Doctor Scat – Jazz Master

Sunday July 10 CPH

What a day!!!! At 4pm Lisbeth and I went to the Tranquebar, a bookstore with a small wine bar and performance space. Our friends Kresten Osgood(drums), Soren Kjaergard (piano) and Hugo Rassmussen (bass), performed a concert for sixty people entitled “World Music”. This reflects the group`s sense of humor; All of the tunes were composed by Americans with oblique references to far away places. There were a few exceptions; tunes written by Soren. I discovered that Soren and Kresten are cousins and have
played with Hugo on and off for many years.

Although the concert was conducted in Danish, I found myself laughing in the right places with a little bit of translationhelp from Lisbeth. Kresten brought with him his usual bag of `silly toys` to loosen up the band and the audience. His out-of- tune whistle, baby rattles, bells and occasional grunts, yells and theatrics belie the fact that he is one of the number one drummers in Denmark. They opened with a melody from a legendary album called Money Jungle performed by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach, three of the most powerful improvising musicians in the world. As Soren spoke, his respect for these three heroes of jazz was evident. Between tunes, jokes and quips kept the packed house in stitches.

I have a special affection for Soren and Kresten. They were he first Danish musicians to invite me to share the stage with them at my first CPH Jazz Festival twelve years ago. The music was fresh, interesting and fun.

Dr. Scat performing with Osgood(drums), Soren Kjaergard (piano) and Hugo Rassmussen (bass)

A side note: I had to use the rest room at the Tranquebar, I entered the door, observing a pretty yellow note with some Danish written on it. As I prepared to leave the rest room, and much to my chagrin, I turned the door handle and it just kept turning but the door wouldn`t open. I felt some panic as I envisioned myself listening to the concert from inside the rest room. With the kind of thinking-on-my-feet learned in the cub scouts, I whipped out my cell phone to call Lisbeth. Of course as a polite audience member, she had turned off her cell. I began softly tapping on the door. No one came. Finally I tapped (banged) on the door with my cell phone. A kind gentelman heard my tapping and opened the door. He read the yellow note: “Do not go in this door unless you have a friend standing by to let you out.” Ah well!

Shortly after the Tranquebar we discoved that the concert that was rained out last Saturday was rescheduled later on in the evening. It was another incredible treat. It was called “Singing the Truth.” It featured Dianne Reeves, Angelique Kidjo and Lizz Wright, each a singing powerhouse. Backed by a top-flight five piece band, the trio of singers performed individually, in duet and as a trio. The overall theme
of the performance was directed to women hearing and encouraging the expression of their own voices. The range went from passionate love songs, gospel to African freedom songs like “Revolution Now. Angelique Kidjo is a dynamo on stage, using Afridan rhythms to excite the audience and get them to participate. Once the audiencewas on it`s feet, she came down into te audience and racheted the energy up even higher. Their inevitable encore had even more punch. We left feeling energized, inspired, provoked and thoroughly entertained.

And now a piece of history.

ABOUT JAZZHUS MONTMARTRE

From 1959-1976, the club made jazz history as the European home for jazz giants Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Kenny Drew and many other masters of the 60’s and 70’s.