Tag: Denmark

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Thelonious Monk – Mønk

Thelonious Monk will need no introduction from my readers.  He is the quintessential jazz pianist, and this unreleased album comes from a 1963 Danish recording session.  It is Monk playing at his peak.  From the release’s Bandcamp site:

“Hot on the heels of Impulse’s recently unearthed Coltrane number one hit album comes another beauty from Jazz’s ‘Holy Trinity’. This is a previously unreleased, precious lost treasure from Monk’s most critically acclaimed line-up; Charlie Rouse on saxophone, John Ore on double bass, and Frankie Dunlop on drums. The music was recorded live in Copenhagen in 1963 at the peak of Monk’s career. A year later he was to feature on the cover of TIME magazine, one of only for 4 Jazz artists ever to do so.

The performance, a mixture of Monk originals and interpretations of standards, showcases Monk at his prime: full of avant-garde flair and wit, but always with a swinging feel that explains his title as the ‘High Priest of Bebop’.

The original tapes, saved from a skip and blessed with the approval of the Monk estate, have been faithfully restored, mastered and cut using Gearbox’s legendary all-analogue process.”

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Skyphone – Oscilla

Our friends at Lost Tribe Sound have released yet another gem in their catalog.  This release is from the Danish group Skyphone, and their Bandcamp release page explains further:

“The new Skyphone record original began as a project to explore long form close-miced acoustic sessions. The trio worked to record and capture the intimacy of various acoustic instruments. The recordings were very meticulous and long, and were largely meditations over harmonies and fugue-like movements of guitars, bass, synths, piano as well as mandolin, bells, wind instruments and acoustic drums. The trio spent a lot of time building the right sound, exploring endless loops and atmospheres before editing and deconstructing everything to capture the essence of the sessions. This slow chiseled refinement left a real depth of sound to the final songs. Hints of field recordings coloring the periphery, while lumbering rhythms hold a steady pulse, freeing the guitar and bass to create a myriad of melodies and counterpoints opposite the synthesizers. The record also features an incredible barrage of effects, in large part thanks to the 80’s era TC-2290.”

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øjeRum – V​å​gnende Jeg Ser De D​ø​de

Danish composer øjeRum has recorded for and with some of the best ambient and electronic music labels active today, and this latest release is published by the estimable Room40 Records out of Australia.  From the release Bandcamp site:

“While recording, radio waves and static electricity interfered with the signal – sometimes subtly, sometimes more pronounced – supplying the recording with an accidental ghost accompaniment. This chance encounter let me to contact Scanner as I knew of his use of radio waves and police scanners. The result was the two remixes accompanying my piano recording.

“Vågnende Jeg Ser De Døde” is a line from a Danish Easter Psalm; “Awakening I See The Dead, in an Easter morning red”.”

A beautiful quote, so appropriate for the end of darkness that is Easter.  It seems a ghost accompanied the artist on this release.

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Cathrine Legardh, Sigurdur Flosason – Stilhed & Storm

Nordic jazz tends to be very warm in my experience.  This collection of original tunes by Danish singer Cathrine Legardh and her sparring partner on this album, alto saxophonist Sigurður Flosason, make an album with songs of love, live and even dogs.  It’s a mellow listen, something hotter than cool jazz, but measured in its playing.  A gorgeously relaxing disc.

One additional note: I’ve picked up a few titles from the label that released this disc, Storyville Records.  They handle new music and reissues with great care and are a label absolutely worth supporting.

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Svaneborg Kardyb – Over Tage

Svaneborg Kardyb is a remarkably cool band Denmark, with elements of nu-jazz, Scandinavian folk and a similarity with more free bands on the ECM label, though these lads call Gondwana Records home these days.  From the band’s Bandcamp site.

“Svaneborg Kardyb are Nikolaj Svaneborg – Wurlitzer, Juno, piano and Jonas Kardyb – drums, percussion a multi award winning duo from Denmark, where they won two “grammys” at the Danish Music Awards Jazz 2019: New artist of the year and Composer of the year. 
Drawing on Danish folk music and Scandinavian jazz influences, including Nils Frahm, Esbjörn Svennson and Jan Johansson’s landmark recording Jazz På Svenska, their music is an exquisite and joyful melding of beautiful melodies, delicate minimalism, catchy grooves, subtle electronica vibes, Nordic atmospheres and organic interplay, all underwritten by the sheer joy of playing together. “We started in the earliest of mornings over the blackest of coffee, sometimes even without talking, just music.”

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Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen – The Bass in the Background

Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen was a phenomenal jazz bassist originally out of Roskilde, Denmark.  He was good enough to be drafted by Count Basie’s touring band but had to reject it due to age restrictions.

Imagine working with pianists like Kenny Drew, Tete Montoliu, Lee Konitz, Dexter Gordon, Palle Mikkelborg, Svend Asmussen and Stéphane Grappelli among a host of jazz luminaries.  This collection highlights his work with some of these leading lights, and he makes the bass bop madly.  A stellar collection by Storyville Records.

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Samo Salamon & Hasse Poulsen – String Dancers

Musicians never cease to amaze me.  Despite the horrible conditions which have led to worldwide lockdown, artists like Samo Salamon, a guitarist out of Slovenia, and Hasse Poulsen, originally from Denmark, manage to weave together an acoustic guitar-only album of improvisations that don’t sound like what you normally associate with “improv.”  It’s a mellow album, and though there was a distance between the two musicians, they ping-ponged tracks back and forth to each other, growing and molding each tune until the final product was crafted.  It’s a stunningly relaxing album.  Those words should not go together under normal circumstances, but in this case, I’ll make an exception.

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Destruktionsanstalt / Cyanosis – Split

For those of you, my friends, who were avid readers of my previous blog, A Miscellany Of Tasteful Music, among the musicians I was proud to champion was Destruktionsanstalt, whose works were featured at this link.  I’m pleased to say that Per Najbjerg Odderskov has a fresh release under that monicker, splitting it with a project which is new to me in Cyanosis.  The first two tracks from from Destruktionsanstalt, and unlike many noise bands, there is a nearly surgical focus on both tracks.  The pummeling noise fest has a vibe utterly indebted to the masters, especially early period-Throbbing Gristle and a name not mentioned enough these days, Maurizio Bianchi (M.B.), whose work always reminded me of the more frightening side of documentary, clinical music of the experimental variety.

Cyanosis was a pleasant surprise for me.  Not quite as noisy, the track they offer is crunchy, yet has a cinematic air to it.  I look forward to learning more about them.

Much respect to Marbre Negre, a newer label out of Reus, Spain, which specializes in dark ambient releases.  They’ve left quite a good impression.

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Destruktionsanstalt – Kaelder Mug

Per Najbjerg Odderskov is an artist I enjoyed featuring over at my old blog, and I’m pleased to hear he has a new release out.  It is as dark, heavy and claustrophobic (and yes, that’s a good thing for this genre of music) as his best works.

The gloomy feel reminds me of peak 1990s experimental cassette culture, the weirdness of Industrial music-era Cabaret Voltaire, and horror movie soundtracks.

Bleak, haunting, and engaging.