Danish Stunt Label Spikes New York/Copenhagen Connection Elias, Scofield, Erskine, Brecker Lend Talents to Danish Visions

Impulsive features the music and playing of Eliane Elias with the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra with arrangements by trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Recorded in 1997 in Denmark after performing concerts with the DRJO in NY and Brazil, this marks the first collaboration between these three distinctly different and brilliant music entities.

Originally, the idea to fuse the classically-trained Elias's music with Brookmeyer's arrangements (he is the DRJO's chief conductor) came from Peter H. Larsen, Manager of the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra. He describes Elias musical persona as being “the most complex and fascinating synthesis of Brazilian tradition and jazz."

The end result of this Brookmeyer/Elias/DRJO alliance is an elegant compote of “...Brazil, European romanticism and modernism, the Kansas City tradition (Brookmeyer's home ground) and post-Gil Evans/Thad Jones big band style," says Larsen.

Elias performed compositions from this album on Saturday, January 13th, at her IAJE concert at the NY Hilton.

Shortcuts is a democratic and international collaboration comprised of two American virtuosos, guitarist John Scofield and drummer Peter Erskine, one Dane, saxophonist Hans Ulrik, and Swedish bassist, Lars Danielsson.

The Jazzpar Award is a yearly award given to a jazz musician chosen by a panel of international judges including jazz critics and journalists. For the awards ceremony, which is held in Copenhagen, a highly regarded jazz musician is chosen and invited to put together a group that will perform at the awards ceremonies. In 1999 Ulrik was selected to be the leader of the Jazzpar Combo.

“I hadn't in my wildest dreams imagined that I would succeed in bringing together this band. These guys are not only amazing instrumentalists, they are also composers and band leaders in their own right..." says Ulrik, who invited them to bring along their own compositions to rehearsals while he tried to stay in the background and let things evolve naturally.

By the third day, they decided to start recording direct to two track only to discover later that a technical glitch had ruined most of what they had put down. Tired, but determined, the quartet went back in the studio and three of those subsequent takes appear on the CD (Scofield's “Bossa," Ulrik's “About Things," and “Short Cuts.") The other five tunes were recorded live during concerts that same week in Holbaek and Randers, Dk.

“Hans is a beautiful saxophonist," says Scofield. “I love the lyrical way he plays, and he's a good writer, too. Peter Erskine and I have played together a lot