Danish-Lithuanian Jazz Night at HeadQuarters!

As a special treat in 2024, Aarhus Jazz Festival and Aarhus Jazz Orchestra will host the composer collective and big band Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble. The band met Danish composer Kenneth Dahl Knudsen at the world's largest jazz fair Jazzahead in Bremen in 2022, which led to a collaboration.

This collaboration has led the band to Aarhus - so we invite you to a very special evening at HeadQuarters to experience some of the most exciting musicians and bands from Lithuania's vibrant and - so far - unknown jazz scene - in the company of some of Danish jazz's international ambassadors.

Experience:

Kenneth Dahl Knudsen “Gloomers” feat. Vilnius JJAZZ Horns

Broken Glass 4tet

Karolis Šarkus Quintet

Gediminas Strupinskas

Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble

Kenneth Dahl Knudsen “Gloomers” feat. Vilnius JJAZZ Horns

“Gloomers” is a new project with Danish composer and bassist Kenneth Dahl Knudsen. Kenneth writes “The music is colored by my last 20 years as an active musician. It's a mix of the music I've played around the world, yet also a creation that brings together my sources of inspiration throughout my life. My teenage years with Nirvana and Green Day will be on par with the elitist music I studied, such as Beethoven, Bartok, and Coltrane. A mishmash that will hopefully stand as a unique and cohesive sound in a concert that straddles many genres.”

Broken Glass 4tet

Unique instrumentation with guitar, trombone, banjo, tuba, and drums. The music ranges from modern trends with complex rhythms and harmonic colors of jazz, rock, pop, and world music to modern improv, playful blues, and even country sounds. Foolish and virtuosic at the same time!

Karolis Šarkus Quintet

Early experiences with classical music eventually led saxophonist Karolis Šarkus into the world of jazz. He likes to experiment with the sound of his saxophone using both acoustic and electronic effects. Šarkus plays a well-balanced form of fusion jazz full of colorful melodic lines and passion. It blends funky grooves, the energy of rock music, the contemplative features of Scandinavian jazz, and the delicate echoes of its Lithuanian counterpart and the Lithuanian folk tradition.

Gediminas Strupinskas

Gediminas is associated with Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble as a pianist and part of the rhythm section - but he is also a composer and bandleader, and has studied at the Aarhus Conservatory for the past two years. He plays with his band from Aarhus jazz scene.

Vilnius JJAZZ Ensemble 

On this night, the big band performs in a scaled-down format suitable for the HeadQuarters stage. Currently, the ensemble includes 13 composers, and their set will be selected tracks from the band's composers.

The ensemble's leader, Jievaras Jasinskis says: “Jazz can be very diverse. I often hear that jazz is not for everyone, and I think it's particularly interesting to turn that concept on its head. I see no reason why we can't hear elements of modern music, rave, techno, folklore, and the like, in jazz. We are interested in bringing together like-minded people, jazz creators, and musicians, and allowing them to explore their inner composers, to experiment. When different thoughts meet at a table, things can get very interesting.”

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