Classical Music

Svend Asmussen is an eminent jazz violinist; but he is also a showman, a musical pioneer and a fascinating composer. As he celebrates his 100th birthday on February 28, 2017, Storyville Records has decided to present a fresh exploration of Svend Asmussen’s musical production throughout the years. The first disc features early 1937-1944 recordings, where Asmussen finally decided on music as his occupation for life and began gaining international recognition with his elegant swing and refined arrangements. The second disc features 1953 and 1958 recordings from Hamburg, where Asmussen’s profound musicality and jazz skillfulness shine. On disc 3, Asmussen collaborates with violinist colleague Stephane Grappelli, and their different phrasings compliment each other. We also find previously unreleased tracks from a 1985 Paris session with the Georges Arvanitas Trio, a complement to the critically acclaimed “Embraceable” concert album from the same occasion. On disc 4, Asmussen and American legend Stuff Smith play a concert together in Copenhagen, the two clearly enjoying each other’s company. CD5 features the renowned 1996 concert “Fit as a Fiddle”, where Asmussen masterfully combines the insistent energy of his youth with the experience and musical grandeur he has gained from a lifetime of playing. On the DVD, Asmussen plays a lively 1986 concert in Copenhagen’s famous Jazzhus Montmartre with prominent musicians such as bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and pianist Kenny Drew. ”The music exudes a wealth of creativity and curiosity as well, and I dare say that one day it will be established that Svend Asmussen’s solos are not merely constructions built over a series of chords, but wonderfully linked garlands of melody - even at the most frantic tempos,” writes music critic and Svend Asmussen biographer Kjeld Frandsen. ”In short, Svend Asmussen is a phenomenon. Not just because he has lived for a hundred years, but primarily for the intense and variegated way he has filled these many years.” “Svend Asmussen is light, precise, and yet profound; a consummate entertainer, a creative thinker, and an artist. And that combination is rare!” - Finnish jazz violinist, Ari Poutianinen, Jazz Special

Classical Music

Classical Music

Digitally remastered 30th Anniversary edition of this 1984 album from the French composer, performer and music producer. ZOOLOOK was the fourth overall mainstream studio album by Jarre. It made extensive use of digital recording techniques and sampling. Much of the music is built up from singing and speech in 25 different languages, along with synthesizers (such as the Fairlight CMI), as well as more traditional instruments. Much of the tone of the album appears to be influenced by elements of musique concrEte and by his time as a student of Pierre Schaeffer.

Classical Music

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves during the Civil War, jazz giant Duke Ellington began work on a special suite of music commemorating the struggles, triumphs and ongoing battle for the civil rights of blacks in America. This jazz masterpiece debuted in Chicago in the summer of 1963. Legends such as pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn and drummer Louie Bellson were a big part of the performance. And while portions of this master suite have been available for years, this is the very first time the complete piece has been available in it's entirety.

Classical Music

Green Moss Black sands explores the rough, overwhelming and stark beauty of Scandinavian nature and its dark sensibilities. It is jazz with a special bluesy and folksy Nordic sound and a characteristic mix of grandeur and minimalism. Sigurdur Flosason plays the alto saxophone and he says the following about the new record “The music on this CD is inspired by the highlands of the country that raised me, my native Iceland. The desert-like wasteland holds a singular kind of beauty. Perhaps not pretty in the usual sense of the word, it is beautiful in its stark and rough contrasts. There, beauty lies in the small, in the slow-growing moss with its endless hues of colour, in the black sand stretching as far as the eye can see, in the fragile highland growth and the fresh spring water quietly streaming forth from beneath majestic lava fields. The music is my dedication to the heart of my country and the people who brought me there, my parents.” Icelandic beauty is the weather capable of changing in the blink of an eye; it is in the stillness and in the storm; in the rain falling at a slant, sometimes almost horizontally; in the sky that has colours you see nowhere else; green when visited by the Aurora Borealis. And then there is the ever present moon, there at the end of the world. This hushed yet ferocious type of beauty is explored on Green Moss Black Sand. Along with the Lars Jansson Trio, Flosason captures the Nordic nuances with fervour and precision. Lars Jansson is a Swedish jazz pianist and a composer, and the Lars Jansson Trio counts Jansson as well as the Dane Thomas Fonnesbæk on double bass, and the Swede Paul Svanberg on drums. Flosason is from Iceland and is trained as a classical alto saxophonist. Although he primarily plays jazz, he has worked extensively with various Scandinavian musicians such as Cathrine Legardh, Kjeld Lauritsen, and Kristian Leth, and has composed both jazz music and classical pieces. The musicianship, generosity and friendship of the group make the musical images of rural Iceland come to life.

To begin a CD with an unaccompanied intro to a ballad indicates some confidence from the main soloist on this excellent double CD with the young talented American pianist Christian Sands in the company of the two Danes bass player Thomas Fonnesbæk who is said to be the next NHØP and a Montmartre legend the drummer Alex Riel. The music is recorded live in Jazzhus Montmartre, Copenhagen in October 2014. The three musicians had never met before, but already on the first evening they found their common beat and developed it through the next two concerts, which naturally led to the best takes being collected for this double CD.

With a career spanning more than six decades, Danish saxophonist Karsten Vogel is one of the true veterans of Scandinavian music. On his new album Late Night Ballads, recorded with pianist Mads Sondergaard, bassist Peter Hansen and drummer Klaus Menzer, Vogel turns his focus inward, returning to the core of his jazz roots with a deeply reflective and intimate recording. The album is slated for release on Storyville Records on February 20. On Late Night Ballads, Vogel interprets seven classic ballads from the American songbook alongside one original composition. Late Night Ballads unfolds in the quieter hours, offering music that is atmospheric, lyrical, and deeply contemplative. It can serve as a gentle soundtrack to an evening gathering, but it also rewards close listening, revealing subtle musical details and a beautifully balanced sound. With Sondergaard, Hansen, and Menzer providing understated yet highly assured accompaniment, the performances unfold with elegance and restraint. Vogel's playing is marked by maturity and introspection, qualities that have always been present in his music, but which here come fully into focus. Karsten Vogel has left an indelible mark on Danish music as a musician, composer, and bandleader. His unmistakably personal alto saxophone sound has been heard across rock, jazz, and jazz-related genres on more than 75 releases, and his career has taken him far beyond Denmark's borders, with concerts across Europe, the USA, Japan, and India. He is widely known as a founding member of legendary jazz-rock bands Burnin Red Ivanhoe and Secret Oyster, and today stands as one of the few active musicians remaining from the early 1960s Danish music scene. In addition, his long-running work in radio has brought him a broad and devoted audience. Renowned British jazz critic Richard Williams once wrote in Melody Maker: "There aren't many alto saxophonists to whom I'd rather be listening. He has a lovely tone - slender, fibrous and very human - and a shallow vibrato: a highly distinctive combination." Late Night Ballads is firmly rooted in straight-ahead jazz, both in repertoire and instrumentation. It is a quiet but powerful statement from an artist whose long journey through jazz, rock, and fusion now culminates in a recording of remarkable warmth, depth, and clarity.

Copenhagen 1964

On June 19, Storyville Records releases Between Then and Now, a new trio album by acclaimed American pianist Christian Sands, joined by Danish bassist Thomas Fonnesb�k and Swedish drummer Rasmus Kihlberg. An international collaboration that captures contemporary jazz at the intersection of American tradition and Nordic musical sensibility. The album features nine tracks, balancing original compositions by Sands and Fonnesb�k with inspired reinterpretations of jazz standards and classic repertoire by Bobby Timmons, Richard Rodgers, Luiz Bonf�, and John Coltrane. Recorded in the spirit of Copenhagen's jazz tradition, it presents jazz as both a living art form of the present and a dialogue with it's past-hence the title Between Then and Now. The collaboration grew from Sands' relationship with the Copenhagen jazz scene, initiated when former Montmartre musical director Christian Brorsen discovered him online and invited him to Denmark. Like earlier generations of American jazz musicians, including Ben Webster and Dexter Gordon, Sands quickly became a compelling presence in Copenhagen, where attentive listening and subtle interplay guide every performance. Over the years he has been a frequent guest in Denmark and loved by the audience there. Together, the trio represents a truly international jazz language. Sands is celebrated for his virtuosic piano playing, rich harmonic imagination, and improvisational energy. Fonnesb�k, one of Europe's leading bassists, offers melodic clarity and technical brilliance shaped by the Danish jazz tradition, while Kihlberg contributes a refined rhythmic approach marked by elegance, precision, and responsiveness. Together they create a compelling sound of openness, yet you always feel the classic American jazz tradition in the music. This is modern American/Scandinavian music, not just jazz. Listen to Sands' inventive arrangement of "Giant Leaves," which merges John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" with Joseph Kosma's "Autumn Leaves," served as a tribute to legendary Danish drummer Alex Riel, who influenced both Sands and generations of jazz musicians in Europe. Original compositions such as Sands' "Where Children Still Play" and "Where the Light Settles," and Fonnesb�k's "Searching in Sahara" reveal the trio's lyrical and exploratory approach. The Nordic hymn "Til ungdommen (To the Youth / Kringsatt av Fiender)" is another beautiful example of how this trio sounds together. Enjoy this contemporary recording with three of the most interesting musicians on the Scandinavian and American jazz scenes right now.

This June 19, Danish pianist Ole Matthiessen, one of the most inventive voices in Scandinavian jazz, celebrates his 80th birthday with the release of Subcurrents on Storyville Records-a remarkable compilation spanning more than five decades of musical exploration. The album brings together seven performances from 1968 to 2025, offering a rare glimpse into some alternative, improvisational currents that have defined Matthiessen's career. From the early energy of the Poul Ehlers Quartet in 1968, featuring the rare collaboration with free-jazz drummer Bo de Richelieu and a young Jesper Zeuthen, to his contributions in Erling Kroner's Quintet in 1970, Matthiessen's pianism has always blended melodic sensitivity with a restless curiosity. The album also includes the electrifying Turkish-inspired jazz of Atilla Engin Group in 1981, where Matthiessen fuses complex rhythms with the swinging spirit of jazz, as well as boundary-pushing improvisations with Global Units in 2011, incorporating electronics and experimental textures. Later recordings, such as Testmann Jazz in 2023, highlight Matthiessen's lyrical side, paying homage to Ben Webster while demonstrating his enduring command of ensemble interplay. Framing the album are two solo improvisations, "Subcurrent 1" and "Subcurrent 2," recorded in 2025 at The Village Studio, capturing the pianist at his most spontaneous-exploring sound, touch, and flow in real time with no rehearsals or retakes. Subcurrents is more than a retrospective; it is a journey through the subtle undercurrents of jazz and the threads connecting tradition, experimentation, and collaboration across decades. Produced, remastered, and annotated by Matthiessen himself, the album presents both longtime fans and new listeners with an intimate portrait of a musician whose adventurous spirit remains undiminished at 80.

In July 1990, Johnny Griffin, the legendary tenor saxophonist known as The Little Giant, electrified L�ngvinkeln Jazz Club in Helsingborg, Sweden. Accompanied by Danish musicians Thomas Clausen, Mads Vinding, and Svend-Erik N�rreg�rd, Griffin delivered a joyful night of jazz as only he could do it. This previously unreleased 6-track live recording will be released on Storyville Records on June 5, 2026, as Johnny Griffin & Thomas Clausen's Trio - Live in Helsingborg 1990. Griffin, who rose to prominence in the 1950s through his work with Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, and his own explosive small groups, was widely regarded as one of the fastest and most inventive tenor saxophonists in jazz. Playing a lot at Jazzhus Montmartre in the 60's, he settled in France but continued to be in high demand in Scandinavia and all over Europe. This release continues Storyville Records' longstanding tradition of documenting major American jazz artists during their European years. Bassist Mads Vinding, a longtime collaborator, recalls the experience: "Johnny Griffin - no one sounded like him. The sound, the ideas, the power, the timing, the energy, the sensitivity, the stamina... He made the whole band sound like one unit. (...) It was very intense and such a joy playing with him, as you can hear on this live recording from 1990. No safety net, no restrictions - just the pure pleasure of playing together, inventing things on the fly." Jazz historian Jan Olsson adds: "Johnny Griffin, or The Little Giant as he was called, was a great and highly individual soloist. And I still remember from this extraordinary evening that we could hardly stop him from playing when it was time to close and say goodbye. The main reason was that he had been playing with one of the finest trios you could find in Europe at that time." The album features expansive performances that stretch familiar standards and Griffin originals into thrilling, unpredictable territory. On Just Friends, Griffin's tenor soars over the trio's accompaniment, moving seamlessly from lyrical passages to blistering runs. Blue Monk finds him exploring Thelonious Monk's iconic blues theme with playful inventiveness and rhythmic drive, while All The Things You Are showcases his ability to reshape familiar melodies with elegance and swing. On the original Call It What You Wanna, you just hear the pure Johnny Griffin sound. Johnny Griffin & Thomas Clausen's Trio - Live in Helsingborg 1990 is a rare opportunity to experience Johnny Griffin at his peak backed by Thomas Clausen's trio. You can hear why Johnny Griffin loved to play in Scandinavia, how he loved to play with Thomas Clausen and why he was such a popular figure in Denmark and Sweden for 40 years.

Recorded on a cold January night in 2013 in Copenhagen, Into the Storm brings together renowned Danish pianist Carsten Dahl with one of the most formidable rhythm sections in modern jazz, American bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. Across nine tracks consisting of a mix of, the trio delivers a masterclass in trust, shared pulse and fearless improvisation. Into the Storm will be released on Storyville Records on March 6, 2026. The concert was part of a series of one-off encounters pairing leading American jazz musicians with Danish artists, an approach rooted in Copenhagen's unique jazz history. From 1959 onward, the legendary Jazzhus Montmartre became a second home to figures such as Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Oscar Pettiford, and Johnny Griffin. Their presence helped shape generations of Danish jazz musicians and forged a lasting bond between American jazz and Copenhagen. Carsten Dahl stands as one of the most significant figures of the post-Montmartre generation. A central voice in Danish and European jazz, Dahl combines profound respect for the tradition with a restless, exploratory spirit. His playing is marked by a highly dynamic touch, sudden shifts in density, and a willingness to let form emerge in the moment. Dahl's musical upbringing under drummer Ed Thigpen, who settled in Copenhagen in 1972 and mentored many young Danish musicians, gave him deep roots in swing, form, and interaction. Jazz history is defined by great rhythm teams, Ray Brown & Ed Thigpen, Ron Carter & Tony Williams, NH�P & Alex Riel among them. In our time, Reuben Rogers and Gregory Hutchinson stand firmly in that lineage. Rogers' sound draws deeply from the Oscar Pettiford school: grounded, resonant and melodically rich. Hutchinson's musical DNA was shaped through his work with Betty Carter and in Ray Brown's trio. Together, they share a rare, almost telepathic connection and an elastic sense of time that lifts everything around them. On Into the Storm, their interplay doesn't simply support the piano, it actively shapes the music's direction. Dahl moves constantly between control and abandon, shaping the music in real time with hard swing giving way to lyrical ballads, spontaneous structures and daring transitions. Throughout, his close musical dialogue with Rogers and Hutchinson reinforces the sense of discovery. The rhythm section's deep groove and unshakeable internal time keep the music grounded, even at it's most adventurous. Captured in a single winter night in Copenhagen, Into the Storm displays Carsten Dahl's unpredictable swing meeting the drive and authority of Rogers and Hutchinson. A perfect example of jazz as a living art form: rooted in tradition, shaped by risk, and realized through the rare trust shared between three musicians listening as deeply as they play.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Digitally remastered two CD set containing a pair of albums from the Folk singer, songwriter and musician. Geoff Muldaur's career began in the mid- '60s with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and was also a member of Paul Butterfield's band. He is also an accomplished guitarist, composer, and arranger. This two disc set from the vaults of Hightone Records includes THE SECRET HANDSHAKE, which was originally released in 1998 and features a cast of players including David Grisman, Hal Ketchum, Bill Rich, Amos Garrett, Dave Alvin and Van Dyke Parks. The album takes on a batch of his favorite Country and Blues tunes and adds a couple of originals to the mix. PASSWORD was originally released in 2000 where he was backed by David Lindley, Richard Greene and Kate & Anna McGarrigle. The songs themselves are a mix of classics, and originals.

The history of the JAZZPAR AWARDS constitutes, in retrospect, a significant development in the recognition of jazz by international arbiters of taste, and by distributors of monetary recognition. Between 1990 and 2004, the award was made to several American performers but also, reflecting the history of the music itself, to six Europeans (Tony Coe, Django Bates, Martial Solal, Marilyn Mazur, Enrico Rava and Aldo Romano). It's worth remembering too that, as well as celebrating jazz per se, the fundamental idea was to draw attention to the world-class ability of Denmark's own musicians. Each annual winner was required to perform in a situation of their own choosing, but one which would involve several local players, as seen in the present series of reissues. In addition, it shouldn't be forgotten that each year a smaller prize was given to a Danish musician who was given the opportunity to invite a foreign player of their choice, often but not always an American, to appear and record with them. The international winners tended to be distinguished figures who, up to that point, had not received the amount of wider recognition that they deserved, and who found the award to be an honor that also increased their reputation. Such was the case with the initial recipients of the award, namely Muhal Richard Abrams (1990), David Murray (1991) and Lee Konitz (1992). This 1992 set showcases the work of the Danish pianist/composer Jørgen Emborg with a quintet including his specially invited guest, the American bass-guitarist Steve Swallow.

Tommy Flanagan was always known for his tasteful, flawless and swinging piano playing. The American jazz pianist and composer grew up in Detroit and was initially influenced by artists Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole. Within months of moving to New York in 1956 he was recording with Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. His recordings under various leaders, including the historic Giant Steps of John Coltrane, continued well into 1962 when he became vocalist Ella Fitzgerald’s full time accompanist. He added class to every session that he was involved in and fortunately he was well documented during the latter part of his career.

Solo Piano was not initially released until decades after its 1974 recording. It is significant historically because this outing was the pianist’s first record date as a leader in 13 years and, most importantly, because it is very good music.

REVIEW:

What strikes me most on this solo album is the clarity Flanagan brings to each of the tunes. The more "cerebral" jazz artists often begin an account of a tune with a "variation" resulting from thick embellishment of the melody itself and/or the rhythm of that melody. Flanagan consistently begins by honoring his "source material," after which he unfolds no shortage of embellishments involving the tune, its rhythms, and the underlying chord progressions. This was the "bread-and-butter" approach to jazz improvisation during the second half of the twentieth century; and, as such, the album is not only an account of bravura solo piano work but also a first-rate introduction to cultivating the skills of listening to jazz.

-- The Rehearsal Studio (Steven Smoliar)

This 8 CD box set has more than 10 hours of Ben Webster's music including previously unreleased tracks. The sessions were recorded mainly during 1964-1973 in Europe, mostly in Scandinavia, and include live recordings from festivals, clubs and radio and television broadcasts. They feature Webster at Copenhagen's famous Montmartre club and other Danish locations as well as sessions from his renowned month-long residency at London's Ronnie Scott's. Completing the set are recordings from Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and several tracks recorded before he left New York.

Summer Serenade, recorded in 1980, sees Benny Carter in the latter part of a pioneering and exceptionally long career return to Copenhagen for a session that documents his accumulated relationship with the alto saxophone and why he is remembered as one of the instrument's defining players. On a Sunday in August of 1980, Carter found a comfortable dynamic in a quartet finely tuned to his still obvious talents on the alto sax and who also managed to make their own mark on a series of Carter's own songs as well as those of a few others. Although he played trumpet, trombone, clarinet, tenor and piano at different points in his career, it is as an alto saxophonist that Benny Carter achieved his enviable reputation as an instrumentalist. The broad, sweeping phrases of his improvisations have the structural stability of compositions in their own right, and here, his approach to the instrument benefits from having been honed throughout the prior decades. Benny Carter had previously toured in Scandinavia in the 1930s when he had made a name for himself in the United States writing for and playing with the bands of Charlie Johnson, Horace and Fletcher, Don Redman and others. On this first encounter with European audiences, Carter was welcomed with open arms, and perhaps this initial meeting played into him going back to Copenhagen to record Summer Serenade almost 44 years later.

Besides his reputation as "the definitive swing pianist", Teddy Wilson is often remembered in terms of his collaborations. Having played on the records of names like Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman, Wilson's fingerprints are found on many of records that helped popularize and define swing in it's glory years. In 1980, Wilson revisited the songs he had performed with Benny Goodman in the 1930s, delivering material that he had clearly mastered at this point and which gave a special look into the talents and sentiments of Teddy Wilson that played a primary role in the swing era. Teddy Wilson Trio Revisits the Goodman Years sees Teddy Wilson re-portray the Benny Goodman small-group repertoire that Wilson had played with Goodman many decades before this Copenhagen session in 1980. It is a return to material that had stood the test of time while Wilson had lived a long career since his time with Goodman himself. Of the many collaborators that Wilson enjoyed in his career, Goodman in particular developed a strong, long-lived musical relationship with Teddy Wilson, incorporating the aspects and strengths of Wilson's playing that are particularly apparent on this record. Relaxed and elegant, Wilsons mastery of the piano sounds as graceful as ever while maintaining a sense of intensity that comes through with renewed clarity in the present line-up. Wilson has not reinvented himself in returning to these songs, but his talent and infectious and exciting playing make it hard to argue that he should.

Recorded at the end of a string of engagements throughout the Scandinavian countries, Archie Shepp + The New York Contemporary Five, Vol. 2 captures a group of young musicians seeking new musical ground and having found a welcoming environment far from home. In November of 1963, The New York Contemporary Five were consolidating avant-garde jazz as pioneered by Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor in Copenhagen and Sweden, as New York clubs had yet to fully embrace the style The quintet had formed specifically for their engagement at Montmartre in Copenhagen and would disband for some time immediately after. Vol. 2 documents a quintet of experimental artists that had yet to gain the worldwide recognition that they enjoy today, more than 50 years later. In this early era of The New York Contemporary Five, Archie Shepp, who embodied his musical generation's experimental nature, shows compelling technical prowess that runs alongside an early-stage knack for experimentation. From a modern perspective, the album sounds particularly indicative of the Archie Shepp that history has come to know as a central figure in the primary canon of avant-garde jazz.