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The Core is one of Norways most energetic and rough jazz bands at the moment. They have played at all the big jazz festivals in the country and been applauded loudly for their unique energy combined with their high quality skills. The music is rooted in acustic modal jazz from the 60s, and The Core combines this music with more contemporary grooves rooted in funk and rock. The music is generous and lets the listener be part of a high-energy journey. It is also beautiful and sober. This, combined with extraordinary stage skills, makes the core something really special on the jazzscene today

A quote from a review of one of their concerts in Oslo, in October 2004, gives a good description of what to expect from this group, who made their first public performance in 2001: "The Core has everything that jazz in 2004 should have: Energy, generosity and an unstoppable youthfulness giving the impression that each concert could be the last." The members of The Core comprise some of Norways new leading artists in the jazz genre.

The Core started in 1999 at the jazz academy in Trondheim, Norway. Here the quartet, consisting of Steinar Raknes on double bass, saxplayer Kjetil Möster, pianist Erlend Slettevoll and composer and drummer Espen Aalberg, musically fell in love. Their first album Vision has been a great success, and the rewives had been fantastic. Here the band has found a lot of inspiration from Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and last but not least John Coltranes heritage from the 60s. In the international magazine, JazzTimes, Christopher Porter has this to say about "Vision": "Vision’s five tunes are all uptempo and fierce, but not in a free-jazz way. The band is simply on fire and doesn’t want to douse the flames by cooling out on the track, which is fine by me." The Core just relased the 2nd recording, Blue sky, witch got the same fantastic reviews as the debut Vision