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Jakob Baekgaard's Best Danish Releases of 2010
BySøren Kjærgaard/Ben Street/Andrew Cyrille
Open Opus
ILK Music
Spacious improvisation from Kjærgaard's sublime trio, merging elements of classical music and lyrical free jazz into a highly personal expression. In a long row of outstanding releases, this is at once Kjærgaard's most subdued and forceful work. There's a haiku-like simplicity to his compositions that reveal the profound poetry of sound.
Richard Andersson Sustainable Quartet
Richard Andersson Sustainable Quartet
Blackout Music
Denmark has a proud tradition of fostering bassists and Richard Andersson is the latest in the lineage. His debut sees him introducing his New York Quartet with saxophonist Tony Malaby as a special guest. The music is a mix of standards, originals and free jazz. Music that is both timeless, tuneful and challenging.
August Rosenbaum
Beholder
Gateway Music
Another talent in collaboration with American musicians, pianist August Rosenbaum's debut is an exceptionally mature artistic statement. Rosenbaum redefines the role of the piano, creating open structures that allow the players to shape the music in the moment. Drummer Dan Weiss and bassist Thomas Morgan add a fluid intensity to the melodic fragility of Rosenbaum's playing, and Danish guitarist Jakob Bro adds his signature sound.
Jakob Buchanan Kvartet
I Land in The Green Land
Long Life Records
Jakob Bro also turns up as sideman on trumpeter Jakob Buchanan's peculiarly titled i Land in The Green Land. Creating a mixture between Miles Davis' electric period and the Nordic aesthetics of the ECM-sound, the record showcases Buchanan's talent as a composer and instrumentalist with a warm sound that wraps itself like a shroud of fog over a deserted landscape.
Hans Ulrik/Benjamin Koppel/Jon Balke/Palle Danielsson/Alex Riel
The Adventures of a Polar Expedition
Cowbell Music
The Adventures of a Polar Expedition is a bold adventure in sound. Saxophonist Benjamin Koppel translates the expeditions of famous polar explorers into ambitious suites that cover an emotional spectrum from ecstasy to fear, adding a touch of humanity to the endless icy horizons of the landscape.
Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard
The Scale of Grey. The Tone of Black
Gateway Music
Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard is another saxophonist who paints landscapes in sound. The Scale of Black. The Tone of Grey is minimalistic in approach, often eschewing the solid beat of the drums in favor of fluent saxophone lines merged with wordless singing, creating beautiful tone poems with a Nordic air.
Karen Bach
Secret Rooms
Blue Kite Productions
Pianist Karen Bach's trio also explores the area of Nordic melancholy, but merges it with the dynamics of post-rock. Bach's compositions morph into several interesting sound patterns while never losing track of a good melody and groove. Secret Rooms is the best release so far from this compelling trio.
Girls in Airports
Girls in Airports
Gateway Music
Considering the young age of the band and the fact that this is its debut, the achievement of Girls in Airports becomes all the more remarkable. This is an album that can not only be rated among some of the finest new releases in Danish jazz, it is also a work that introduces a whole new sound, where mellow Nordic lyricism is combined with sounds from Africa and the East.
Indra
Indra
Gateway Music
Here is a singer who has an immense knowledge of American tradition and translates it into lived life. Indra could easily approach the league of the great jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan and it is, indeed, a musical fairytale that she has chosen to grace the small country of Denmark with her exceptional voice.
Lars Winther Big band
Lars Winther Big Band
Your Favourite Jazz
Besides running his own label, Your Favourite Jazz, pianist Lars Winther also has a busy career as a musician and now also as a leader of his own big band. The deadpan title of the album doesn't say much about the sparkling content. Bringing in everything from electronica to oriental scales and hip-hop, Winther's big band is a unique take on an often conservative musical form.
Emil de Waal
Elguitar & saxofon
Your Favourite Records
Drummer and multi-instrumentalist Emil de Waal has created a playful and enchanting hybrid of electronica and jazz on Elguitar & saxofon. Electronic beats, Afrobeat and moaning saxophones unite on "Birba," a brilliant example of the album's inventive sound.
Jesper Zeuthen Trio
Jesper Zeuthen Trio
Blackout Music
Saxophonist Jesper Zeuthen is a musician's musician and something of an unsung legend on the Danish scene. His influence reaches across generations with a special brand of Scandinavian lyricism which merges elements of free jazz and Eastern influences into a singular sound. There have been few albums in his career, but Jesper Zeuthen Trio is a proof of Zeuthen's continuing strength as an improviser and composer.
Nicolai Munch-Hansen
Chronicles
Stunt Records
Bassist Nicolai Munch-Hansen's second album is blue chamber jazz at its finest, with some of the most prominent players on the Danish scene participating, including guitarist Jakob Bro and pianist Søren Kjærgaard. Munch-Hansen creates understated hymns of great beauty that sometimes break out in moments of chaos, as when saxophonist Ned Ferm wails deep into the night on the smoking "The Rise of Sheriff Leroy."
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Best of / Year End
Jakob Baekgaard
Ben Street
Andrew Cyrille
TONY MALABY
August Rosenbaum
Dan Weiss
Thomas Morgan
Jakob Bro
Miles Davis
Hans Ulrik
Benjamin Koppel
Jon Balke
Palle Danielsson
Alex Riel
Karen Bach
Ella Fitzgerald
Sarah Vaughan
Emil de Waal