When the Danish Music Awards Jazz returns for the second year in a row at Store VEGA on Monday, December 9, the competition will be tougher than ever. At the 2022 awards ceremony, a record-breaking number of releases were submitted – 179 in total. This number has been surpassed this year, with a total of 221 Danish jazz releases submitted for DMA Jazz.

The main academy has worked intensively, listening and deliberating to select a list of nominees that reflects both the diversity and the high quality of Danish jazz. New this year, a live academy has nominated the country’s live musicians and venues in two new categories that celebrate jazz as a live genre.

Jazz Release of the Year

Balvig / Bülow / Christensen – Lost in Landscapes (Jæger Community)
Jakob Buchanan, Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, Københavns Drengekor & Marilyn Mazur – Song & Wind (Our Recordings)
Mathias Heise – Mouth Games (Storyville Records)
Jasper Høiby – 3Elements: Like Water (Edition)
Cornelia Nilsson – Where Do You Go? (Stunt Records – Sundance Music)
Kresten Osgood Quintet – LIVE AT H15 STUDIO (ILK Music)
Karmen Rõivassepp & Abekejser – Wonder Who (Jæger Community)
Jesper Thorn – Dragør (April Records)

Musician of the Year

Thommy Andersson for Thommy Andersson/Kirk Knuffke – A little more so (Gateway Music)
Maria Faust for Maria Faust Jazz Catastrophe: 3rd Mutation – Moth (Bush Flash Records)
Nikolaj Hess for Nikolaj Hess – At the Movies (This Is Care Of)
Marilyn Mazur for Jakob Buchanan, Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, Københavns Drengekor & Marilyn Mazur – Song & Wind (Our Recordings)
Anders Mogensen for Anders Mogensen – Free Floating (AMM Records)
Cornelia Nilsson for Cornelia Nilsson – Where Do You Go? (Stunt Records – Sundance Music)
Anna Prinds for Tigeroak – Stay Close (April Records)
Rasmus Sørensen for Rasmus Sørensen with Alexander Claffy & Kendrick Scott – Balancing Act (April Records)

Jazz Composer of the Year

Astral Cinema for Astral Cinema – Astral Cinema (Sound by Struck)
Søren Bebe for Søren Bebe Trio – Here Now (From Out Here Music)
Jakob Bro for Jakob Bro – Music for Black Pigeons (Loveland Records)
Jakob Buchanan for Jakob Buchanan, Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, Københavns Drengekor & Marilyn Mazur – Song & Wind (Our Recordings)
Astrid Engberg for Astrid Engberg – Trust (Creak Inc. Records)
Makiko Hirabayashi for Makiko Hirabayashi Trio – Meteora (Enja)
Mark Solborg for Mark Solborg – BABEL (ILK Music)
Kathrine Windfeld for Kathrine Windfeld Sextet – Aldebaran (Stunt Records – Sundance Music)

Alternative Jazz Release of the Year

Jeppe Zeeberg – Occasionally, Good Things Do Happen (selvudgivet)
Maria Faust Jazz Catastrophe: 3rd Mutation – Moth (Bush Flash Records)
Rasmus Holm Quartet x Crush String Collective – anXietY Suite (Gateway Music)
Rumpistol – Going Inside (Raske Plader)
Signe Emmeluth – Banshee (Motvind Records)

New Jazz Act of the Year

Christian Holm-Svendsen – Totem (April Records)
Jacob Djursaa – Drømmesyn (Jæger Community)
Smag På Dig Selv – SPDS (Stunt Records – Sundance Music)
Vingborg/Valencia – What Grows Grieves (Turn It Over Records)
Øyunn – Aspects (Midnight Confessions)

Single of the Year

Amalie Dahl’s Dafnie – We don’t want your stupid war (Sonic Transmissions Records)
Dawda Jobarteh & Stefan Pasborg – Bamananyanke (April Records)
Frans Bak feat. Sinne Eeg – Lonely Waltz (Storyville Records)
Lis Wessberg – Behind the Walls (April Records)
OTOOTO – Duras (April Records)

Live Act of the Year

Smag På Dig Selv
Vs DooM
Kathrine Windfeld

Stage of the Year

Center for Dansk Jazzhistorie, Aalborg
Jazzy Days, Tversted
KLEIN / Karens Minde Kulturhus, København

In addition, the special award P8 Jazz Prize – Årets Ildsjæl (Jazz Enthusiast of the Year) will also be presented at DMA Jazz 2024, as is tradition. The nominees for this award will be announced soon.

Nye kategorier rummer både nye navne og etablerede stjerner

Kategorien Årets Musiker byder på et bredt felt, både genremæssigt og erfaringsmæssigt. Nyere navne som Cornelia Nilsson, der for alvor er trådt i karakter som bandleder i 2024, og Tigeroaks Anna Prinds er nomineret side om side med etablerede musikere som Nikolaj Hess og Marilyn Mazur. Cornelia Nilssons album “Where Do You Go?” er også nomineret som Årets Jazzudgivelse.

Blandt de nominerede til Årets Livenavn ses jazzens mere fandenivoldske sider med den punkede fest Smag På Dig Selv og det maksimalistiske kollektiv Vs Doom. Komponist og bigband-leder Kathrine Windfeld er nomineret som både Årets Livenavn og Årets Jazzkomponist for albummet “Aldebaran”. Smag På Dig Selv er desuden nomineret som Årets Nye Navn.

Efter nøje gennemgang af de eksisterende kategorier samt dialog med aktører fra jazzscenen har JazzDanmarks bestyrelse og sekretariat besluttet at indføre nye kategorier ved årets DMA Jazz. Der har blandt andet været efterspørgsel efter at hylde den individuelle musiker og jazzens rolle som livemusik.

We are committed to ensuring diversity

At JazzDanmark, we strive to celebrate a wide range of musical quality and the diversity of talented jazz musicians in Denmark. Achieving diversity requires continuous evaluation and adaptation. For several years, we have used blind listening, where academy members are unaware of the artists behind the submitted works until later in the process. While this method has had its advantages, it also comes with challenges. Last year, we introduced a new approach.

Academy members have agreed to help ensure a maximum of 70% homogeneity in the releases they each select in every category. Homogeneity is measured using parameters such as subgenre, instrumentation, experience, and gender. JazzDanmark takes responsibility for assembling an academy that can work with these diversity criteria, alongside their personal understanding of quality.

Join us for an evening of musical highlights

The Danish Music Awards Jazz 2024 promises an evening full of musical highlights and well-deserved awards as Store VEGA hosts the year’s biggest celebration of Danish jazz on December 9. Eight statuettes will be awarded, along with a special prize, and the night will culminate in a grand afterparty at Ideal Bar. Tickets are on sale now.

Kresten Osgood will host the evening, which will feature performances by Maria Bertel Monophonic, BISSESVINET, Melissa Inya, Stefan Pasborg Trio feat. Carsten Dahl & Fredrik Lundin in a tribute to Alex Riel, Søren Siegumfeldt with Jan zum Vohrde, and Lis Wessberg Yellow Map.