Review in DownBeat Magazine of Children of the Light Trio
By Mitch Myers

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“The Children of the Light Trio’s future will hold even more surprises once its members start composing tunes specifically for this collective. Until then, bring your sunglasses to the show, because there’s more than enough light to go around. ”

(…)

“Drummer Blade stood out, mixing a soft touch on the brushes, aggressive bursts with mallets and powerful interludes in response to Pérez’s lyrical improvisations. Patitucci alternated between acoustic and electric (6-string) bass and was a wonder to behold on both sides of the low-end spectrum. Bowing sensually with intense concentration, the bassist was responsive to the slightest inflection provided by the pianist, and his near-telepathic connection with Blade made for some amazing rhythmic flourishes and joyful crescendos.”

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Photo: Jannik Knudsen
 

Review of Summer Jazz 2014 on Allaboutjazz.com

By Henning Bolte, All About Jazz

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“The programs of Summer Jazz presented existing groups as well as special festival (re)combinations and projects. The Cowbell ensemble gathered around Michala Petri was a good example of a genre-crossing recombination. The ensemble consisted of pianistCarsten Dahl, bassist Scott Colley, saxophonist Benjamin Koppel, cellist Henrik Dam Thomsen (soloist from the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra) and percussionistJohn Hadfield. Incidentally, Benjamin, in addition to alto saxophone, also played the mezzosopran horn—the only artist doing so in jazz until Joe Lovano met him and picked up the instrument as well. ”

(…)

“The concert gave a strong impression of the festival’s ambition, reach and actualization. Summer Jazz and Cowbell turned out as a good example of the viability of a small but high quality event, distinguished in a communal context on the urban periphery. It also demonstrated that large scale events do not automatically have to lead to fuzziness and flattening out of quality. All good reasons to further explore the festival. ”

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Photo: Jannik Knudsen

View pictures at: iRock Jazz

By Mitch Myers

“It’s the 34th annual Copenhagen Jazz Festival. MAGNET’s Mitch Myers translates the action.

Things have been moving quickly at the Copenhagen Jazz Fest, but one thing that I’ve found is American musicians love Copenhagen. There seem to be expatriates all over the place, and the interaction between artists continually blurs international boundaries. Two days ago, I stopped by the fabled Jazz Cup CD store and caught a sterling set by guitarist Doug Raney. Raney’s father was the famous American jazz guitarist Jimmy Raney, and Doug’s a chip off the old block who made numerous records for the Steeplechase label back in the 1970s. Doug moved to Denmark in 1977 and has never looked back. His set at the Jazz Cup was straight ahead, and Raney’s band members are all great Scandinavian musicians.”

Read the whole review at: Magnet Magazine

All Photos: Jannik Knudsen

By Mitch Myers

“Officially established in 1979, the annual Copenhagen Jazz Festival ran from July 5-14. That’s 10 days, over 100 different venues and approximately 1,000 concerts in the thriving Danish city during the peak of summer. Unlike some of the other international jazz festivals these days the fest adheres to a strict but expansive jazz program, and rather than following one guiding light, the fest is driven by multiple programmers resulting in a variety of different music series conceived independently from one another. As a result jazz was being presented all day long in restaurants, bars, small cafes, large auditoriums, authentic jazz clubs, outside stages, museums and art spaces alike. It should be noted that none of this would be possible without ample support from Denmark’s Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs.”

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“In a time of financial crisis, the solution to many festivals seems to be to cut down on the experimental budget and ambitions and focus on familiar names that are sure to attract a sizeable audience. While Valby Summer Jazz, which takes place in Copenhagen and the suburb of Valby, certainly is able to list some of the finest names in modern jazz, the goal of the festival isn’t to present the audience with something they already know. Instead, what you get at the festival are familiar artists in new contexts and a cross-fertilization of genres whose common denominator is the joy and love of music.”

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