AARHUS JAZZ FESTIVAL
July 13 - 20 2024
Pontoppidan / Agergaard / Cohen (DK/US) - Photo: ALT_R_JAZZ

Photo: ALT_R_JAZZ

Pontoppidan / Agergaard / Cohen (DK/US)

20:00

100
Randi Pontoppidan (voc, electronics), Thomas Agergaard (fl, t-sax), Greg Cohen (b)

A musical rendezvous that sparkles

A trio consisting of singer Randi Pontoppidan, saxophonist Thomas Agergaard, and the world-famous American bassist Greg Cohen plays improvised music, in which their own compositions and reflections of well-known pieces emerge from freely invented improvisations. Jazz, folk, and new classical music are the sources of inspiration.

The three improvisation veterans began playing together in 2021 – spontaneously put together with support from the Ministry of Culture's Corona Summer Activities Grant. This experiment resulted in a studio recording, the result of which is expected to be released in 2022.

The trio draws musical lines to nature, shapes, and colors in a malleable sculptural sound universe. Each concert is unique. A journey into the innermost core of music, the creative now. 

Greg Cohen is a bassist and composer. He is known for a lifetime of playing in the jazz scene in New York but now lives in Berlin where he teaches at the conservatory. Artists such as John Zorn, Tom Waits, and Ornette Coleman have made use of his talent for years, and over his long career, he has played with the likes of Woody Allen, David Byrne, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Antony and the Johnsons, Laurie Anderson, and Willie Nelson. Greg Cohen's double bass lays the groundwork for the iconic albums Heart Attack and Vine (1980) and Mule Variations (1999) with Tom Waits and Life on a String (2001) with Laurie Anderson.

Thomas Agergaard is an internationally renowned saxophonist and composer. He has composed for the Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Kathrine Windfeld Big Band, Katrine Gislinge, Messerkvartetten, and the Bulgarian Women's Choir USMIFKA. He has played with Tim Berne, Helge Lien Trio, Peter Ole Jørgensen, John Tchicai, Konge Hipster, Lars Jansson, Nils Petter Molvær, and Ray Charles. Thomas Agergaard is the founder of OK NOK ... KONGO and Agergaard / Ginman / Blachman / Dahl and has been released on several leading record labels. In 2021, the album Green Cities came out, reaching two million plays on Spotify in less than a year and ranking #72 on the global top 200 most played jazz songs. 

Randi Pontoppidan is a renowned and sought-after singer and composer. She works with her voice as the basis for experiments with loop machines and other electronics. With a not insignificant dose of humor, she works with musical landscapes in search of new sounds, using her voice as an instrument. She studied jazz and classical singing at the Royal Music Conservatory in The Hague, the Netherlands. Randi Pontoppidan has performed for many years with Sissel Vera Pettersen in the duo LIFT and collaborates with artists such as Greg Cohen, Simon Toldam, Martin Fabricius, Morten Søndergaard, Lotte Anker, and Jamaaladeen Tacuma. She has also toured with Paul Hillier's ensemble Theatre of Voices and performed works by Steve Reich, David Lang, Stockhausen, Cage, and Berio. She most recently performed Stockhausen's Stimmung with Theatre of Voices at the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Schindler's Factory in Krakow, and in 2018 at Kings Place in London and Banco Nacionál de Colombia in Bogotá.

 


Organizer
ALT_R_JAZZ
Info/Ticket
3 koncerter 200 kr. 10 koncerter 500 kr. (partoutbillet). Cover charge 100 DKK

Aarhus Jazz Festival

Godsbanen, Skovgaardsgade 3

DK-8000 Aarhus C