Jazz Articles

Trioscope: Trioscope Featuring Chris Cheek

by Mark F. Turner
August 22, 2006

The members of Trioscope have played together for close to ten years, and that is far more than your ordinary house band can say, though one of their steady gigs has been at the popular Christiania Jazz Club in Denmark. This self-titled debut finds the trio (pianist Marko Martinovic, bassist Kristor Brodsgaard, drummer Janus Templeton) alongside special guest saxophonist Chris Cheek on six of the nine tracks, covering original and new material. While it's generally under a ...

Jan Lippert Ensemble: Play Attention

by Eric J. Iannelli
September 6, 2005

Six years ago, Jan Lippert released an album on the small Storyville label entitled Imprints. It was only his second disc as leader, but he managed to attract the interest and assistance of Michael Brecker--no mean feat for a jazz guitarist little known outside his native Denmark. Play Attention, Lippert's third release, has been a long time in coming; and instead of looking abroad for performers with Brecker's kind of international stature, he's assembled a modest all-Danish ...

Bevort: My Shop

by Matthew Wuethrich
July 6, 2004

Pernille Bevort’s fifth album as a leader, My Shop, demonstrates the tenor saxophonist’s range of talents. She not only takes all the saxophone solos, but has composed, arranged and written the lyrics. Bevort writes the kind of accessible art songs Kurt Weill did so well, except she updates them for a modern audience with dirty guitars and touches of improvisation.

Bevort calls Denmark home, but her Special Edition octet hails from around Scandinavia and Europe. The horn section ...

Prinsens Orkester: I 508 Farver

by Matt Merewitz
November 19, 2003

The most intriguing aspects of I 508 Farver lie in its lush melodies, all written by leader Michael Nielsen. Despite being a studio affair, the disc offers an opporunity for this newly formed Danish troupe to evoke strong joyous sentiments during each tune along the way.

At the core of the group lies a working trio consisting of pianist Marco Martinovic, bassist Kristor Brodsgaard, and drummer Janus Templeton. Prinsens Orkester has great potential in attracting new listeners ...

The Tip Toe Big Band and Elle Hansen: Big Smile

by Jack Bowers
April 12, 2002

The bane of my existence — a potentially excellent big–band album with vocals on every track but two! Bad enough when the singer’s first language is English, even worse when, as in the case of Helle Hansen, it’s Danish. Okay, so she’s a pretty good singer, even if one may have a problem deciphering some of the lyrics; five of the compositions are hers, and “Stardust” they ain’t. Of the two instrumentals, director Jesper Riis’ “5” isn’t appreciably better — ...