Palle Mikkelborg, Jakob Bro and Marilyn Mazur – leading musicians from three generations of Danish Jazz – presentStrands, a texturally spacious and emotionally charged live recording from Copenhagen. Available November 24, 2023 via ECM Records.
“When we walked out on stage it felt like a homecoming,” says guitarist Jakob Bro of Strands, this texturally spacious and emotionally charged live recording from Copenhagen, on which three of the defining protagonists of improvisation in Denmark, leading musicians from three generations of Danish jazz, come together. The concert, in February 2023, was particularly poignant since it marked a return to performance for trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, who delivers characteristically thoughtful playing here, always in service of the group context.
Repertoire – primarily by Bro but also including Mikkelborg’s piece “Youth” as well as “Returnings,” co-written by Palle and Jakob – is addressed in spontaneous and exploratory spirit. Material is gently transformed and reinvented as Marilyn Mazur’s subtle percussion language of blossoming gongs, bowed metals and rumbling drums blends with Bro’s drifting and rippling washes of sound. The music’s atmospheric qualities, as well its eruptive moments, are enhanced by the resonant acoustics of the Danish Radio Concert Hall.
