Articles by Jakob Baekgaard
The Song Poetry of Torhild Ostad and Kazzrie Jaxen
by Jakob Baekgaard
While many singers interpret songs, few elevate them into song poetry--a fusion of lyricism and phrasing that transcends genre. This rare quality emerges when voice, words, and musical interplay coalesce into something greater than the sum of their parts. It is a phenomenon found in the recent albums by Norwegian vocalist Torhild Ostad and pianist-singer Kazzrie Jaxen, each supported by bassists who intuitively tune into the emotional and structural nuances of the music. Torhild Ostad / Carsten ...
Continue ReadingHvalfugl: Bag Vore Øjne Strømmer Drømme Sagte Forbi
by Jakob Baekgaard
An impossible creature flies across the sky; a whale-bird. It has the heaviness and mythic stature of a whale and the lightness of a bird in slow flight. It is both grounded and free. This creature does not exist and yet it does exist in music. Since 2016, the Danish trio, Hvalfugl (Whale-bird), has created its distinct brand of ambient jazz. The album with the elaborate title, Bag Vore Øjne Strømmer Drømme Sagte Forbi (Behind Our Eyes Dreams Flow Quietly), ...
Continue ReadingClaudia Vorbach: Rainbows Of Your Love
by Jakob Baekgaard
Back in 2002, Norah Jones released her album Come Away with Me, blending acoustic roots music, soft pop and jazz through a singer-songwriter lens. While Jones was not the first to explore this sound, she stamped her identity on it. Claudia Vorbach, a singer-songwriter and jazz vocalist from Tübingen, Germany, follows in this tradition, bringing her own distinctive voice to the genre. In 2016, Vorbach released her debut album, Come Down Easy, followed by Is There a ...
Continue ReadingA Bouquet of Basho: The Musical Legacy of a Legend
by Jakob Baekgaard
It is hard to underestimate the importance of a documentary when it comes to the goal of preserving the legacy of a musician. Unlike a book, a documentary tells the story of an artist in a way that is much more condensed and adds a visual and aural aspect that the written page misses. Liam Barker's beautiful documentary, Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho (2020), was a gamechanger in many ways. Not only did ...
Continue ReadingSimon Toldam: Alt er Luft
by Jakob Baekgaard
There was a time when it was avant-garde to play loud and fast, but in a world that is already moving at full speed without looking back, the new avant-garde is to take it slow and reinstate the value of contemplation. It is hard to stretch time, and many movies have succumbed to fast cutting, but music is an art form that still offers the opportunity to experience time in slow motion. Pianist Simon Toldam is a ...
Continue ReadingKresten Osgood: Presence in the Room
by Jakob Baekgaard
It is hard to underestimate the influence of drummer Kresten Osgood on Danish jazz. As a co-founder of the prominent ILK Music label and the man behind several festivals and musical events, he has been a vital part of creating a vibrant modern jazz scene and community that has also welcomed visits from the many jazz legends Osgood has played with. The later years have seen him deliberately slowing down on arranging events, although he has found ...
Continue ReadingIndra Rios-Moore: Where Do We Go From Here?
by Jakob Baekgaard
Death is not a possibility, it is a certainty, and yet it is almost impossible to comprehend that life must end. The miracle of life happens, and as soon as we are born, death enters as an invisible companion. It is a companion that we might ignore most of our life until we cannot. But what do we do when it becomes impossible to ignore? How can we accommodate such an unwelcome guest as death? Hospices are ...
Continue ReadingSteel String Stories: Introducing Martin Kirkegaard
by Jakob Baekgaard
In the right hands, the acoustic guitar becomes a world of sound that transgresses the limitations of the instrument and the role as mere accompaniment. Genres become blurred and suddenly the strings start to sing instead of the troubadour. Or perhaps more correctly, the instrument becomes an extension of the guitarist, and the strings tell stories that seem to come out of everywhere and nowhere. Tradition is always there and at the same time, it is transgressed, ...
Continue ReadingKazzrie Jaxen: The Impulse of Creation
by Jakob Baekgaard
You can walk around in life and still discover something new each day. Maybe it's something that has just appeared, like a flower that has suddenly bloomed, or maybe it's something that has been there all along, like a stone at the side of the road. It's the same thing with music, it can be discovered and rediscovered all the time. The present and past exist side by side and sometimes a forgotten past can be brought into the present. ...
Continue ReadingMary Lou Williams: Into the Zone of Music
by Jakob Baekgaard
Few musicians have embraced the entire history of jazz like Mary Lou Williams, and at the same time shaped its development compositionally and instrumentally. She brought jazz into contact with classical music and played spiritual jazz before it became hip, but she was also a treasured teacher and mentor. Mary Lou Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 8, 1910, as Mary Elfrieda Scruggs. She grew up with an absent mother who drank, and the father was ...
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