Frank Carlberg

New York-based Finnish pianist and composer Frank Carlberg blends aspects of Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus with contemporary classical and avant-garde influences. Many of his smaller ensemble recordings feature poetry by writers such as Jack Kerouac, Anselm Hollo, Robert Creeley, or Ken Mikolowski, often sung by close collaborator Christine Correa, but Carlberg has also recorded in instrumental settings and big-band contexts. He released his first album, Blind Drive, in 1992. Numerous albums with Correa followed, including The Crazy Woman (1996), Variations on a Summer Day (2000), The American Dream (2007), Uncivilized Ruminations (2011), and Word Circus (2015); furthermore, Carlberg recorded with his Tivoli Trio (2010) and released duo albums with musicians like Noah Preminger and Ran Blake. With his group Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble, he also explored the music of Thelonious Monk, producing the records Monk Dreams, Hallucinations and Nightmares (2017) and Elegy for Thelonious (2024).