M Jazz Festival Tour – Aarhus, Copenhagen

Text Author: Maija Moira Mazanova

Aarhus Jazz Festival

From Coltrane and Late-Night Jam Sessions to New Musical Voices, Creative Communities, and Future Collaborations

Just an hour and twenty minutes by plane from Riga – sometimes for less than €30 – you'll find Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city. It is a surprisingly vibrant music hub where major concert halls, independent venues, educational institutions, and self-organized artistic communities function together as a single ecosystem.

Our journey began on July 3, when we arrived at the Aarhus Jazz Festival following an invitation from JazzDanmark and Sean-Poul de Fré Gress of BELLEROSE | Creative Agency for Music.

Coltrane's Music in a Packed Musikhuset

The opening evening centered around "Aarhus Jazz Orchestra: Chasing Coltrane feat. Percy Pursglove" – an ambitious tribute to one of jazz's greatest innovators, John Coltrane.

British trumpeter, composer, and improviser Percy Pursglove, together with the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and conductor Geir Lysne, brought a contemporary perspective to Coltrane's music. The power of the big band, refined arrangements, and Pursglove's free musical expression created a performance where jazz history was not merely revisited – it was continued.

The concert took place in the packed Musikhuset Aarhus, the largest concert hall in the Nordic countries, opened in 1982. Over the years, its stages have welcomed artists such as Ray Charles, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, David Sanborn, John Scofield, and many other giants of world music.

A City Transformed by Music

During the Aarhus Jazz Festival, the entire city becomes a concert venue.

The festival presents more than 300 concerts across 30 different locations—concert halls, clubs, bars, museums, parks, and public spaces.

The strength of Aarhus's music scene lies in its diversity. Alongside established venues such as Musikhuset, TRAIN, and VoxHall, the city is home to independent stages, jazz bars, and experimental cultural spaces. Aarhus's compact scale, large student population, strong music education, and collaboration between the municipality and independent initiatives create an environment where people naturally connect and ideas quickly become collaborative projects.

One of the finest examples is Institut for (X), located in a former railway freight district beside Godsbanen. Since 2009, it has evolved into a self-organized, non-profit platform dedicated to music, art, design, education, and creative entrepreneurship.

Today, the community includes more than 600 members, 90 studios and workshops, creative businesses, associations, and educational institutions.

Institut for (X) is much more than a concert venue.

It is a living laboratory where people collectively shape their environment, share resources, and actively support one another's ideas.

Cumbiasound — A Bridge Between Continents

At A-Huset, part of Institut for (X), we experienced Cumbiasound, an international nu-cumbia project where Colombian cumbia and Peruvian chicha meet reggae, afrobeat, funk, soul, jazz, and psychedelic electronics.

The band featured Lis Flores Varela, Daniel Fridell, Veronica Giraldo, and Boogie Castillo.

Their performance became a vibrant musical dialogue between Africa and South America—rhythmic, spontaneous, and irresistibly danceable. It was music without geographical borders, where tradition serves as the starting point for a fresh global sound.

Late-Night Jam at HeadQuarters

Near Musikhuset sits HeadQuarters (HQ), one of Aarhus's defining nightlife venues.

It began as a musicians' apartment where concerts took place in the living room before evolving into a public venue in 2011. HQ is run by co-owners Ole Løhde and Amira Gluhic. Its programme embraces jazz, indie music, metal, electronic music, and experimental sound art, while later in the evening the space fills with disco, funk, and soul.

During the festival, HeadQuarters becomes the official nightly jam session venue.

We attended the Late Night Jazz Jam hosted by Simon Svinding from De 4 Maver and friends.

Local emerging musicians, seasoned professionals, and international guests all shared the same stage, creating exactly the kind of spontaneous musical exchange that defines jazz.

Professional Connections Become Future Collaborations

The following day we met colleagues from the Nordic and German music scenes, including:

• Lukas Bysted (JAZZ9TUS Aalborg)

• Lars Thor Jensen (JazzDanmark)

• Marie Nyeng, Executive Director of Aarhus Jazz Festival

• Marcus Bader (Musikcentrum Syd)

• Hank Gerth (Jazzbüro Hamburg)

• Tobi Kirsch (Passionate PR)

• Sean-Poul de Fré Gress (BELLEROSE)

  
  

This was far more than a formal industry gathering.

Conversations about artist exchanges, concert programming, and joint projects reflected a genuine desire to build long-term relationships between the Baltic and Nordic music communities.

A Jazz Playground for Children

At Institut for (X), we also discovered the festival's children's programme:

"Jazzlegeplads med En Hemmelig Klub", created by artists Annabelle Nielsen and Kenn Munk Nielsen.

Children built, rearranged, and reinvented their own environment using colourful cardboard structures, while musicians responded to their movements and constructions through live improvisation.

The core principles of jazz—listening, spontaneity, and interaction—were transformed into play.

The programme beautifully demonstrated that children need not be passive spectators; they can become equal participants in the artistic process.

It offered a simple yet convincing example of how music education can be combined with free imagination and community building.

SANYU – A New Voice We'll Soon Hear in Riga

One of the festival's most memorable discoveries was SANYU, the Oslo-based singer, songwriter, and producer.

In the music of Sanyu Christine Nsubuga, R&B, soul, jazz, improvisation, rap, and spoken word naturally intertwine. Warm vocal layers merge with electronic textures, powerful rhythms, and free-flowing interplay.

Together with drummer Rino Sivathas, trumpeter and keyboardist Kristina Fransson, and double bassist Joachim Mørch Meyer, she moved effortlessly between moments of delicate intimacy and explosive energy. The performance felt deeply personal, unmistakably contemporary, and impossible to confine within a single genre.

This story will soon continue in Riga, where SANYU will perform during the autumn edition of PINK NOISE Riga, taking place from 27–29 November.

KOOB – Freedom Beyond Genre

The festival's exploration of new and experimental music continued with the Berlin-based group KOOB.

Led by Minsk-born vocalist Valeryia Delé, the band combines avant-garde jazz, soul, funk, experimental hip-hop, and spoken word into a sound that is both theatrical and emotionally charged.

Alongside Seth Sjöström, Gabriel Fitros, and pianist Wolle, Delé created a performance that was musically and visually unpredictable.

In KOOB's music, sound, personality, and artistic courage carried equal importance.

A Colourful Walk Above the City

Between concerts, we visited one of Aarhus's must-see destinations – the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum.

Crowning the museum is Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's iconic installation, Your Rainbow Panorama – a 150-metre circular glass walkway displaying the full spectrum of rainbow colours.

Nearly fifty metres above the ground, Aarhus and its bay transform with every few steps. The city shifts from blue to yellow, red to violet, as if the visitor is walking not above rooftops, but through light itself.

I would recommend this colourful walk in the clouds to anyone visiting Aarhus.

Together, the panoramic view from ARoS, the creative freedom of Institut for (X), and the festival's extraordinary musical diversity perfectly capture the essence of a city where art and community are inseparable.

Looking Ahead

We left the festival carrying new musical discoveries, new friendships, and concrete plans for future collaborations.

Aarhus demonstrated that a great music city is not built solely by internationally famous names.

It is created through trust, accessible stages, education, professional networks, and spaces where people are encouraged to experiment.

Here, jazz is far more than a musical genre.

It is a way of listening, collaborating, and shaping a city.

The next step has already been set in motion.

In 2027, the Aarhus Jazz Festival will also feature music created by Latvian artists. Conversations that began in Aarhus will continue in Riga this November, marking the beginning of a new chapter in collaboration between the two cities.

Copenhagen Jazz Festival

From Jason Moran's Catharsis to the Dawn of Jam Sessions

The Copenhagen Jazz Festival is undoubtedly my favourite jazz festival in Northern Europe. Since 1979, it has transformed Copenhagen into one giant concert venue every summer. In 2026, over the course of ten days, more than 100 stages presented approximately 1,000 concerts—in clubs, concert halls, cafés, parks, and city squares. It is precisely this diversity that creates the feeling that, during the festival, the entire city lives to the rhythm of jazz.

Jason Moran

On Monday evening, July 6, we arrived in Copenhagen from Aarhus just in time to hear American pianist Jason Moran perform a solo concert at 9:00 PM in Studie 2 at DR Koncerthuset, where he interpreted the music of Duke Ellington.

I am not afraid to call it the finest solo piano concert I have ever heard. Moran does not simply play the piano keys—he plays the piano itself, allowing melodies to dissolve into an all-encompassing, dense energy that holds the listener's attention by the finest thread. He united Ellington's legacy with contemporary thinking, rhythmic disruptions, and complete presence, gradually leading the audience toward catharsis. By the end of the concert, our entire team had reached that point—without hiding either tears or admiration. After an experience like this, it was impossible to go on to another concert. I could only go home and remain immersed in the waves of energy that Moran had set in motion.

The programme was connected to the 2026 release of Jason Moran Plays Duke Ellington, an album created after six years of deep immersion in the composer's music. In Moran's interpretation, Ellington is not a museum piece. His music breathes, evolves, and speaks to today's listener.

In May, I had heard Jason Moran perform together with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra—it was a magical and unpredictable journey that somehow felt like coming home. His solo concert in Copenhagen opened an entirely different dimension of musical consciousness.

A City Pulsing with Jazz

In Copenhagen, the story is not only about jazz, but also about the way the city breathes together with the music. Naturally, at M/House of Jazz, we are especially interested in the places where this music happens. During the festival, I managed to visit several very different venues, but this list is legendary and remains unchanged—I highly recommend them.

Hotel Cecil has operated in its current form since 2018, although the building itself has a much longer history. It occupies the Kvindernes Bygning, built in 1936, which once housed the Royal Danish Theatre's Gråbrødrescenen and later Copenhagen Jazzhouse. Today, it is an intimate venue for around 350 guests, presenting jazz alongside rock, electronic music, and other genres.

A completely different sense of history can be found at the legendary Jazzhus Montmartre. Founded in 1959, the club became one of Europe's most important jazz venues during the 1960s and 1970s. Artists such as Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, and Kenny Drew performed there regularly, collaborating with Danish musicians including Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Alex Riel. After a period of closure, Montmartre returned to its historic address on Store Regnegade in 2010. In its small hall, which seats only 86 people, the boundary between stage and audience almost disappears.

Galathea Kroen has been operating since the 1950s, with 1958 most often cited as its founding year. It was established by Ole Reimann, who had taken part in Denmark's second Galathea scientific expedition. Objects brought back from the voyage still define the venue's distinctive interior. Today, Galathea Kroen functions simultaneously as a pub, restaurant, small museum, and concert venue, with an extensive collection of jazz and blues recordings.

A more contemporary side of Copenhagen is represented by Apollo Bar, located in the courtyard of Kunsthal Charlottenborg. It was opened in 2017 by chef Frederik Bille Brahe. Apollo serves as both a museum restaurant and a social meeting place, transforming into an open-air concert venue during the festival. Here, visual art, food, and music become part of a single shared experience.

Meanwhile, HUSET has operated since 1970 and was Denmark's first cultural centre. It emerged when the City of Copenhagen handed the building over to a group of hippies and artists who wanted to create a democratic cultural meeting place for young people. Today, HUSET continues to thrive through the collaboration of volunteers, independent organisers, and alternative cultural communities. Concerts, theatre performances, film screenings, and interdisciplinary projects take place across several floors, making the building itself feel like a vertical festival.

Legendary Jam Sessions Until 4:00 AM

Copenhagen's jazz scene cannot be understood without its jam session tradition. One of its most important venues is La Fontaine—Denmark's oldest continuously operating jazz club, open since 1959. Artists including Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Alex Riel, and Marilyn Mazur have all performed here. On one occasion, Lady Gaga unexpectedly walked into the club and joined the local musicians on stage. Unpredictable evenings like these are part of La Fontaine's very essence.

The history of Drop Inn goes back even further. It opened in 1934 as a restaurant featuring cabaret performances, but later became a haven for Copenhagen's bohemian community—actors, artists, musicians, and politically active free thinkers. Live jazz found a home here, and it is said that the Danish band Gasolin even played secret pre-tour concerts at the venue. Today, Drop Inn presents a variety of musical genres, but its regular jam sessions and Copenhagen Jazz Festival evenings remain an important part of its identity.

Learning from Those Who Shape the Scene and Think Long-Term

We met with the welcoming JazzDanmark team and their partners. It was a particular pleasure to meet Executive Director Eva Frost and our project coordinator Lars Thor Jensen. We listened carefully, observed, and learned how this team of seven works, and how musician-friendly, open, and supportive a national jazz organisation can be.

It is one of the best examples we gladly embrace and learn from while building Jazz Latvija. What matters is not only delivering projects, but also the ability to listen to musicians, connect people, and create an environment where collaboration can grow naturally.

Our guide through both professional and friendly conversations, as well as countless concerts, was Sean-Poul de Fré Gress, booking agent and consultant from the Danish agency BELLEROSE. He is someone who knows everyone, remembers everyone, and is genuinely passionate about what he does. An endless source of positive energy, his presence naturally gives rise to new friendships and memorable adventures. The wonderful Sacha Kjoller from KANT Agency, together with Sean-Poul, represents JAZZBYEN, a community-run digital platform and B2B directory connecting independent jazz artists, venues, and organisers across the Baltic Sea region. I highly recommend that emerging musicians visit: https://balticartistsindevelopment.squarespace.com/ 

From Germany, we met Tobi Kirsch from Passionate PR, as well as Réka Csorba and Hanns-Christian "Hank" Gerth from Jazzbüro Hamburg. Among the international professionals, we also met Sarah Weller, Head of Programming at London's legendary Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, with whom we shared dinners and attended several concerts. Perhaps one day a Latvian ensemble will also perform at this legendary club. Time will tell. :)

Here, connections are not made simply by exchanging brochures. They grow through shared conversations, shared experiences, listening to concerts together, and thinking about what we can create together. Genuine presence – and the beginning of new collaborations.

One Hundred Years of Jazz in Denmark

The first time I attended the Copenhagen Jazz Festival was with the support of the Danish Cultural Institute. Thank you, Simon Drewsen Holmberg. Over the following five years, I returned to Copenhagen on my own initiative to listen, experience, and learn from one of the strongest jazz scenes in Northern Europe.

In 2026, Denmark celebrates a symbolic 100 years of jazz – Dansk Jazz 100.

Danish jazz experienced its first golden age during the 1930s and 1940s. Then, in the 1960s, Copenhagen became an international jazz capital, where several prominent American musicians lived and performed for extended periods—including Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Kenny Drew, Sahib Shihab, Idris Sulieman, Stuff Smith, Stan Getz, and double bassist/cellist Oscar Pettiford. The strength of Danish jazz still lies in its curiosity, openness, and international outlook—a respect for tradition without any fear of reshaping it.

This history can also be felt in the audience. Concerts are attended by listeners of every generation. They are educated in how to listen—not necessarily in an academic sense, but with the ability to be fully present, hear the nuances, and respond freely without feeling embarrassed by their emotions.

On the way to a planned concert, it is entirely possible to stumble upon at least two others. Walking through a city filled with design becomes an additional pleasure rather than simply moving from one venue to another.

I was fortunate enough to experience Copenhagen in 28-degree heat. The royal city offers no shortage of public swimming areas, green squares, and small islands of cool relief. Everything feels thoughtfully designed, yet the primary means of transportation remains the bicycle—often with a large Christiania-style cargo box at the front, capable of carrying drums, a double bass, a wife, a dog, and children.

I was lucky enough to travel in one of those cargo boxes myself, moving from one concert to another. Like a happy dog, smiling from ear to ear with the wind in my face, I glided effortlessly along the cycle paths through the city.

Christiania Jazz Club — Where Time Disappears

A completely different, yet personally dear, part of Copenhagen's jazz world is Christiania Jazz Club, where Pascal gives me a quick glance across the packed club, nods his head, and tells me I'm on the guest list. It's always a pleasure to return.

The club opened in the Operaen building around 2002 and joined the Copenhagen Jazz Festival programme the following year. Christiania Jazz Club, or Christianias Jazzklub & Børneteater, is located beside the former Pusher Street. It quickly became a cult destination for musicians and jazz lovers alike—a place where concerts naturally evolve into late-night jam sessions, bringing together artists from different generations.

Here I heard one of the most remarkable pianists of Denmark's younger generation – Rasmus Sørensen, whose playing was virtuosic, free, and full of life—together with Felix Moseholm on double bass and American drummer Michael Ode.

In 2018, Sørensen moved to New York after receiving a full scholarship to study at the Manhattan School of Music. There he performed at jazz venues including The Jazz Gallery, Smalls, and Mezzrow. After returning to Copenhagen in 2023, the pianist released the album Balancing Act together with Kendrick Scott and Alex Claffy. This was followed by the Danish Music Awards Jazz – Musician of the Year title in 2024, and the Ben Webster Prize in 2025.

At the entrance, elderly gentlemen collect donations for the music—cash only, of course. That, too, is part of the unique character of this place. Behind the scenes is a white-tiled kitchen soaked in cigarette smoke, while the music often continues until sunrise. There is no need for a perfect façade here. What matters is what happens between the musicians and the audience.

I was still fortunate enough to experience Christiania when its world of free thinkers and free spirits swirled in green smoke. Today, the neighbourhood is increasingly filled with tourists searching for their decaffeinated caramel latte with lactose-free almond milk. Yet at Christiania Jazz Club, everything still feels authentic.

It is precisely because of these contrasts that the Copenhagen Jazz Festival is so special to me. One evening, jazz can unfold as catharsis in a grand concert hall; the next, it can continue until dawn in a small club in the heart of Christiania.

About 25 Concerts in Seven Days

Over the course of seven festival days, I heard several more remarkably diverse projects that perfectly illustrated the breadth of Copenhagen's music scene—from global rhythms and electronics to free improvisation.

Candura combines Brazilian MPB, bossa nova, and samba with Italian disco, Turkish funk, and contemporary indie pop. Dense rhythms, layered vocals, keyboards, and percussion created a colourful sound without geographical boundaries.

At HUSET's Xenon Hall, Ida Duelund together with Isak Schiødt represented the festival's most experimental side. Double bassist and vocalist Ida Duelund, together with her ensemble, created a free collage of composition, improvisation, and visual art. Meanwhile, in his solo saxophone performance, Isak Schiødt employed minimalist repetitions, breath, overtones, and the instrument's keys as percussion. His music echoed ambient and techno music as well as Johann Sebastian Bach.

At Hotel Cecil, I heard the new Danish modern jazz sensation OTOOTO. Together with Sofie Birch, meditative electronics and expansive atmospheric soundscapes met neo-soul, modern jazz, and R&B rhythms. It was a dialogue between two distinct musical worlds, in which electronics blended organically with the sound of a live ensemble.

Without question, one of the festival's main protagonists was Kresten Osgood – one of Copenhagen's most prominent and active drummers. A legend! During the festival, he performed 36 concerts with different ensembles—almost an entire festival within the festival.

Faust/Pilgaard was a conversation between two exceptionally distinctive personalities. Maria Faust's alto saxophone and Lars Bech Pilgaard's guitar met in free improvisation, where lyrical lines alternated with rough sonic textures, noise, silence, and deeply focused mutual listening.

Meanwhile, the Spacelab — Hess/AC/Hess midnight concert demonstrated the strength of a long-standing musical friendship. Pianist Nikolaj Hess, double bassist AC, and drummer Mikkel Hess have been performing together for more than thirty years. The most important moments in their trio often exist precisely between the notes—in subtle nuances, silence, and intuitive interplay. The Spacelab midnight concerts have already become a long-standing Copenhagen Jazz Festival tradition.

And there were still many, many concerts I simply didn't have time to attend. Perhaps that is one of the greatest luxuries of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival—it is impossible to hear everything. All that remains is to choose, surrender to unexpected discoveries, and certainly return to Copenhagen next year. This is an educational process, an experience, and a musical education. I truly love this music and the people within it.

See you at M/House of Jazz Riga.