Players - Downbeat

EUROPEAN SCENE
By Peter Margasak
When Americans like Dexter Gordon and
Ben Webster took up residency in Denmark
for extended periods, local musicians had
some of the best role models playing in their
clubs. The downside was that most Danish
jazz artists were stuck imitating the sounds
that developed across the pond. With the
exceptions of reedist John Tchicai and, later,
guitarist Pierre Dørge, Danish jazz was
essentially the sound of American jazz.
Lotte Anker encountered this environment
when she first began playing the saxophone
in 1982. She had studied classical
piano since she was a child, but had increasingly
been drawn to jazz since she was a
teenager. Halfway through her studies at the
University of Copenhagen she switched her
focus from literature to music, though she
was still unsure where music would fit in her
future. It didn’t take long for her to figure
out. Before long she was playing with drummer
Marilyn Mazur, one of the few other
Danes intent on developing a sound not
beholden to bebop. After seeing the Art
Ensemble of Chicago, Ornette Coleman’s
Prime Time, Sun Ra and Peter Brötzmann,
Anker gravitated toward newer sounds
despite the conservative surroundings.
“The hardest thing seemed to be the lack
The ARCHIVES
Les Brown
By John Tynan
“As a general rule, I tell audiences,
‘We’re a swing band, we
don’t play rock ’n’ roll,’” Les
Brown said. “But, actually,
you’d be surprised. We don’t
get five requests for rock ’n’
roll in a year.”
Dan Terry
By Dom Cerulli
“I believe we can get the kids to
dance,” Dan Terry said. “And
get them to know what bands
are about. The ballroom operators
have to be convinced to try
new bands. The agencies have
to get out and push. The leaders
16 DOWNBEAT April 2009
of appreciation or
acknowledgment for
that kind of music,”
Anker said.
She began looking
elsewhere for ideas.
“A lot of Danes, including
myself, looked up
to the Norwegians
because we felt they
had a more defined Lotte Anker
sound and identity,”
she said.
By 1992, a quartet she co-led with pianist
Mette Petersen had become a quintet with
the addition of Norwegian trumpeter Nils
Petter Molvaer. She also formed a Danish
improvising trio with bassist Peter Friis-
Nielsen and guitarist Hasse Poulsen, and
another grouping with Mazur and American
pianist Marilyn Crispell. Free improvisation
was important in most of these projects, but
Anker also enjoyed composing.
“I love being in the improvising world,
but at the same I like to sit down and work
with a composition and forms, to go deep
into that area,” she said. “I try to combine
those two in a way, to find ways of composing
that make the transition to the improvi-
will work. They want as many
people as possible to hear
their music.”
Trumpeter Bob Higgins
Finds Horn of Plenty
By John Tynan
“Let’s face it, the odds are high
against staying at the top in the
music business during one’s
entire productive life,” Bob
Higgins said. “For musicians
with formal training in finance,
the securities business offers
wonderful opportunities.”
A Guide for
Strolling Players
By Ted Heath
Almost everybody in Britain
lives within about 25 miles of a
large city. That means the audiences
are more used to having
Jazz’s roots in Europe are strong. This column looks at
the musicians, labels, venues, institutions and events
moving the scene forward “across the pond.” For
questions, comments and news about European jazz,
e-mail europeanscene@downbeat.com.
Saxophonist Anker Highlights Different Side of Danish Jazz
sation within a composition
more natural.”
Fortuitously, in 1996, she
assumed co-leadership of
the Copenhagen Art Ensemble
with Ture Larsen. The
group has made numerous
fine recordings, with writing
by the two leaders as
well as guests like Mazur,
American saxophonist Tim
Berne—who made his dynamic
2002 album Open, Coma with them—
and Joachim Kühn. Also in the mid-’90s,
Anker and some like-minded improvisers in
Copenhagen started SPOR, a presenting
association that hosted regular concerts
with local players and musicians from
around Europe and the United States.
Anker said that although improvised
music is still a fringe activity in Denmark,
things have improved. She points to the
ambitious younger musicians affiliated with
the excellent ILK label as proof. Two of her
most recent recordings—the duo Du Fugl
and trio Live At The Loft—are on ILK.
“A lot of Danes are still working with
Americans, but it’s not the bebop Americans
anymore,” she said. “It’s the other side.” DB
�April 17,
1958
sophisticated entertainment
than in the country areas of
America, and there probably is
a greater countrywide appreciation
of good jazz and dance
music than there is in the
United States.
Cross Section:
Woody Herman
By Dan Gold
“Ella Fitzgerald is a jazz singer,
Doris Day is not,” Woody
Herman said. “It’s the same as
being a jazz player. I don’t think
I am or ever was a jazz player.
A good jazz singer is a good
jazz musician, in one way or
another.” DB