Colin May meets trumpeter Arve Henriksen whose sound bridges jazz, classical and folk forms and is rooted in his Norwegian childhood

Ever busy Norwegian trumpeter and sonic explorer Arve Henriksen is just back from taking his twins to the kindergarden when we hook up with him in his studio over a Skype link ahead of his concert at Holywell Music Room based on Henriksen’s much praised 2013 album Places of Worship.

With him will be longstanding colleagues Evind Aarset, guitar and electronics and Jan Bang live sampling and remixes, plus video artist Anastasia Isaschsen.

Known for the distinctive ethereal tone of his trumpet, the award -winning Henriksen trained as a jazz musician at Trondheim Conservatory but his musical language now ranges over electronica, contemporary classical, often wordless vocals and Norwegian folk influences, so resists easy classification. Immensely versatile, he has played in many contexts including with a Japanese koto player to a rock band to a full classical orchestra, worked with dancers and theatre productions, and written film music.

Already this year he has played solo concerts, gigs with Supersilent the long-running improvising experimental group of which he is a founder member, recorded with Trio Mediaeval with whom he has appeared in Oxford , got music out of an ice trumpet and howled under the new moon at this year’s Ice Music Festival , participated in a chamber music festival and in small group jazz improv events.

Henriksen now lives in Sweden though his roots are in western Norway where he has a summer house. "Where I am from is between Bergan and Alesund. The fjords are the centre of tourism so in the holidays it is very busy but from September to May is very quiet, and for two and a half months it is dark because of the steepness of the cliffs."

At home he had an early introduction to what was to become his instrument. "When I was four I discovered this smelly trumpet in a cupboard," he says. "I think my father intended to do a correspondence course to learn it.

"I wondered what was this strange thing for, it had a bad tasting mouthpiece. I still have it somewhere."

His father may have got the trumpet in response to local music culture.

"There were a lot of brass bands in western Norway and a strong connection to brass bands in England," he says. "People would come from England to conduct."

Deeply interested in timelines in music, how it was played, changes in music technology, the social and political context, Arve now considers his own early steps as reflecting jazz’s timeline.

"I started with the trumpet at 10 with this brass band tradition," he goes on. "I was keen on football too but decided music was more interesting. I heard New Orleans jazz from a brass quartet of four brothers who came every year. My parents were very supportive and I went to summer schools and got an introduction to big bands, and then was listening of course to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Chet Baker and at Trondheim got introduced to cool jazz, Gerry Mulligan. In practice I would play along to Weather Report."

At Trondheim too, Arve started to find his distinctive voice. He says: "I listened to all sorts of tapes in the library. The sound of the Japanese flute, the Shakuhachi, was important, as was the Seljefløyte - the Norwegian willow flute which I heard while growing up".

He also cites fellow Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molaevar, a pioneer of fusing jazz and electronic music.

Henriksen emerged with an otherworldly flute like quality to his trumpet very different from most American jazz.

"It may seem a big jump from the outside but from the inside I am just continuing to explore the possibilities of the trumpet and trying to find new tones," he says. And he has continued to probe the trumpet’s possibilities ever since: "The trumpet is my tool and I use my voice and electronics to extend it. I remember as a six year-old always making up my own songs and singing them round the house.

"I still do this sort of thing, and in my car I make up words, my own language.’’

He now has what he calls a ‘toolbox’ which he hopes means "If I am pulled into a room to improvise, I can respond to any situation."

Arve must be one of music’s most energetic of collaborators, appearing on 140 CDs and counting.

"Some of these albums have been really important for me because I have found something new, even if only a small phrase."

Of his relationship with Jan Bang and Eivind Aarset, with whom he will play in Oxford, he says: "The collaboration with the two fantastic soundmasters Jan and Eivind has been going on for years and they are very important.

"It has always been very important for me to be able to go further and to explore and to create the music together. It has been a very solid teamwork."

Of the upcoming Oxford performance, he says:‘It will not be the same as the CD. It is two and a half years since the CD and we will bring to the live performance things that Ervin and Jan and I have been working on since then."

We can expect spontaneous interplay between the instruments and Jan Bang’s live sampling.

He says: "Rather than going from A to Z, I like to make the note last in tiny variations. Jan is really good at that, stretching out the tone for two or three minutes."

Video images have only been part of the Places of Worship live once before, and Henriksen remains intrigued to see how they will play into the live performance this time round.

He first visited Oxford in 2004 in an all-Norwegian line-up, also including Eivind Aarset, playing with Tunisian oud maestro Dhaffer Youssef. Henriksen has been back twice in different groups, both at the Holywell Music Room.

"I am really looking forward to playing the Holywell as it is such an old historic place for music," he says. "It feels right to play there as, right now, I am so interested in musical time lines."

As to the concert title, he says: "Places of Worship is a headline. It could be a church or another place or a place inside oneself when you have turned off the mobile phone and tablet. I remember as a child, a meadow in the forest where the sunlight streamed down, and that was my special place. Childhood memories again."

Places of Worship is commissioned by Opera North and promoted by Oxford Contemporary Music at The Holywell Music Room, May 11. Tickets from ocmevents.org