The history of the JAZZPAR AWARDS constitutes a significant development in the recognition of jazz by international arbiters of taste. Set up by the Danish Jazz Center and sponsored by Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni, it was the first award in the jazz field to offer an international nominee not only the exposure of a concert series, but the donation of a statuette and a significant cash prize. Between 1990 and 2004, the award was made to several American performers but also, reflecting the history of the music itself, to six Europeans. 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. When the late guitarist and composer Jim Hall emerged triumphant in 1998, it was not because of any conscious awareness of the pendulum effect but because his name evoked the most unanimous praise, out of the dozens of artists who had come up for discussion. Already at that point, his career had covered more than 40 years and evoked past associations with people such as Chico Hamilton, Jimmy Giuffre, Sonny Rollins and Art Farmer. What these great artists (and many more) found in Hall was a player of great sensitivity and intelligence, to whom the idea of co-operation was second nature but whose approach was completely individual. Personality is obviously the key factor, and Jims can perhaps be described as confident but self-effacing. Musically, that translated into a style which was both cogent and laconic which makes a lot of sense but not a lot of noise and its this combination that lends itself to taking on board others ideas and complementing rather than contradicting them.

Classical Music

Thomas Fonnesbæk is a Danish bass player born in 1977. Fonnesbæk has made a name for himself by being featured on more than 100 recordings throughout his career. Most notably Caroline Henderson, Alex Riel and Denmark's Radio Big Band. On his new record Synethesia, he teams up with New York-based jazz pianist, composer, producer and educator, Justin Kauflin. Known as a regular Quincy Jones Artist he performs worldwide as solo artist or Justin Kauflin Trio. Synethesia will be the first time they join musical forces. Of his previous releases, critics have written: “full of surprising twists and turns and live excitement as the audience waits for the cat to land: a great album…” “[the album is] driven by dynamic flow and a high level of creativity. The scope, the swing, the harmonic insight, the elegant plasticity… are boggling.”

When pianist Carsten Dahl went into the studio with his perennial fellow musicians, the bassist Niels Bo Davidsen and the drummer Stefan Pasborg, it was with a special dogma: Not to say a word throughout the recording. The album was created in a continuous sequence of first takes and everything was improvised without previous agreements or ideas except 'Falling Down' and 'How I Hear Beauty' based on some chords Dahl scratched down on a piece of paper in the studio. There is a natural, fluent and electric feeling in the music. The trio creates a series of intense pieces most of them no longer than 3-4 minutes, but together they constitute a suite-like process with stimulating variation in form and expression. 'To me Mirrors Within is the picture of the collective and the universal', Dahl says. 'In the music we mirror ourselves in one another. But the mirror can also break and behind it is black'. Hereby he insinuate the both bright and dark sides of his own artist life. He has spoken in public about trauma, therapy and medicine. Music, painting and poetry are his creative responses. Mirrors Within points in the direction of the inner landscapes of music, those places in the mind where music can become 'sound that bleeds, infect and flourish', as written in the Brøndums Encyklopædi. Dahl, Davidsen & Pasborg have developed a special musical dialect together. We are way beyond instrumental skills, which are top class, but it is about much more than that. The best way perhaps to summarize the activities is with the word: empathy. Not as a feeling, but as an ability to participate in a mutual human action which otherwise could not be realized.

'Pieces' is the meeting of two generations - The experienced and mature: the trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and the guitarist Bjarne Roupé and the two young and ready: Anton Langebæk on bass and the percussionist Benjamin Barfod. Bjarne Roupé Trio had been with Langebæk and Barfod for a while, and when Palle Mikkelborg was set to play a concert for Jazz Grooves at JB10 in Næstved, it was obvious that the four musicians worked together this evening. It became a success and the musicians took the initiative to use the recordings for this release. Here it is: 'Pieces: Generations at Sunrise' - five well-chosen compositions with Roupé's overview and broad sounds, Langebæk's pulsating bass, Barfod's distinctive percussion and Mikkelborg's trumpet and flugelhorn on top. We get extremely personal renditions of John Coltrane's "Naima" and the Abez classic "Nature Boy". A Swedish folk melody, "Saudi", with a beautiful guitar intro and more of the same sonorous element in the opening track "Witchi-tai-to", which is carried on by Barfod's gubal. The fine little theme is presented only at the end. Coltrane's great ballad "Naima" is performed for the first time in the history of music with sansula. In the collectively composed and arranged "Pieces", there are fanfares with electronics underneath, and Langebæk rounds off with a very solid bass solo. "Nature boy" gets new and very beautiful life with Mikkelborg's horn followed by a very well-playing Roupé.

Morten Haxholm is ready to release his sixth album. It is an album that once again sees him joining forces with US jazz stars Jonathan Kreisberg (guitar) and Ari Hoenig (trumpet), as he did on his first and second albums Equilibrium and Quintessence of Dust. This time he is also joined by Frederick Menzie (sax) and Nikolaj Hess. Morten Haxholm is an upcoming Danish bass player, but he has already established himself on the Danish and international jazz scene. He graduated in 2013 from the prestigious soloist education at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, and with four albums in his own name and several tours with his own bands in Denmark, he has emerged on the music scene as a new composer and bass player to be reckoned with.

Piece of Mind is an all-star group that features some of the most talented voices in jazz today. The concept of the group was inspired by the VSOP Quintet from the late 1970s with the intention of being both a touring and recording group. During his career, Rose has worked with each member of the group at different times, as have the other members. The new collective brings together the highly regarded players who, when united onstage, deliver an exciting and fluid musical experience. In Spring 2019, the group recorded their first album, presented here, which features highlights from their series of live concerts at the Blue Llama in Ann Arbor, MI. Members of the group include Adonis Rose: drums; Tia Fuller: alto sax; Maurice Brown: trumpet; Sasha Masakowski: vocals; Miki Hayama: piano; and Jasen Weaver: bass.

This new release features ten brand new compositions from Danish pianist Heine Hansen, performed by the Heine Hansen trio which includes bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek and drummer Alex Riel. The group's previous album, Signature, received glowing reviews by fans and critics, and this release is sure to be no different. "There is a particularly powerful grace in Heine Hansen's way of playing the piano.(...) The album here is Hansen's receipt for the much deserved Ben Webster award and it shows the pianist as we know him, as one who expresses himself equally convincing in all mainstream jazz forms, and as someone for whom every note has it's clear role to play in the music's figure." (Peter H. Larsen)

The celebrated New Orleans Jazz Orchestra examines and the profound relationship of its hometown to the nation of France with its release of Petite Fleur on Storyville Records. The second album under the artistic directorship of drummer Adonis Rose features ten songs, nine of them standards associated with French and New Orleans musicians. The tenth tune is an original by Cyrille Aimée, the acclaimed jazz vocalist born and raised in France but now living and working in The Big Easy itself.

Aimée is the NOJO’s collaborator and vocalist on the album. It was the singer who initiated the collaboration, telling Rose that she would like to work with the 18-piece big band and asking if he had any ideas for a project. “I said, ‘Well, okay, musically, how can I tell a story here?’” Rose recalls. “I thought about the long, shared history of those two places, and that became the concept. A narrative about the musical relationship between New Orleans and France.” The title tune, a standard by early jazz clarinet legend Sidney Bechet, epitomizes the concept: A composition by a New Orleans artist living in France, performed by a New Orleans band with a French vocalist. Composers from both sides of the Atlantic, from Michel Legrand to Jelly Roll Morton, get similar treatment. So do various New Orleanian styles, from a stomp (“Get the Bucket”) to a second line (“Down”) to Fats Domino-style rock ’n’ roll (“I Don’t Hurt Anymore”). In addition to being its spotlight vocalist, Aimée is also Petite Fleur’s featured soloist, applying her razor-sharp scat singing to “In the Land of Beginning Again,” “On a Clear Day,” and “Undecided.”

REVIEW:

Petite Fleur is essentially a meditation on the ties that bind Crescent City art to French culture. Teaming up for 10 songs that cross styles and oceans while exploring that particular connection, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and French vocalist Cyrille Aimée make a perfect match, united in the act of storytelling.

The album speaks to Artistic Director and drummer Adonis Rose’s sure-handed helming of the NOJO, the entire band roster’s contributions in part(s) and sum, Aimée’s well-documented gifts, and a shared vision that brings them all together.

-- JazzTimes (Dan Bilawsky)

Captain Coe’s Famous Racearound showcases the work of saxophonist Tony Coe, the first non-American to receive the jazz world's ultimate accolade - the Jazzpar Prize, occasionally known as the 'Jazz Nobel', which he was awarded in 1995. All tracks on this album were recorded during the JAZZPAR award concerts with both The Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bob Brookmeyer and the 1995 Jazzpar Combo. This remastered edition features redesigned artwork by the Danish star graphic artist Finn Nygaard, new liner notes by Brian Priestley and photos by Jan Persson.

Tony Coe wrote a substantial new work for the JAZZPAR award concerts and the complex “Captain Coe’s Famous Racearound”, according to its composer, was completed within a few days “in an atmosphere of white heat. The smallgroup set with the JAZZPAR Combo also includes a Coe composition featuring the excellent solo work of Bob Brookmeyer. “Edmundo” (formerly recorded as “Lagos” on Canterbury Song) was dedicated to the Latin-American bandleader Edmundo Ros, who was the drummer on Fats Waller’s London recordings but remembered by Tony for his “exhilarating and romantic Latin music and his warm personality coming over the air during my [World War II] childhood, when there was much stress and hardship in Britain”. Also heard are two pieces by London- and Paris based drummer Steve Argüelles. The first has Argüelles playing a musical box against which Tony builds a free improvisation, while “Antonia” is a ballad showcasing his warm soprano saxophone tone.

Trio 65 ½ was the trio that won all the jazz-competitions in the mid 60’s and were “talk of the town”. The three incredibly talented musicians listened to their idol, the pianist Bill Evans’ LP Trio 64 and halfway through 1965 Ole Streenberg came up with the name: Trio 65 ½. Ib Lund Nielsen wrote notable songs such as Bit og Juleballade, which still is remembered by the attending guests at one of the first “Jazz I Reprisen”-events in Holte in 1967. They are all to be found on this new release and as Kenneth Knudsen says: “It hits me, how tight it was. Jens Jorn Gjeldsted Ole Streenberg and I were young, around 20 years old. And unexperienced. Ib Lund Nielsen was a bit older and with some experience from other groups. When we, quite randomly, met each other, it did not take long for us to realize that we shared a mutual pulse, a comfort – a faith, that the music stood by itself. It was new and weirdly wordless. We didn’t even know how special it was, because we were completely focused on creative development. And the problems and challenges that come with it. I myself was equally drawn towards fixing and tearing apart. But looking back, with so much experienced, so much played and heard, it’s clear to me, that this collaboration was the ‘approach to the music´. This feeling of approach that I think everyone experiences at some point – I hope."

This new release is the first in a series of three presenting Jazzpar winners, a prestigious Danish jazz award. Tommy Flanagan grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by the newer bebop musicians. Within months of moving to New York in 1956, he had recorded with Miles Davis and on Sonny Rollins' landmark Saxophone Colossus. Recordings under various leaders, including the historically important Giant Steps of John Coltrane, and The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, continued well into 1962, when he became vocalist Ella Fitzgerald's full-time accompanist. He worked with Fitzgerald for three years until 1965, and then in 1968 returned to be her pianist and musical director, this time for a decade. Tommy Flanagan won the Jazzpar award in 1993.

This release is the second in a series of three albums presenting Jazzpar winners, a prestigious Danish jazz award. Roy Haynes is a living legend and is considered one of the most influential drummers in jazz ever. He has played with Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Chick Corea and Michel Petrucciani. Just about all of the greatest in jazz. Roy Haynes is known for his very personal style, as a drummer and in fashion being both elegant and cutting edge in everything he does. A true master and artist in his own right. This all-star group featuring Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen plays both beautiful ballads and jazz in honor of Roy Haynes great achievements as drummer, bandleader and African American jazz icon.

"Kristin Korb is a jewel of jewels. The bassist and vocalist commands both of her instruments with panache, engaging them simultaneously with an ease comparable to breathing." (Tyran Grillo, All About Jazz) There are few bassists who can sing and there are even fewer who can do it well. Kristin Korb is one of those artists who make you forget that she is playing the bass when you hear her crystalline voice. Inspired by the days when music was romantic and made you want to dance, Kristin and her trio embody that spirit and carry their audiences along for the ride. Love eventually brought the American bassist and vocalist to Denmark in 2011. On her new release, Kristen Korb explores the Holiday season, performing traditional classics as well as twentieth century new classics

Listening to this album takes you back to the atmosphere and sound of Jazzhus Montmartre on a random night in the 1960s, engulfing you in Dexter Gordons enormous aura. Dexters arrival in Copenhagen had a tremendous impact that left a lasting impression on the Danish jazz scene. He was handsome and well-dressed. His playing was superb, with a giant sound; his introductions and showmanship were unique and captivating. In addition, Dexter felt the Danish mentality was well-suited for playing and enjoying jazz. It was always there, Alex Riel remembers It wasnt a case of going to work, even though we played every, single night in June, July and August during the summer of 1964. Dexter and Tete were there solely for the music, and so were Niels-Henning and I. It is so obvious when I hear the music today. Dexter loved being in Montmartre. He often stayed and jammed with the night shift when it took over, playing on till early morning And Dexter ended up owning Copenhagen!

New Orleans is a musical melting pot that has been cooking up music royalty for nearly over a century. The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, now in it's seventeenth year, is dedicated to preserving the tradition of New Orleans music and culture while exploring the works of artists that might be considered slightly outside the realm of jazz.

"Songs: The Music of Allen Toussaint" is the fourth studio recording by the Orchestra and the first under new music director Adonis Rose. Toussaint, one of New Orleans' most well-known composers, wrote the classic tunes "Java", "Electricity", "Southern Nights" and "Working In A Coal Mine" which all get fresh large ensemble interpretations on this new disc. Other tunes associated with Toussaint, but not necessarily written by him, such as the classic "Tequila", are also on the playlist. A raucous and swinging tribute to a true American music original performed by his home town ensemble.

REVIEW:

Allen Toussaint (1938-2015), a composer / producer who made his mark in the broad spheres of R&B, rock and roll, funk, country and pop music, may seem at first glance an unusual choice for a big-band jazz tribute. On the other hand, the New Orleans native never strayed far from the pivotal music of his home city, embracing and supporting jazz even as he found other musical worlds to conquer. So when vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater remarked to Adonis Rose, artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, that she’d never heard a big-band treatment of Toussaint’s music, Rose took her comment to heart and decided to make it happen.

The result is the buoyant and earthy Songs, on which NOJO, recording for the first time under Rose’s baton, explores half a dozen songs written by Toussaint, one more associated with him (“Tequila”), and colorful tribute numbers by Gerald French (“Gert Town”) and Leonard Brown (“Zimple Street”). Bridgewater is the orchestra’s guest vocalist on “It’s Raining” and (alongside Philip Manuel) “With You in Mind.” Percussionist French sings on the rhythmic “Gert Town” (named for the neighborhood in which Toussaint grew up), overdubbing himself on vocal and various percussion instruments, accompanied only by Rose on bass drum and NOJO percussionist Alexey Marti on congas. Brown sings and plays trumpet on “Zimple Street,” a bluesy cooker on which he fashions one of the album’s brightest solos (preceding another strong statement by either Khari Allen Lee or Jeronne Ansari on alto sax).

“Tequila,” introduced by The Champs in 1958 and later covered by Toussaint on his album We the People, sounds even better sans voices here, thanks to steadfast blowing by NOJO and crisp solos by (unnamed) tenor sax and trombone. The orchestra does well by Toussaint’s themes too, opening in an old-line New Orleans groove on “Southern Nights” (nice vocal by an unbilled Michael Watson who is at least cited in Rose’s liner notes) before proceeding to the handsome ballad “It’s Raining,” on which Bridgewater is in full seductive mode. Edward Petersen’s impressive arrangement of “Working in the Coal Mine” showcases alto Ansari with male chorus, the funky, second-line “Ruler of My Heart” the orchestra’s splendid resident vocalist, Nayo Jones. The lively, staccato “Java,” which earned trumpeter Al Hirt a Grammy Award in 1964, doesn’t suffer much from his absence, thanks to unflagging work by the ensemble and Ashlin Parker’s nimble trumpet solo.

Even though more or less divorced from his normal realm of influence, Songs is a tribute that Toussaint surely would have loved, as it is New Orleans to the max, astutely designed and adeptly performed by Rose and the rejuvenated New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

-- AllAboutJazz.com (Jack Bowers)

Hank Jones was a consummate musician. As is so often the case, that description carries the implication that such a person is unflamboyant, somewhat reserved, and that their artistry is more appreciated by fellow workers than by the public. A Musicians musician. In discussing Jones, this is compounded by the fact that, as well as a brilliant and inventive soloist, he was also a sensitive and stimulating accompanist. It was that aspect of his work which was often assumed to be his most significant contribution to the music – an aspect at least implied by the comments of other musicians – and yet, when he appeared front and centre, he was clearly a fully rounded personality in his own right.

What we have here is the welcome memento of the Duke Ellington’s 1959 European tour. Berlin’s Sportpalast is not a concert hall and during the cursed Nazi reign often was the site of speeches by Hitler and his fellow criminals, but the hall can perhaps be said to have been purified by sounds of jazz by the time of this concert. The music starts with the Ellington Medley, by then a standard concert opener in varied embodiments. Critics often chided Duke for (in their opinion) overdoing this staple, but in fact it was not only a clever way of dealing with what undoubtedly would have been audience requests for beloved Ducal standards, but also a way of celebrating the continued life of his musical heritage. The concert has been remastered to modern standards, and is a must own for any Ellington fan.

REVIEWS:

Storyville Records has released Duke Ellington & His Orchestra: Berlin 1959, a terrific live album with great sound and luxurious music. Partially released in past years on shabby bootlegs, this album gives us this concert with pristine sound. Don't cherry-pick songs when listening. The only way to enjoy this album is by listening from start to finish. Only then can you absorb the depth of the Ellington band's full spectrum of moods and the Duke's piano. Be aware that tracks 17 to 27 are part of an Ellington medley and aren't full songs. As a result, each song is short.

--AllAboutJazz.com (Marc Myers)

There can never be too many Duke Ellington albums. Heard here is Storyville’s recently released two-CD set titled Berlin 1959, a previously unreleased concert. The Duke Ellington Orchestra was well documented in the late 1950s following their major success at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, and the live concerts that have been released from this period can be a little predictable. Just as with the Louis Armstrong All-Stars, there are some routines that do not differ that much from month to month although they eventually evolved. But, as with Armstrong, there are occasional surprises that make each concert well worth hearing.

Overall, everything works well during this fine concert. There may not have been an excess of surprises, but the results are fun.

--The Syncopated Times (Scott Yanow)

Classical Music

Lars Jansson is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and educator. He was born in 1951, and grew up in Örebro, Sweden, where he was bored by his lessons at the community music school. In his early teens, a relative lent him records with Miles Davis, Ben Webster, and Mose Allison, creating a solid foundation for his musical education. Jansson's career has been in full flourish since 1970, and he has for the main part been focusing on the trio format. Lars Jansson Trio has long been one of the most renowned jazz groups in his native Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia as well. In 1998, he was nominated for the Danish Jazzpar Prize and he became the first jazz professor in Aarhus, Denmark. He was honored in Denmark with a Grammy in 2001 for "Best International Album," with the album Hope. Lars Jansson Trio are now ready to release their new album Just This. Assisted by Thomas Fonnesbæk on bass and Paul Svanberg on drums, Jansson has created a body of work that deals with various themes of life, and pays tribute to some of Jansson's heroes. Fonnesbæk is a well-respected bassist in his own right, playing with the likes of Justin Kauflin and Alex Riel, and Svanberg, who is Jansson's son, is a widely used drummer on the Danish jazz scene. The album, 13 tracks in total, comes by as a beautiful and diverse collection of tunes that display the collective talents of three very gifted and experienced musicians.

In Duke Ellington’s tape collection (”The Stockpile”) were several tapes with concert recordings of the band’s performances on tour. One can only guess whether these tapes were required by Duke for some purpose, or were given to him (or his son Mercer) on the initiative of the concert arrangers. At any rate it was a great delight to find a tape box marked ”Ellington – Uppsala 9-11-71” in the collection, containing a tape with a concert at the university town of Uppsala, Sweden on Nov. 9th 1971, the second of two concerts in this very old and very beautiful town founded in the 13th century.

The concert in Uppsala, the second on this Tuesday evening, started with the C-Jam Blues as was usual at that time. The tune had sort of replaced Take The A Train as the band’s signature. Norris Turney is heard on the clarinet over the band at the beginning, and Cootie Williams, Paul Gonsalves, Booty Wood, and Russell Procope follow. The centerpiece of the concert was the band’s performance of A Tone Parallel to Harlem or HARLEM as it was also called.

To end the evening properly and bring the audience in a more relaxed mood before leaving the concert hall, Ellington chose to finish the concert alone at the piano, just accompanied by Joe Benjamin on the bass, playing his own arrangement of Billy Strayhorn’s lovely tune Lotus Blossom. As evident from the performance at the Uppsala concert, the band could live up to the challenges, and it was received everywhere with enthusiasm and – love.

REVIEW:

This album, recorded at a concert in the great hall of Uppsala University on November 9, 1971, was found in what Ellington called "The Stockpile," his private tape collection. 

It starts with "C-Jam Blues" which at the time had largely replaced "Take the A-Train" as the band's opening number. One of the more interesting numbers is the little known "Fife," written as a vehicle for Norris Turney on flute and there is also a version "A Tone Parallel to Harlem," the title of which Ellington simply abbreviated to "Harlem." 

"Chinoiserie" is another rarity, the title referring to an artistic passion for things Oriental, which in his erudite introduction Duke links to a statement by the Canadian philosopher, Marshall McLuhan. 

At the other end of the scale, trumpeter Money Johnson comes on like Louis Armstrong for "Hello Dolly." Nell Brookshire lends a hand on vocals, and Ellington shows his age somewhat by referring to her as a "torch singer." 

Those "good old good ones" are there aplenty, with longer versions of "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" and "Satin Doll." Nell Brookshire vies with Money Johnson for slapstick vocal honors on "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good." 

Of course Billy Strayhorn's "Take the A-train" couldn't be omitted altogether. It comes in fourth in this particular race for royalties, before "Fife." And the same composer's "Lotus Blossom" is treated to a fine reflective arrangement by Ellington, accompanied only by bassist Joe Benjamin. Ellington said this was the tune Strayhorn most liked to hear him to play.

-- AllAboutJazz.com (Chris Mosey)

We've all experienced it: that special atmosphere before a concert begins. At Copenhagen Jazzhouse, many come early. They reserve the best seats with a piece of clothing and retreat to the bar to buy a beer and exchange a few words with musicians and friends, then return to their seat, anticipation growing. Some look around and notice that all the jazz critics are in attendance. In fact, it seems everyone is here this evening. In the final minutes, lights are dimmed and the intermission music turned off. Lars Thorborg, who runs Jazzhouse, takes the stage and introduces Rosa and the band. It's about to happen! The group comes on stage to enthusiatic applause and there she is - with us, right before us. With no further ado, the tempo is counted off and the concert begins. The band line-up couldn't have been better: Fabio Torres on piano, Paulu Paulelli on bass, and Celso de Almeida on drums and of course Rosa Passos on vocals and guitar. "Imagine you are rocking a baby to sleep. For me, that's Bossa Nova". - Rossa Passos

A strong and unique collaboration between two of America's greatest jazz heroes and two of Denmark's young, new talents. The group, consisting of Eric Reed, Ralph Moore, Andreas Svendsen and Matthias Petri has existed since 2015, and is now ready to release the album Prism on Nov. 22nd. Eric Reed is one of America's most famous pianists. With his strong roots in gospel traditions, he is recognized for his natural approach to music, and is described as a rare talent on his instrument. He is probably best known for his work with world-renowned trumpet player Wynton Marsalis, for whom he was a pianist from 1990. Since then he has recorded numerous albums both in his own name but also for other artists. The group's saxophonist Ralph Moore, originally English, left the American jazz scene desolate for aspiring saxophonists as he played with practically everyone on the US Jazz scene, shortly after arriving in the United States. As the second half of the group's massive rhythm battery, we find Denmark's is arguably best young drummer Andreas Svendsen. Andreas is sought after on both the Danish and international jazz scene as well as the Danish pop scene. Last but not least we have Matthias Petri - One of the most sought-after bassists in Denmark, who has quietly built a solid reputation since moving to Copenhagen in 2010. Prism is a direct and uncompromising jazz release featuring 10 compositions performed by the members of the group. These compositions are exposed here to both cultural and generational differences, which rounds them off and moves the entire collaboration into a higher unity.

Standards consists of a series of standards that were not on the 2017 Kauflin/Fonnesbæk release Synesthesia, where most of the material consisted of original compositions. Justin and Thomas occasionally warmed up for the Synesthesia session by jamming on a few standards - not really considering their release, but more as a means of developing a common language regarding well-known melodies. And since they were in the studio, these functioned as an excellent diversion, after which they could relax with the other takes on the agenda. At the time they even considered deleting these 'diversions', which would have been a rather hasty decision! So now you can hear a mix of the 'left-overs'. There is no editing, which means the numbers were recorded as though it were a live concert, and then mixed. There are two tunes that were on the duo's first album - It's All Right with Me and Nigerian Marketplace - but they both felt that these takes were strong enough to make it in their own right. The young jazz superstar Justin Kauflin is a pianist, composer and producer. His international recognition proves its worth on this album: He is a precise and playful pianist, but always laid-back and elegant. His style mingles perfectly with the quieter Scandinavian Fonnesbæk and together, their understated approach makes a powerful statement in itself. It’s Kauflin’s simplicity and skill that impresses the listener, his eloquence on the piano never throwing the audience off, but always inviting them to sharpen their senses to the smallest of details. Thomas Fonnesbæk is a fascinating musician who exudes technical brilliance and a superior sense of rhythm, as well as a melodic and harmonic sensitivity reminiscent of Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen that never overshadows his own unique style.

Listening to this album takes you back to the atmosphere and sound of Jazzhus Montmartre on a random night in the 1960s, engulfing you in Dexter Gordon’s enormous aura. Dexter’s arrival in Copenhagen had a tremendous impact that left a lasting impression on the Danish jazz scene. He was handsome and well-dressed. His playing was superb, with a giant sound; his introductions and showmanship were unique and captivating. In addition, Dexter felt the Danish mentality was well-suited for playing and enjoying jazz. “It was always there”, Alex Riel remembers “It wasn’t a case of going to work, even though we played every, single night in June, July and August during the summer of 1964. Dexter and Tete were there solely for the music, and so were Niels-Henning and I. It is so obvious when I hear the music today. Dexter loved being in Montmartre. He often stayed and jammed with the night shift when it took over, playing on till early morning. I clearly remember us standing outside Montmartre one bright summer morning when the milkman came by. In those days the milkman drove around, delivering bottles of milk to the front doors of apartment buildings in Copenhagen. He brought his young daughter along to lend a hand, and it was hard not to notice her ample bosom beneath her thin T-shirt. Dexter took one look, then said, “Really (that’s what he called me), can she just walk around town and there’s no one who ...? You could never do that in New York ... I’m staying right here!’ And Dexter ended up owning Copenhagen!”