great reviews and was nominated for the Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannpris. Jan Gunnar Hoff has performed in Los Angeles, New York, London, Zagreb, Milano, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Stockholm, Istanbul, Havana, Riga, Tokyo and other major cities. In 2018 Hoff released 3 albums based on his collaborations with Mike Stern, Horacio Hernandez, Audun Kleive, Anders Jormin, Per Mathisen. He has made 4 solo piano albums for the US Grammy-winning label 2L, the last one Home was released in 2022. Hoff is currently working as a professor at the University of Agder in Kristiansand and at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø.
