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Anders Koppel: Mulberry Street Symphony
by Doug Collette
A father-son collaboration at its most sublime, Mulberry Street Symphony is a natural and logical extension of saxophonist/composer Benjamin Koppel's eclectic sets of funk and free improvisation The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue (Cowbell Music, 2020) and The Art of the Quartet (Cowbell Music, 2020). The prolific Dane wisely aligns himself here with redoubtable counterparts in the persons of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade to form the core of a larger musical aggregation including the Odense Symphony Orchestra ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Koppel: The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue
by Chris M. Slawecki
Listen to music long enough, and it's almost bound to happen: You're not sure exactly what you want to listen to, but you know that whatever you listen to needs must bump and groove. The Ultimate Soul & Jazz Revue, an anthology of American jazz, soul and R&B recorded live at a Copenhagen music festival by Danish saxophonist Benjamin Koppel and his big band, is some first-rate scratch for that itch. Ultimate Soul & Jazz neatly packages Koppel's ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Koppel: Curiosity Won't Kill This Cat
by R.J. DeLuke
Benjamin Koppel is an extraordinary Danish musician from an illustrious music family. He is all about music—of just about any kind. He's always absorbing it, discovering what there is to derive from it. A kind of restless desire to explore envelops him. He simplifies it in his own words: he's curious. It comes naturally to him. The alto saxophonist is intelligent and unassuming. His influences are broad, but they start with his family. Koppel, a stellar player and ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Koppel: Room to Roam
by Doug Collette
In his two simultaneously-released double CDs, Danish saxophonist Benjamin Koppel illustrates how fine a line exists between authentic rhythm and blues and healthily-improvised jazz. It might otherwise go without saying it takes the caliber of world-class singers and players to traverse such broad and fertile territory-- bassist Scott Colley and trumpeter Randy Brecker are just two—but, credit where credit is due to both the bandleader and his colleagues, they mesh their complementary talents in such a way that the focus ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Koppel: The Poetic Principle
by AAJ Italy Staff
Benjamin Koppel è un sassofonista danese che a quindici anni forma la sua prima band, a diciotto incide il suo primo disco, oggi a trentatre anni vanta più di venti incisioni a suo nome, è il più premiato musicista danese della sua generazione oltre che il fondatore dell'etichetta Cowbell Music, ossia musica di qualità (jazz, crossover, classica o pop non importa). Etichetta che è specchio degli interessi musicali del nostro, che trovano realizzazione in altrettanti gruppi dedicati. Quello con Paul ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Koppel - Thommy Andersson - Alex Riel: The Copenhagen Incident
by AAJ Italy Staff
Fondata nel 2001 dal sassofonista danese Benjamin Koppel, Cowbell Music è un etichetta che testimonia la vitalità del jazz di quella terra non disdegnando di aprire le porte, in qualche incisione, ad artisti stranieri come Paul Bley, Miroslav Vitous, Dave Stewart, per citarne alcuni, e dando spazio a generi come la classica, il pop, la world etc. Rimanendo sul versante jazz dell'etichetta, questo The Copenhagen Incident mette a confronto due generazioni di jazzisti scandinavi, quella di Alex Riel, arzillo settantenne ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Koppel - Eythor Gunnarsson - Thommy Andersson - Alex Riel: The Reykjavik Recording
by AAJ Italy Staff
Rispetto a The Copenaghen Incident, volume secondo delle collana denominata Nordic Design e licenziato dal trio Koppel-Andersson-Riel, questo The Reykjavik Recording è decisamente meno avventuroso. Non tanto perché a prevalere sono ballads o brani a tempo medio-lento, quanto perché l'aggiunta del pianista islandese Eythor Gunnarsson spinge il trio originario verso territori più morbidi e rilassati. Le armonizzazioni di Gunnarson sono raffinate ed eleganti, e il suo pianismo discreto influenza il clima dell'intera registrazione così che i suoi compagni di viaggio ...
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