For a small country, Denmark has made astonishing contributions to music and by no means least to jazz. Even in the 1930s, when European jazz was pretty much a backwater, Denmark produced world-class violinist Svend Asmussen, the first of many great bassists, Niels Foss (both alive and well at 89), and the multi-talented pianist-arranger-composer-vocalist Leo Mathisen, and every generation since has made its contribution.

Danish jazz has never been trendy, and today one can find every style well represented. Those bassists are special; the jazz world still mourns the recent loss of Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, but we still have Jesper Lundgaard, Hugo Rasmussen, Lennart Ginman, Mads Vinding, Jesper Bodilsen – among others, such as Chris Minh Doky, who settled in the USA. But that's a two-way street. Dexter Gordon found a second home in Denmark, as did his frequent partner, Kenny Drew. Another great pianist, Horace Parlan, still resides in Denmark (his trio, with Lundgaard and fellow expatriate Ed Thigpen, is a marvel), as do guitarist Doug Raney and tenorman Bob Rockwell.

The Danish Radio Big Band, one of the world's best, has been led by, among others, Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, and Jim McNeely. On the distaff side, no less than three fine saxophonists are Pernille Bévort, Lotte Anker, and Christina von Bülow, and among fine singers, Denmark being a land of song, Caroline Henderson is a recent discovery.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Yet it's not just that Denmark has produced so many notable musicians and groups, but the country has also done much to support the music. Denmark has a long tradition for educating rhythmic musicians and stimulating new, young talent. It was the first country to pass a music law, and it has the Danish Jazz Federation, which primary serves musicians and the annual Copenhagen Jazz Festival. For 15 years, Denmark has awarded the Jazzpar Prize, the biggest international jazz award (cash, concerts, recording), and in Jazz Special, it has a first-class jazz magazine.

Furthermore, there is a surprising amount of jazz recording activity.

Denmark is a very special country, and it has long been a very special place for jazz.

Text: Dan Morgenstern, Director of Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, Newark, USA

Record Labels

Bugpowder
www.bugpowder.dk

Cope Records
www.coperecords.com

Cowbell Music
www.cowbellmusic.dk

EMI Music /Blue Note
www.capitolrecords.dk

Exlibris
www.exlibris.dk

LM Records
www.newnet.music

ILK
www.ilkmusic.com

Music Mecca – Ambia
www.cdjazz.com

Offbeat Records
www.offbeat.dk

SteepleChase
www.steeplechase.dk

Storyville Records
+45 38 19 82 59

Stunt Records – Sundance
www.sundance.dk

Universal Music Denmark
www.umusic.dk/universal

Voices Music & Entertainment
www.vow.dk/april


Key Festivals

Copenhagen Jazzfestival
www.jazzfestival.dk

Århus International Festival
www.jazzfest.dk

Riverboat Jazzfestival
www.riverboat.dk


Education

Rhytmic Music Conservatory
www.rmc.dk

Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium, Rytmisk
www.musik-kons.dk

Vestjysk Musikkonservatorium
www.vmk.dk

Det Fynske Musikkonservatorium
www.dfm.dk

Nordjysk Musikkonservatorium
www.nordkons.dk

Musikvidenskabeligt Institut, Copenhagen


General

Danish Jazzfederation
www.dkjazz.dk

Copenhagen Jazzguides
www.jazzguides.dk

Jazz Special
www.jazzspecial.dk

The Danish National Radio
www.dr.dk/jazz

Kunststyrelsen (Danish Arts Agency)
www.kunststyrelsen.dk

Kulturministeriet (The Danish Ministry of Culture)
www.kum.dk

Dansk Musikerforbund (The Danish Musicians Union)
www.dmf.dk



Finland
The Finnish jazz dialect – initialized in the late 1960’s by saxophonists Juhani Aaltonen and Eero Koivistoinen, drummer Edward Vesala and pianist Heikki Sarmanto – is alive and well and developing at a fast pace.

Many veterans are still active both as composers and performers, and a new breed of inventive and fearless musicians is following in their footsteps. The somewhat stale situation of the late 1980’s is a thing of the past. Soulful young musicians like trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and drummer Teppo Mäkynen carry the torch of the tribe elders with a deep sense of respect, yet with pride and trust in their own style.

Although jazz purists may shudder at the thought, it has actually been the influence of rock music, electronic music and popular culture in general that has opened the vistas of jazz musicians. Not longer than 10 years ago a jazzer usually took part in a non-jazz project only to make some extra cash. Such was the case in Finland as well.

Nowadays, as the music scene is more openminded, the talented players skip over genre barriers with ease. And what’s important, they couldn’t care less what the ”style police” might think. In this sense, music has become so democratic that a jazz scene as such doesn’t even exist anymore. Of course, there is the handful of jazz clubs all over Finland as well as a huge number of festivals. But the most forward-looking ones among these are savvy enough to book acts that embody the free spirit of jazz, not the sound and style.

Even the Finnish Jazz Federation has taken some welcome chances in this area when booking their traditional nation-wide tours for interesting new bands.

As far as formal education in jazz goes, Finland’s most notable institutes can be found in Helsinki. In addition, a number of conservatories and music schools throughout the country provide courses and seminars in jazz music.The only Finnish seat of education on the university level is the Sibelius Academy Jazz Department. Founded in 1983 simultaneously with the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department, this institute accepts 5-10 new students each year. The “father figure” of the Jazz Department is drummer/pianist Jukkis Uotila, who was at the helm from 1986 to 1995. His strong vision was the main contributor to the institute becoming so respected.

The leading polytechnic in this field, on the other hand, is the Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, established in 1996. Stadia provides Bachelor level degrees in pop and jazz music and music education.

Nevertheless, the first place to begin providing jazz music tutelage was the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory, founded already in 1972. It reached college status in 1983 and became a conservatory in 1986.

When it comes to record companies, the 1990’s were a decade of buy-outs and mergers. This trend had its repercussions in Finland as well. As the outcome, our country quickly developed a thriving independent label scene.

Artist-led cottage industries like Abovoice and Fiasko commenced releasing high quality albums to critical acclaim. In their wake, older indie companies like Rockadillo and Texicalli fortified their stature: When the public realized that excellent new local jazz was being made available by new players on the scene, the pedigree labels also got their share of the spotlight.

In 2000, the Blue Note Finland sub-label was launched by EMI Finland. This development was welcome as it was initialized by people who truly believed in the power of Finnish jazz as something that could reach the everyday music consumer. The stakes were high, and saxophonist Jukka Perko rose to the challenge by releasing two albums that went on to sell an exceptionally large number of copies. The latest Finnish indie phenomenon in the jazz field is TUM Records. It continues where labels like the 1970’s sensational Love Records left off.

Text: Petri Silas


Record Companies

Abovoice / Silence Music
www.abovoice.com

Blue Note / EMI Finland Oy
www.emi.fi

Fiasko Records
www.fiaskorecords.com

Love Music Publishing
www.lovemusic.fi

Rockadillo Records
www.rockadillo.fi

Texicalli Records
www.texicalli.net

TUM Records
www.tumrecords.com

Universal Music
www.universalmusic.fi

Wolfgang Records / Silence.
www.wolfgangrecords.com


Key Festivals

April Jazz
www.apriljazz.fi

Imatra Big Band Festival
www.ibbf.fi

Jyväskylä Summer Jazz
www.summerjazz.net

Pori International Jazz Festival
www.porijazz.fi

Tampere Jazz Happening
www.tampere.fi/festival/music

UMO Jazz Fest
www.umo.fi

Viapori Jazz
www.viaporijazz.fi


Education

Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia
Faculty of Culture and Services
Degree Programme in Pop and Jazz Music
www.stadia.fi

Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory
www.popjazz.net

Sibelius Academy Jazz Department
www.siba.fi


General

Finnish Broadcasting Company / jazz dept.
www.yle.fi

Finnish Jazz Federation
www.jazzfin.com

Finnish Music Information Centre
www.fimic.fi

UMO Jazz Orchestra & Jazz Club
www.umo.fi

www.suomijazz.com


Norway
Norwegian jazz is constantly on the move.

Thirty to forty years ago there were huge headlines in Norwegian papers when musicians like saxophone player Jan Garbarek, singer Karin Krog, bass player Arild Andersen, drummer Jon Christensen or guitarist Terje Rypdal were invited to international jazz festivals or recorded with international artists.

Today, such festival appearances by Norwegian artists are hardly mentioned at all. Musicians belonging to the generation after Garbarek & Co. have been performing at clubs and festivals worldwide in recent years. We are mainly referring to keyboard player Bugge Wesseltoft, singer Sidsel Endresen and piano player Jon Balke. There is also the next generation, made up of saxophone players Karl Seglem and Trygve Seim, trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Nils Petter Molvær, drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, pianist Tord Gustavsen and singers like Silje Nergaard and Eldbjørg Raknes, as well as bands like Wibutee, Jaga Jazzist, Supersilent, Food, The Thing etc.

Festival arrangers and clubs around the world are looking to Norway for “the new jazz”. Many Norwegian festivals are constantly visited by arrangers from all over the world looking to experience and find out what makes Norwegian jazz so unique. Some claim it has to do with the nature, the inspiration from Jan Garbarek’s airy sound which was often associated with fjords and big, open mountain plateaux. Others credit the unique training system and organisation of Norwegian jazz in the recent 25 years.

Why has music from such a small country with a population of 4 million made such an impact on the international jazz scene in recent years?

Obviously, musicians like Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal have had an enormous impact on the development of the “Nordic Sound”. Their close links with Norwegian folk music (for example Jan Garbarek’s “Eventyr” with Nana Vasconcelos and John Abercrombie and “Rosensfole” with folk singer Agnes Buen Garnås) have had great influence on younger musicians, who have also had their eyes open for not only American music, but also the East, the Balkans, Africa, South America and other places where potentially inspiring music is being played. Arve Henriksen’s recording projects “Sakuteiki” and “Chiaroscuro”, clearly inspired by Eastern sound, are good examples. Norwegian musicians have from the early days had close relations to the record label ECM. Here they were given the opportunity to present their music, and to establish new musical constellations. Via this relationship Norwegian jazz had great opportunities for evolvement, and an extensiveness that was of great importance for the development of the new Norwegian jazz.

However, Norwegian jazz musicians have also looked for inspiration in the States. First, by inviting the big stars to perform at Norwegian jazz festivals and concerts, later by the opportunities for Norwegian musicians to play with Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett and others. Larger ensembles like Trondheim Jazzorkester, has worked with guest soloists like Pat Metheny and Chick Corea, to name a few.

Although inspired by mainstream American jazz many Norwegian musicians have been more interested in the backyards, taking in for example the free jazz scenes in downtown New York and Chicago. From early 1970 and up till today several Norwegian musicians have worked closely with Paul Bley, Sam Rivers, Don Cherry, Bill Frisell, Ken Vandermark, Joe McPhee, Jef Bishop, Kent Kessler and their associates.

Additionally, Norwegian jazz training has improved radically in the last 25 years. The establishment of “Jazzlinja” in Trondheim gave Norway its first pure higher training institution for jazz musicians. Until then a few Norwegian musicians had attended American universities such as Berklee College of Music, but things really took off after “Jazzlinja” was established.

There are now also training institutions for jazz in Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, as well as Kristiansand, who all invite the musicians to look for their identity as musicians. This has meant that the musicians not only co-operate with - and are inspired by - fellow jazz musicians, but also performers of folk, pop, rock, classical and contemporary music. According to the musicians themselves, genre of music or even other art forms are irrelevant, as long as the end result is good music.

Norwegian jazz is always open to new impulses. It is constantly moving and moving forward fast. The musicians are always looking for new passages, and it is impossible to predict their next move. This makes Norwegian jazz very interesting and unpredictable, and well worth following in the years to come.

Text: Jan Granlie


Record companies

NORCD
www.norcd.no

Rune Grammofon
www.runegrammofon.com

SOFA
www.sofamusic.no

Curling Legs
www.curlinglegs.no

Jazzland
www.jazzlandrec.com

Jazzaway Records
www.jazzaway.com


Key festivals

Oslo Jazz Festival
www.oslojazz.no

Kongsberg Jazzfestival
www.kongsberg-jazzfestival.no

MaiJazz
www.maijazz.no

SildaJazz
www.sildajazz.no

Trondheim Jazz Festival
www.trondheim-jazzfestival.no

Varangerfestivalen
www.varangerfestivalen.no

Molde International Jazz Festival
www.moldejazz.no

NattJazz
www.nattjazz.no

Vossa Jazz
www.vossajazz.no

Balejazz
www.balejazz.no

DølaJazz - Lillehammer Jazzfestival
www.dolajazz.no


Education

Trondheim Conservatory of Music, Jazz department, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
www.hf.ntnu.no

Norwegian Academy of Music
www.nmh.no/english

Stavanger University
www.his.no

Grieg Akademiet, Bergen University
http://www.hf.uib.no/

Agder University College
http://www.hia.no/


General

Norsk Jazzforum (the Norwegian jazz federation)
www.jazzforum.no

Music Information Centre(Mic)
www.mic.no/english

www.jazzinoslo.no


Sweden
Swedish jazz covers vast areas: From classical jazz to innovative experiments on the borderlines of electronica and world music, with swing and bebop in between. The age span on the Swedish jazz scene is just as vast.

Legendary musicians such as alto saxophonist Arne Domnérus, clarinetist Putte Wickman and singer Alice Babs are still active, despite having reached the age of eighty. There is also a middle generation comprising of names like saxophonist Lennart Åberg, pianists Bobo Stenson and Lars Jansson, bassists Palle Danielsson, Lars Danielsson and Anders Jormin, trombonist Nils Landgren, guitarist Ulf Wakenius and trumpeter Anders Bergcrantz – all musicians who belong to the world elite.

Still, the most obvious trend in the new millennium is a marked change of generation. The main figurehead is saxophonist Jonas Kullhammar. With his disrespectful attitude he has managed to inoculate jazz with the do-it-yourself ideals of punk and has thus become an idol of sorts for many musicians. Thanks to his record company, Moserobie, a number of young musicians have found a channel in which they can retain complete control.

This ideal has spread and the result is a dense and varied production of records: Obvious camps, though with open borders – frequently offering dual artistic citizenship.

Parallel tracks therefore stem from musicians such as trumpeter Goran Kajfeš and pianist Daniel Karlsson. Saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist and trumpeter Magnus Broo represent another track and new things are always happening around pianist Jan Lundgren and saxophonists Fredrik Nordström and Magnus Lindgren.

Experimental jazz, to put it simply, is another main path. Here, the hub is reed player Mats Gustafsson. This man surrounds himself with Swedish and international names in forever changing constellations.Yet another current main direction has been the one taken by singers, the most famous ones being Rigmor Gustafsson, Jeanette Lindström, Lina Nyberg and Viktoria Tolstoy. Together these ladies cover surfaces spanning from the strictly personal to exciting interpretations of standards. They have also made a strong impact on the media, which in its turn has generated an even greater interest in jazz and singing.

In fact, in 2005 there are far more jazz musicians in Sweden than ever. This is possibly a reflection, at least in part, of the “Swedish music miracle” generally meaning Swedish rock and pop. The extensive teaching of instruments in the municipal music schools is usually regarded as being one of the reasons for this phenomenon. Naturally, post-high school jazz training plays an even bigger part. The path can begin at one of Sweden’s many Popular Universities.After that one can progress to one of the six nation-wide music colleges that offer a four-year course on jazz and improvisation.

Sweden is known to be quite a well-organised country and jazz is no exception. The majority of the approx. 100 Swedish jazz clubs are members of the Swedish Jazz Federation (Svenska Jazzriksförbundet - SJR). Musical interests are guarded by the Swedish Jazz Musicians’ Association (Föreningen Sveriges Jazzmusiker - FSJ). The twenty regional music foundations are among the other organisations that have a mission of protecting the interests of jazz nationally – alongside the Swedish Artists’ and Musicians’ Interest Organization (SAMI), Concerts Sweden (Rikskonserter) and the Swedish Music Information Centre. The two latter organisations also have the task of marketing Swedish jazz abroad.

And of course, some of the marketing happens naturally. Over the years, several Swedish musicians have been in close contact with the German record label ECM and through that link, the Norwegian jazz scene. Among those are Bobo Stenson, Palle Danielsson and Anders Jormin. A new Norwegian-Swedish axis evolves around the quintet Atomic and the Jazzland label.

Yet another channel reaching an international audience goes through the German record company ACT. The key person there is trombonist Nils Landgren. He has managed to sign artists like Rigmor Gustafsson and groups like e.s.t. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio) to the company. The Trio is Sweden’s most successful jazz group both nationally and internationally. With a “visible”, chiselled music, they have managed to break through to the big audiences.

Text: Johan Scherwin / Translation: Isabel Thomson


Record Companies

Amigo
www.bonnieramigo.se

Apart
www.apartrecords.com

Arietta
www.arietta.se

Caprice
www.caprice.rikskonserter.se

Moserobie
www.moserobie.com

Kopasetic
www.kopasetic.se

Dragon
www.dragonrecords.se

Imogena
www.imogena.se

Phono Suecia
www.phonosuecia.com

Mirrors
www.mirrors.nu

Sittel
www.sittel.se

db Productions
www.db-productions.se/flash.html

Four Leaf Clover
www.flc.se/

Häpna
www.hapna.com

Ayler
www.ayler.com

Stockholm Jazz Records
www.jazz.se/

Prophone
www.naxos.se

LJ
www.lj-records.se

Touché
www.touchemusic.se


Key Festivals

Stockholm Jazz Festival
www.stockholmjazz.com

Umeå Jazzfestival
www.botniamusik.se/static/sv/72

Swedish Jazz Celebration
www.swedishjazzcelebration.com


Education

The Royal College of Music, Stockholm
www.kmh.se

The School of Music and Music Education, Göteborg University.
www.musik.gu.se

Malmö Academy of Music.
www.mhm.lu.se

The Ingesund Academy of Music.
www.imh.se

Skurup popular university.
www.fhsk.skurup.se


Magazines

Orkester Journalen
www.oj-jazz.com

Lira
www.lira.se


General

The Swedish Jazz Federation
www.swedejazz.se

Jazz Facts
www.jazzfacts.com