Danish Music Awards Jazz 2024 will be an evening filled with musical highlights and well-deserved awards, as Store VEGA sets the stage for the year’s biggest celebration of Danish jazz on December 9th. Eight statuettes are up for grabs, along with a special award, and the night will end with a huge afterparty at Ideal Bar. We are excited to unveil the music program and, at the same time, open ticket sales.

Kresten Osgood will host the evening, tying together the award presentations and performances from Maria Bertel Monophonic, BISSESVINET, Melissa Inya, the Stefan Pasborg Trio feat. Carsten Dahl & Fredrik Lundin’s tribute to Alex Riel, Søren Siegumfeldt meeting Jan zum Vohrde, and Lis Wessberg Yellow Map.

DMA Jazz 2024 reflects the diversity, depth, and breadth of jazz. You will be presented with jazz ranging from intimate and atmospheric, to captivatingly melodic, to performances that will blow the roof off VEGA.

Tickets on sale here

Tribute to One of the Country’s Greatest Drummers

When Alex Riel passed away earlier this year at the age of 83, Denmark lost one of its greatest drummers. Riel made a significant impact on the international jazz scene from behind the drum kit, playing with legends like Ben Webster and Astrud Gilberto, and left his mark on the Danish music landscape with bands like Savage Rose. He was known for his joy of playing, his vitality, and his refusal to be confined to any one style or era.

At DMA Jazz, Alex Riel will be honored by another of the country’s great drummers, his godson Stefan Pasborg, and his trio, which also features Carsten Dahl and Fredrik Lundin. Pasborg has successfully balanced roles as both a bandleader and sideman in constantly evolving jazz ensembles while also maintaining a parallel career with Ibrahim Electric. The current trio is a true supergroup, consisting of three DMA-winning musicians.

Neo-Soul Jazz with an International Flair

Fans of singers like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill are in for a treat at VEGA. Melissa Inya is a vocalist who has made her mark in Copenhagen’s blues and soul scene and is especially well-known from Christiania’s Jazzklub. This year, she released the single “Lay Me Down” and is currently working on her upcoming album. At DMA Jazz, Melissa Inya will perform with Abdullah S, Anton Langebæk, Kristoffer Sjelberg, and Kathrine Windfeld. Expect a level of jazz-infused neo-soul rarely heard in this part of the world.

A Study in Saxophone

Fredrik Lundin’s tenor saxophone isn’t the only representation of this iconic jazz instrument at DMA Jazz 2024. Audiences can look forward to a true study in the saxophone, explored across the evening’s program.

Two versatile musicians, Søren Siegumfeldt and Jan zum Vohrde, will focus on the instrument that sparked their musical journeys. Siegumfeldt, the driving force behind the successful band String Swing, studied at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, where zum Vohrde was his teacher. Jan zum Vohrde is a central figure in Danish jazz, best known for his work with Jørgen Emborg and Thomas Clausen’s groups and his 15 years as the lead alto saxophonist in DR’s Big Band. At DMA Jazz, Siegumfeldt and zum Vohrde dedicate their duo performance to jazz and the alto saxophone in a specially curated set.

In BISSESVINET, the saxophone becomes a noise machine on par with the electric guitar. BISSESVINET is a brand-new collaboration between two of the Danish music scene’s most unruly talents: award-winning songwriter and singer Bisse, and experimental rock band SVIN, who won last year’s DMA Jazz for Experimental Release of the Year. Screaming saxophones, thunderous drums, a firestorm of guitars, and prophetic, rambling lyrics about human folly will merge in a furious and captivating revelation.

Two Sides of the Trombone

In addition to the saxophone showcase, the DMA Jazz audience will also be introduced to two distinct sides of a more uncommon solo instrument: the trombone. Lis Wessberg is renowned for her beautiful tone and unique feel on the instrument. In recent years, she has made a name for herself as the leader of the project Yellow Map. Here, Wessberg delivers cinematic and transformative music, blending influences from jazz giants like Miles Davis and Chet Baker with dreamy, exploratory atmospheres reminiscent of bands like Radiohead and Talk Talk.

Maria Bertel, on the other hand, treats the trombone as an endless source of sound and textures, drawing inspiration from drone and noise music. Using amplification, she brings normally unheard elements—such as movements, metal, and breath—into the foreground of her compositions. Bertel is a key figure in the legendary band Selvhenter and the artist collective Eget Værelse, but at DMA Jazz 2024, she will perform solo under the title Maria Bertel Monophonic, using her trombone and an array of effects to craft a truly unique auditory experience.

• Monday 9 December kl. 20-22.30
• VEGA – Musikkens Hus, Enghavevej 40, 1674 København V
• Entry 300 kr + fee.
• Tickets here.