Fifth Element - Open Air

Fifth Element - Open Air

Just found this awesome recording with Søren Helvildt Rågaard and our duo Fifth Element. This recording was made in an old ship yard. ALL NATURAL REVERB!

The Niels Praestholm / Chris Stover New Quartet, featuring Michael Gregory and Andrew Drury 

During the next two weeks I'll be in New York to perform and record with some of New York's finest. My good friend trombonist and composer Chris Stover and I has put together a new quartet. This has given me the opportunity to introduce Chris to my old friend legendary guitarist Michael Gregory and it is going to be a ball to hear these great musicians perform together. Chris has suggested that we invite drummer Andrew Drury to be the fourth member of the quartet and what I have heard on Andrew's website and on You Tube etc. it is going to be very interesting.
We will rehearse all next week and we are playing two performances Friday and Sunday. One at the Douglass Street Music Collective on Friday 4th and one at The Brooklyn Jazz Undergrounds venue at the Sycamore on Sunday 6th. Check these venues out on 295douglass.org and sycamorebrooklyn.com

Michael Gregory was first known as an important member od the 1970es loft jazz scene with such artists as Oliver Lake, Pheroan AkLaff, Julius Hemphill, Leo Wadada Smith and many others. Today he is performing with Wadada Leo Smith groups as well of his own projects and different projects with yours truly. This year we will put out two or more CD's together. Among these recordings the recording we are going to do next week in New York with The New Quartet.

Spring 2012 - Art Ensemble Syd, The Gyroscope String Trio, Michael Gregory and Chris Stover

In the month to come I am facing on one side, an almost amount of work but on the other and most important side, a program packed with possible musical experience for you and me and my fellow musicians.

First of all 2012 started with the great news that Sonderborg city had decided to ask my band Art Ensemble Syd to become the city's professional jazz ensemble. That means a lot of opportunities to do concerts both in town, but also representing the city around the world. We will do concerts, workshops, invite guests and order compositions from our favourite composers. It is a dream come true.

Next thing is that I am invited to Sarajevo Winter Festival to perform with The Gyroscope String Trio. (See earlier post for more info on the group.) Our CD "Precessions" has been generously reviewed in France, UK, USA, Sweden and Denmark and it is going to be absolutely awesome to come to Sarajevo. The Festival has invited me as a residency of Sonderborg because of the European Cultural Capital candidature and I have chosen to bring my to stringplayers Norwegian violist Bergmund Skaslien and French cellist Alain Grange plus our regular brothers in arms saxophonist Simon Spang-Hanssen and drummer Haakon Berre. We are invited to come down four days before the concert and that leaves us a rare opportunity, for this international ensemble, to work concentrated with the music for four days before the concert. Thanks to Ibrahim Spahic and his staff at the festival office for this rare opportunity.
When I return to Denmark my old friend über talented guitarist, singer, composer, poet Michael Gregory will wait for me in Copenhagen. (read about this coorporation in an earlier post on this site) We have a concert on February 17th during the Winter Jazz 2012 festival in the Charlottenborg Museum. See www.jazz.dk for more details.

Later this year singer/songwriter Tue West and I launch our new project Tue West with Art Ensemble Syd. I am already working on the compositions and arrangements for this project. I am basing my compositions on Tues songs and it is going to be very cool to hear this very talented and open minded artist with all the horns and the improv that I am going to drop on him :-)

In May I am going to New York to work with my new friend trombonist and composer Chris Stover together with Michael Gregory. It is souch a thrill to put these to guys together and I am sure it is going to VERY interesting to experience the results. More info on that soooon.