Video and sound

Group project: No Standard Assembly

In this idea «Modal rituals no. 4», the inspiration is somewhat Celtic. This actually surprised me. However, I like the idea of an open modal form of world music or jazz that is also close to the post-rock expressions of the Nordic countries, in particular Icelandic music.

The group project «No Standard Assembly» is taking off from a melodic modal open form improvisation base with a central idea also being to strive for a very acoustic sound similar to classical chamber music concerts whenever possible.

The project is based on a sekstet formation, here there are five and the instrument expected to join is another plugged string instrument. If that will be harp or kora, and if it might replace the piano, is not yet known as percussion is also being considered. The project is currently under development.

The other musicians in this recording are Jedrzej Lagodzinski (Ten. sax), Thomas Maintz (guitar), Anders Monrad (piano) and Franciszek Pospiezalski (double bass).

With Djanuno Dabo in Paris - an improvisation

This is the first time I've had the pleasure of playing with the excellent musician and songwriter from Guinea-Bissau, Djanuno Dabo^(*)!

It was fun to try these polyrhythmic improvisations because Djanuno is as rooted as Mother Earth in terms of tempo, and therefore not easily distracted by whimsical alto saxophonists.

So everything went surprisingly smoothly!

(*) Check the live video with Djanuno's song Oka below to find more info on his work

String Trio: Origin II

During my time studying composition at the Royal Danish Music Academy in Aarhus with Per Nørgård I composed a cycle of three compositions under the title «Origin» (1991).

The second part for string trio is here played by «Ensemble S:I.C», France, under the artistic direction of Françoise Rivalland.

The cycle worked with the idea to treat the three different, albeit closely related, concepts sound, or harmonics (Klang in German), form and melody in three movements for a nine instrument ensemble using 7 of the 9 in the first movement «Origin I», 3 of the 9 in the second movement «Origin II» and finally 9 of 9, or all musicians, in the last movement «Origin III». The three movements (or compositions) should furthermore be able to stand alone as singular compositions.

The instrumentation is: flute, clarinet, string trio, piano and percussion.

You can find a recording of «Origin I» on archive.org whereas the last work currently is lost traveling.

Deus ex machina - from movements for solo piano played by Erik Kaltoft

Pianist Erik Kaltoft is one of the most wonderful and influential pianists in Danish music. He is a major force behind numerous first performances and recordings of contemporary Danish piano music.

This is the fourth movement of a composition I wrote when I was still at the conservatory as a beginning composition student. Without Erik's monumental efforts, professionalism, experience and encouragement, this work would never have been made available to the public.

The work is currently being reworked. Contrary to conventional dogma, I have decided to reopen the whole thing and attempt a shorter, more precise composition of the entire work, rather than let what has been done be a closed case. If successful, the work will be available in two versions: a new recomposed version and a handwritten 'ur-text' copy. However, this movement will remain more or less as it is.

The flamenco incident (live recording)

A collaboration with flamenco singer Rafael Molina and young, highly talented, energetic, cool and exceptional musicians from Poland and Denmark are here, in a moment of caprice, combined with another improviser: a freestyle footballer, Lasse Freestyle Kalkar. Because whether improvisation is juggling notes, words or a football, the performers are inextricably linked and able to mutually inspire each other.

Collaborations: Djanuno Dabo sings Oka at CPH Jazz Festival

Djanuno Dabo playing percussion and singing his song Oka during Copenhagen Jazz Festival in 2014.

I don't know if any of you have tried playing these kind of drums by hand singing convincingly driving the tempo of a group with a rooted groove not loosing a beat and reaching way beyong the stage creating excitement and inspiring people to dance all at once?

It is very hard to do that well (if at all!)

The video was recorded with one zoom camera attached with gaffa tape to a pole or something in a corner, so for this reason sound and image is maybe not quite 4K HD ... but the performance is unforgettable.

Electronic ambient: More strange dings

Electronic fix that works pretty well for a traveling video sequence

Electronic ambient: Terrain

Composition with a somewhat surreal image of flying trumpets over a landscape of memories