Light Palle Mikkelborg

• 1 At Tænde Lys 02:59
• 2 Ambient 03:50
• 3 Birds 07:09
• 4 Spring 05:01
• 5 Wind 02:49
• 6 Port 03:05
• 7 Capricorn 03:59
• 8 Drifting 07:02
• 9 Stille, Hjerte, Sol Går Ned 05:38
• Total Runtime 41:32

Info zu Light

Palle Mikkelborg (b. 1941) - a spiritual jazz legend, acclaimed composer, trumpet player and electronic music pioneer - is back in the studio recording his first solo album in more than 25 years. Working with him as a producer is Jakob Bro, with whom he has recorded the great ECM albums "Returnings" with Jon Christensen and Thomas Morgan, and "Strands" with Marilyn Mazur.

"When Palle decided to stop touring and performing live, I suggested that we sit down together and listen through the many MiniDiscs and DAT tapes he had tucked away, hoping we might find a new direction for making music together. We went through everything — recordings of orchestras and choirs, soundscapes, and so on — material he had worked on throughout his career,” says Jakob Bro.

“I can still remember the first time we said it out loud. Suddenly, it made perfect sense in my mind: a solo album. An album devoted entirely to Palle — his sound, his vision, his voice. It felt like something the world truly needed.”

This final opus sees Palle Mikkelborg re-interpret and record his own orchestral works and two pieces by Per Nørgaard and Thomas Laub as 'meditations' on solo piano, trumpet and flugelhorn mixed with soundscapes and guest performances by longtime collaborators Helen Davis, Jakob Bro and Thomas Li.

As a soloist his sound on trumpet and flugelhorn is both much loved and familiar after decades at the forefront of Nordic Music, but on “Light” one is struck by the weight Palle Mikkelborg has given his soundscapes and the grand piano. Forever curious on what's ahead, the album underlines his spiritual and ever-seeking approach to free improvisation, classical composition, choral works and experimental sound landcapes.

“Maybe this is his last album. If that’s the case, the end couldn’t be more beautiful." (Politiken)

“Light will stand proudly amongst Palle Mikkelborg’s greatest achievements, whether he decides to go on performing music or not.” (Everything is Noise)

“Palle Mikkelborg has made a masterpiece with Light” (GAFFA)

“Light is the perfect distillation of Mikkelborg’s musical life – a cavalcade of the qualities that have always defined him as a musician: light, colour, life, mysticism, love.” (Seismograf)

“Monumental and simple at the same time” (Jazznyt)

Palle Mikkelborg, trumpet, flugelhorn, piano
Jakob Bro, guitar, effects, wind chimes
Helen Davies, harp
Vokal Nord soundscape

Mixed and recorded by Thomas Vang at The Village Recording
Mastered by David Elberling at The Village Studio B

Palle Mikkelborg
is one of Denmark’s most influential and original jazz musicians. As a child, he received lessons in playing trumpet, but apart from that he is self-taught. He has been inspired by jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, George Russell and Gil Evans but also by composers such as Ravel, Messiaen and Charles Ives.

Since the 1960s he has challenged the musical conventions with his personal trumpet playing, ambitious orchestrations and compositional crossover projects. Mikkelborg has his own both lyrical and dramatic style. A lot of his music has a very spacious character, which is also reflected in his use of unusual orchestrations and electronics. Furthermore, his compositions have a spiritual quality to them, as can be heard in Going to pieces without falling apart (2002) or My God and my All (1991).

Mikkelborg’s name is known far beyond Scandinavia, and his international co-operations include the famous Aura, written for and recorded with Miles Davis.

Mikkelborg is characterized by, among other things, his very personal trumpet playing, his use of electronics in his playing and his many cross over projects. And not least his insistence on the spiritual dimension not only in music, but in life.

Mikkelborg was appointed honorary Professor in connection with the AWARENESS concert in Musikhuset Aarhus on 31 August 2013, where Mikkelborg played together with top musicians from Denmark, Iran, Mali and Syria – and with a huge selection of academy students in all musical genres.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet