Attending Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2024

I went to Copenhagen in early July to experience the Copenhagen Jazz Festival for the first time. I spent a long weekend there at the very start of the festival and had the chance to sit in and hang out with some great musicians and meet many cool people. In this blog I’ll summarize some of the things I did, my thoughts and feelings about it, and then provide some additional information about the jazz festival held in Denmark’s capital city.

I set off from mid-Jutland towards Copenhagen and arrived early evening on Friday, July 5th. After booking into a hotel and grabbing a quick bite to eat at a nearby cafe, I headed off to start my jazz festival experience. First up on the agenda was checking out a concert fronted by the Copenhagen-based, Hungarian saxophonist Gabor Bolla. On the the way to the gig I passed several live outdoor music events taking place – great fun to see so many jazz related things going on at one time and it helped set a nice mood for the evening ahead.

The open-air Gabor Bolla concert took place at the Apollo Bar. Playing alongside him were Danish guitarist Jacob Artved, Swedish bassist Daniel Franck and Italian drummer Francesco Ciniglio. All musicians are highly respected and have played around Europe and America in various settings. Although the acoustics of outdoor events can sometimes be hit and miss, the musicianship was of high enough quality to make the gig very enjoyable.

The band performed a mixture of standards and Bolla’s original compositions that drew inspiration from the be-bop/hard-bop tradition flavoured with modern jazz influences. Despite the evening being rather chilly, the courtyard was brimming with people and it was great to see people of many nationalities sharing a commonality in their love for jazz. The informal, relaxed vibe going on made it a really nice gig to start things off.

Afterwards, I headed down to Drop Inn, which was one the main venues (alongside the legendary La Fontaine and Jazzhus Montmatre) to host regular jams at the festival this year. The upright bass player Thomas Fonnesbæk and pianist Jacob Christoffersen – both renowned players on the Danish scene – were hosting the jam at Drop Inn and holy smokes, they are fantastic players!

I had the opportunity of sitting in with them on all 3 nights I spent in Copenhagen and man, what a great experience that was. They were both really welcoming when I first went up to play and it was great being able to chat with them afterwards as they were both very approachable. I definitely learned a thing or two over the course of those 3 nights and would seriously recommend anyone who has the chance to check them out, to do so.

A feature of my time in Copenhagen were the late nights. I typically got back to my hotel around 5am which meant most of the next morning was already gone by the time I awoke. So, having grabbed a quick brunch I headed off to hear Nikolaj Hess play with an international band. I saw his trio concert at a church with legendary French bassist Francois Moutin and great Dutch saxophonist Marc Mommaas on Saturday. His Sunday gig was outdoors with the same trio but this time they were joined by a super American drummer called Donald Edwards. It was my first time hearing him play and he certainly delivered the goods – he had a great touch and feeling on the kit and made the music and musicians around him sound even better. A top quality player!

On both the Saturday and Sunday evening I returned to Drop Inn because the environment was simply too enjoyable to skip. Over the course of those two evenings I had the chance to sit in and play with top Danish saxophonist Claus Waidtløw, and two superb pianists, French born Olivier Antunes and the Polish Artur Tuznik. As someone who comes from a small town in the middle of nowhere, it was really fun and a big learning experience meeting so many top players. It was even nicer getting to chat with them and finding out that they are all great people, down to earth and very supportive. Going to Drop Inn was definitely my favourite experience at the jazz festival.

The Drop Inn jams finished around 2am, so on both Saturday and Sunday I headed down the road to La Fontaine which continued until 4am. It’s fun to think about the amount of history associated with that venue. Imagine the number of musicians and the amount of great music that’s been created there since its founding in 1942, and the fact that most top Danish jazz musicians since then have cut their mettle there at one time or another.

Even though I was aware of its reputation and that it was a popular place to hang out, I had no clue what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect it to be absolutely heaving and very hot when I arrived. Sweat was almost running off the walls! Honestly, I don’t think I have ever seen so many people crammed into such a small space – ‘packed in like sardines in a tin‘ was a phrase that came to mind. The vibe there seemed more intense than at Drop Inn and reminded me of the jazz ‘cutting contests’ of yesteryear I’d read about.

A large percentage of the people at La Fontaine seemed to be musicians hanging out after their gigs and it felt like a melting pot of the Copenhagen jazz scene. Relatively small room, loads of people, and full on hard-swinging jazz. Time there passed very quickly – I managed to get up and play a couple of times but at any given moment there was a long queue of people waiting to get on the bandstand. So time spent behind the kit was limited but the experience gained was invaluable.

Unfortunately, a planned trip to Jazzhus Montmatre to watch a gig or sit in never materialised. Given the recent news about its struggles to survive financially, I’ve got fingers and toes crossed that this iconic venue stays afloat. I would love to visit it the next time I’m in Copenhagen and check out some live jazz. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll get the opportunity to play there. As the actor Christopher Reeves said, “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”

Overall, my time spent in Copenhagen was great. I wish I could have stayed longer but music committments back in Jutland made that impossible. By the end of it, I was looking forward to getting back home and practising things I realised were in need of attention. Attending the festival helped to confirm and crystallise certain things I need to improve in my playing.

It also made me realise how punishing it would be for both body and mind to live the lifestyle I’d experienced at the festival i.e. getting to bed at 4-5am, getting up around 11am, week after week, month after month like some jazz musicians have done in the past. I was reminded of a phrase my grandfather sometimes said, ‘dont burn the candle at both ends – it’ll sure burn bright but it’ll only burn half as long’ . The man spoke the truth, but… I’m already looking forward to returning next year for Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2025! 🙂

As I mentioned at the start of this blog, I’ve put together a mini-resource regarding the Copenhagen Jazz Festival that hopefully is of interest to someone.