Jakob Bro

APPEARING: MANHATTAN MARATHON @ The Keith Haring Theater, Performance Space NY

Friday, January 10, 2025

This gathering of acclaimed improvisers is brought to you by the NYC Winter Jazzfest to present newly commissioned works by Jakob Bro in his second home, New York, where he has led an annual stint at the Village Vanguard since 2020.

Longtime collaborators Mark Turner and Jakob Bro play central roles in the feature-length documentary “Music for Black Pigeons”, which premiered at film festivals worldwide and portrays the unique artistic processes of Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Craig Taborn, Andrew Cyrille, Manfred Eicher and others.

In a career that spans three decades and encompasses a broad array of musical ventures, saxophonist Mark Turner has developed a distinctive, personal tone and proved himself as one of American jazz’s most original and influential musical thinkers.

Pianist Craig Taborn, also a bandleader at ECM in his own right and an out-of-this-world improviser, shares a musical history and friendship with Jakob Bro from their recording sessions with Lee Konitz many moons ago – and drummer-composer Marcus Gilmore has emerged as one of the most sought after musicians for international jazz greats and beyond such as Joshua Rodman, Brad Mehldau, Chick Corea, Flying Lotus a.o.

Jakob Bro is a guitarist, composer and ECM recording artist based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Having released 18 albums as a bandleader Jakob Bro is not only a highly active part of the international jazz community but also an instigator of relations and connections across continents.

He performs regularly with Charles Lloyd, Brian Blade, Midori Takada, Joe Lovano, Jorge Rossy, Arve Henriksen, Palle Mikkelborg, Marilyn Mazur a.o. and rose to international fame after his Balladeering Trilogy (2009-2013), which was nominated to the Nordic Council Music Price, and for a string of ECM albums which led to winning Downbeats Critics Poll in the category “Rising Star Guitar”.

Jakob Bro’s music and various ensembles are depicted in the film “Music for Black Pigeons” (directed by Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed), which premiered at the 79th Venice Biennale and has been featured at film and music festivals across the globe in 2023 and 2024.

“Danish guitarist Jakob Bro creates magical music, impossible to categorize” – Downbeat

Line-up:

Jakob Bro w/

Mark Turner: tenor sax

Craig Taborn: piano and keys

Marcus Gilmore: drums