The 2012 Copenhagen Jazz Festival, July 6-15, Announces Its Full Program

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Ambrose Akinmusire, Brad Mehldau Trio, Christian Scott Quintet, Dave Douglas, Gerald Clayton, Jim Hall Quintet, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, The Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Vijay Iyer Trio, Wayne Shorter

“New Orleans and New York are renowned for being the world epicentres of jazz, but leave State-side to find yourself in Europe, and there’s truly only one city that approaches that same spirit, passion and swing: Copenhagen, called by some ‘Europe’s Jazz Capital’.” – The Copenhagen Post

“The richness of Denmark’s jazz tradition is beyond question. The country whose love of the music once embodied resistance to the Nazis and later offered a comfortable home to American exiles such as Stan Getz, Ben Webster and Dexter Gordon continues to breed formidable new talents and ideas nearly nine decades after its first homegrown artists appeared. But knowing this doesn’t prepare one for the mammoth scope of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. Its sheer size-the most lightly programmed of its 10 days (of which this writer saw the final five) featured 76 performances-is overwhelming by itself, even without considering its stylistic and international breadth.”
– Michael J. West – JazzTimes

Jazz Journalists Association Announces Nominees for 16th Annual JJA Jazz Awards

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2012 Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards, African American, Ambrose Akinmusire, Craig Taborn, Eric Harland, Esperanza Spalding, Gary Burton, J.D. Allen, Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, Keith Jarrett, Lee Konitz, Mary Halvorson, Pat Metheny, Ron Carter, Roy Haynes, Sonny Rollins, Warren Wolf

Finalist nominees for the 16th annual Jazz Awards presented by the Jazz Journalists Association have been announced at www.JJAJazzAwards.org. The nominations demonstrate the rich diversity of music that may have been overlooked by mainstream media and other music industry-generated Awards programs.

Iconic veteran instrumentalists including Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett, Phil Woods Lee Konitz, Gary Burton, Ron Carter, Roy Haynes, Jack DeJohnette, Pat Metheny and John Scofield are among the nominees who will vie for votes with newly emerged talents such as trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Craig Taborn, tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen, guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Esperanza Spalding, vibist Warren Wolf and drummer Eric Harland in some of the 40 categories celebrating excellence in jazz and jazz journalism. Winners of the Jazz Awards will be selected from the nearly 200 nominees through voting by the JJA’s international membership of writers, photographers, broadcasters and new media producers professionally involved with jazz. Awards are for accomplishments and productions from calendar year 2011, except in two categories for Lifetime Achievement.

Brad Mehldau, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, Charlie Haden ]|[ LIVE at BIRDLAND [ECM Records]

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Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, Jazz, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian

Brad Mehldau, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, Charlie Haden - LIVE at BIRDLAND

Brad Mehldau, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, Charlie Haden ]|[ LIVE at BIRDLAND – [ECM Records, 2011]

A quartet of master musicians and a program of jazz classics. Live At Birdland presents the finest moments from two inspired nights at New York’s legendary club, as Konitz, Mehldau, Haden and Motian play “Loverman”, “Lullaby Of Birdland”, “Solar”, “I Fall In Love Too Easily”, “You Stepped Out Of A Dream” and “Oleo” with freedom, tenderness, and a love of melody that only jazz’s greatest improvisers can propose. On this live recording from New York’s legendary club, an ensemble of history-making players dives into the music without a set list. Four exceptional jazz musicians -Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian – approach the standards from new perspectives and unusual angles. They play them with freedom, tenderness and a melodic and rhythmic understanding found only amongst jazz’s greatest improvisers.

The recording was made at Birdland and mixed by Manfred Eicher and the quartet, with James Farber as engineer, at New York’s Avatar Studios. Songs selected by this team from the performances of December 9 and 10, 2009, are: “Lover Man”, “Lullaby Of Birdland”, “Solar”, “I Fall In Love Too Easily”, “You Stepped Out Of A Dream” and “Oleo”. Konitz has often said that he tries to play the material as if encountering it for the first time. With all four musicians listening intently, discoveries are continually made in the music.