Jakob Bro creates new connections and gathers an international edition of his large ensemble for Winterjazz 2025, featuring Chilean tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy, and Danish poet Peter Laugesen.

Experience an incredible intimate concert on Gnisten’s stage with Jakob Bro, one of the biggest names on the jazz scene. This time, he visits Gnisten with an 8-piece band.

After several international tours and critically acclaimed releases on ECM Records, guitarist Jakob Bro returns with his large ensemble featuring three to four saxophonists, two drummers, and two bassists: “This is my laboratory as a composer, where my simple songs are sung in unison with a strong emphasis on melody. The compositions are interpreted by some of my closest musical friends and elevated by a collective group of fantastic, exciting musicians, who give the songs an edge, wildness, and hopefully moments of beauty,” he explains.

New Mu...

Jakob Bro creates new connections and gathers an international edition of his large ensemble for Winterjazz 2025, featuring Chilean tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy, and Danish poet Peter Laugesen.

Experience an incredible intimate concert on Gnisten’s stage with Jakob Bro, one of the biggest names on the jazz scene. This time, he visits Gnisten with an 8-piece band.

After several international tours and critically acclaimed releases on ECM Records, guitarist Jakob Bro returns with his large ensemble featuring three to four saxophonists, two drummers, and two bassists: “This is my laboratory as a composer, where my simple songs are sung in unison with a strong emphasis on melody. The compositions are interpreted by some of my closest musical friends and elevated by a collective group of fantastic, exciting musicians, who give the songs an edge, wildness, and hopefully moments of beauty,” he explains.

New Music in February 2025

For two decades, this group has developed around alto saxophonists Jesper Zeuthen and Andrew D’Angelo, the original Jakob Bro Trio consisting of bassist Anders Christensen and drummer Jakob Høyer, as well as Kresten Osgood and poet Peter Laugesen. Their latest album, Hymnotic/Salmodisk, was released ten years ago (2015), coinciding with Jakob Bro’s international breakthrough, and this summer the band went into the studio to record a new album expected to be released in February 2025.

Therefore, Jakob Bro has gathered the large ensemble for a tour in January-February, featuring not only the familiar core members but also four international guests: the rising Blue Note saxophonist Melissa Aldana, baritone saxophonist Hanne de Backer, double bassist Yannick Peeters, and Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy (b. 1964), who has played with legends such as Wayne Shorter, Charlie Haden, and Carla Bley, and was a long-time member of the Brad Mehldau Trio.

“I learned early on from Paul Motian how crucial it is to test compositions in different line-ups. Paul did this all the time, and the songs gained new life. They didn’t become irrelevant or overplayed but blossomed and took new directions. There is so much openness in the music that the songs can be interpreted in countless ways depending on the orchestration, line-up, situation, and space. I am incredibly excited to dive into deep waters in front of an audience with new voices and find entirely new places together,” emphasizes Jakob Bro.

About the Participants:

Melissa Aldana (b. 1988) is a Grammy-nominated Chilean-born saxophonist who has released two albums as a bandleader on Blue Note Records. Based in New York, she was the first from South America and the first female instrumentalist to win the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition (previous winners include Ambrose Akinmusire and Joshua Redman) and winner of the Rising Star 2022 award in DownBeat.

Peter Laugesen (b. 1942) is an author based in Brabrand. He has published more than 60 books and is widely recognized as a poet and translator exploring the Danish language. Inspired by American Beat poets, he has appeared on several albums and concerts with Jakob Bro and Nicolai Munch-Hansen.

Jakob Bro (b. 1978) has released 18 albums as a bandleader and composer on ECM Records and Loveland Music. He is a former member of Paul Motian & The Electric Bebop Band and Tomasz Stanko Quintet and has recorded his music with artists such as Lee Konitz, Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Brian Blade, Joe Lovano, Midori Takada, Charles Lloyd, and others.

Jakob Bro’s music and various ensembles play a central role in Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed’s film Music for Black Pigeons, which was released last year and has been screened at film festivals worldwide....

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