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Simon Toldam

Simon Toldam is one of Scandinavia´s most exiting and acclaimed musicians from the current generation. He has received 4 danish jazzgrammies, among them ”Rising Star” of the danish music scene. He is a member of Danish leading jazz/avantgarde label ILK, and has released 12 cd´s as leader/co-leader.

Toldam started his first trio at the age of 9, and has since then been leading and co-leading several groups playing jazz, improv and beyond. Composition and improvisation has always – and still is - been the mainpillars in the musical carrier of this versatile player. He has composed music for orchestras of various size all the way from trio to 20-piece orchestras, film, theatre, modern dance, and was chosen as official Festival Composer at Cph Jazzfestival 2007.

Besides leading/co-leading a number of groups, Toldam is in demand on the scene as sideman in various, jazz/new music settings, and as teacher on the conservatories in DK.

Toldam is currently leading his own trio and the larger group Stork, both orchestras presenting the music of Toldam, showing all of his orchestrational abilities and his intriguing way of conveying his own music.

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6
Album Review

Toldam / Riedel / Berg / Wiklund / Christensen: Tak for dit brev

Read "Tak for dit brev" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Danish pianist Simon Toldam has made his mark as an abundantly creative improviser, most recently manifest on his work with Ways--a duo comprised of saxophonist Brodie West and drummer Evan Cartwright. Their Fortunes (Lorna Records, 2020) was an album defined by unusual gestures and subtle refractions, keeping the listener guessing throughout. Toldam's latest release, Tak for dit brev (the title translates as “Thank You For Your Letter") isn't as overtly adventurous, but it still possesses plenty of quiet charm, and ...

Album Review

Toldam, Riedel, Berg, Wiklund, Christensen: Tak for dit brev

Read "Tak for dit brev" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Quarantadue anni, danese, il pianista (qui anche occasionalmente clarinettista) Simon Toldam dirige in questo ragguardevole album un quintetto dalla struttura eminentemente cameristica che non può non rimandare a più o meno remoti lavori di Jimmy Giuffre e di un certo cenacolo (Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Ralph Peña, Buddy Collette, Bud Shank, ecc.) che a partire dalla metà degli anni Cinquanta ci hanno offerto una visione del jazz, già post-bop e di fatto anche post-cool, “ammalata" di Europa, di toni più ...

4
Album Review

Ways + Simon Toldam: Fortunes

Read "Fortunes" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Two iconoclasts currently generating interest in their native Canada and beyond, alto saxophonist Brodie West and drummer Evan Cartwright can be found playing in widely varying contexts, frequently in a duo format under the moniker Ways. Often joined by pianists of similar, boundary-stretching temperament, West and Cartwright refuse to trade in jazz cliches or stay comfortably within the polite confines of chamber music. With Danish pianist Simon Toldam on board for their current release, Fortunes, the trio successfully crafts a ...

Album Review

Simon Toldam Trio: Omhu

Read "Omhu" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Un'eleganza persino un po' estenuata, ma con un suo pathos e una sua cifra stilistica, caratterizza questo nuovo lavoro (dovrebbe essere il quarto) del trio capitanato dal giovane pianista danese Simon Toldam. Nove i brani, tutti del leader tranne il secondo e il quarto, firmati “democraticamente" dal trio al completo, e tutti più o meno indistintamente contrassegnati da un tono lieve, pacato, sospeso e volatile, a tratti scuro, eccezion fatta per il crescendo che attraversa “Illumination" (uno dei due episodi ...

4
Album Review

Simon Toldam Trio: Omhu

Read "Omhu" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


The bebop and hard bop revolution of the forties and fifties made speed a virtue as razor-sharp unison lines cut through the rhythms. A saxophonist like Johnny Griffin was praised for his fast way of playing that also underlined his technical virtuosity, and the muscular style signaled a music completely in touch with modernity. Nowadays, there is little new land to conquer in terms of speed, but a new millennium has opened a frontier where silence and ...

10
Interview

Simon Toldam: A New Perspective in Jazz

Read "Simon Toldam: A New Perspective in Jazz" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


Danish pianist and composer Simon Toldam is a man who is used to getting involved in many different musical situations. Toldam thrives on diversity and he has played all kinds of music, from folk music to modern jazz and avant-garde. No matter what he is playing, he invests himself in the different musical contexts and brings his own sounds to each musical universe. It might be the lyrical sounds of Danish trumpeter Jakob Buchanan or the playful avant-garde music of ...

7
Album Review

Simon Toldam Trio: Kig Op 14

Read "Kig Op 14" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


Music is a sensory art. Hands touching the keyboard, bass strings that are plucked and the rustling of cymbals. Sounds form patterns and familiar sounds become clichés and then the trouble starts. The immediacy of the first movement, that first touch is lost. In a sense, every musician battles this process that dulls the listener's senses and transforms new and exciting sounds into the echoes of yesterday. The trick is to change perspective to see and hear ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Tak for dit brev

ILK Music
2021

buy

Fortunes

Lorna Records
2020

buy

Omhu

ILK Music
2019

buy

Kig Op 14

ILK Music
2014

buy

Stork

ILK Music
2012

buy

Videos

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