DETAILED THROUGH THE PERIODS

COPENHAGEN (1963-1981) | BOSTON (1981-1984) | NEW YORK (1984-1989) | PARIS (1989-2013) | COPENHAGEN (2013-PRESENT)

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, USA

1981 was heavily marked by the comeback of Miles Davis, who released his first album after a six-year reclusive retirement. Miles was the Messiah of jazz during most of his life and everyone that played with him became stars and formed their bands (Niels would later play with lots of Miles alumni, but never got to play with Miles himself before he passed in 1991). In the jazz world, the July release of Miles’ 1981 comeback album “Man With The Horn” was a sensation on a similar level as man’s first moon landing in 1969. When the forthcoming release was announced on Danish radio a few months earlier Niels was overwhelmed with excitement and eagerness to get overseas to the US, the birthplace and (still at that time-) homeland of jazz. On Niels’ arrival in Boston, Miles occupied a lot of the landscape. Miles records were playing everywhere and the receptionists at Berklee were watching all of Miles’ TV appearances on a small black and white TV, on shows like Saturday Night Live and more. During the first semester in Boston, Niels and his roommates from the Berklee dormitory, which included Danish drummer Thomas Blachman (who later became notoriously famous in Denmark as the mean judge for more than a decade on the show X-Factor) went to see Miles live in concert at the Bradford Hotel Ballroom. To see Miles live in person and to be in the room when he and his band members were creating such amazing and ingenious improvised music, was a very powerful and transformational experience for Niels. He had read about how Miles would act as a catalyst to get his band members to perform beyond themselves, but to witness it live was like a trip to the moon and brought Niels a step closer to solving the mystery of music.  Miles’ spectacular comeback included tenor saxophonist Bill Evans, guitarist Mike Stern, bassist Marcus Miller, percussionist Mino Cinelu and drummer Al Foster - all of which Niels would later play within different contexts. 

On his arrival in Boston, there were approx. 2,500 students enrolled at Berklee, out of which only a small handful were young and exceptionally gifted jazz players. But the ones that were there, either just finishing up their studies and still present on the scene in Boston, or enrolled at school at the same time as Niels, included many people who later became famous artists, including Branford Marsalis, Donald Harrison, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Terri Lyne Carrington, Diana Krall, Ira Coleman, David Kikoski, Makoto Ozone, Mark Ledford, and Tommy Smith. It was great for Niels to be in an environment of people own age (in Denmark he had only played with musicians old enough to be his father or grandfather) from different parts of the world, and not least, sharing the same level of passion for music. He also greatly enjoyed the curriculum, but more importantly,  he greatly enjoyed being in America where high ambition, great passion, and hard work seemed to be appreciated and encouraged on a whole other level than in Denmark. In Boston, he also started practicing on a very serious level for the very first time in his life. He was used to being the only one around of his kind, the “wunderkid” that everyone in Copenhagen was in awe of, regardless of how little he practiced. Now suddenly he was surrounded by child prodigies and monster talents from America, Asia and beyond. It was a constructive wake-up call for the 17-year-old Niels. 

Another important fact of jazz life in 1981 was that great band leaders such as Art Blakey, Stan Getz, Horace Silver, Elvin Jones, and others were still alive and very active, and young players could realistically aspire to “get the gig” with one of these leaders and thus landing themselves a platform not only for exponential artistic learning and growth but also for wider exposure and career development. This gave every young player hope. And by being in the US, Niels was a major step closer to the source. 

The single biggest breakthrough success  that year was the story of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. He had been touring with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and had apparently caused such as stir that Columbia decided to offer him a record deal on the spot. During most of the 1970s, acoustic straight-ahead jazz had been considered commercially dead (contrary to electric jazz/fusion that dominated the decade) and no major labels were interested in recording new jazz artists in this style. However, when Wynton released his debut album in January 1982, it was commercially successful on a level that none of Niels nor his peers had ever heard of before. And not only did that inspire a whole generation of young jazz players who suddenly had something real and tangible to aspire towards, it also opened the doors to record deals for numerous new young jazz artists in the years to follow. Before Wynton, no record labels were interested in signing and developing new young acoustic straight-ahead jazz players, least of all, the major labels. But Wynton’s success made the genre commercially viable again and that helped the careers of the whole generation of new young players that Niels was a part of. (A decade and a half later, Niels’ schoolmate, Diana Krall would create a similar impact by reaching pop level success with her 1996 Nat King Cole Tribute album “All For You” and becoming the world’s #1 top-selling jazz artist and selling millions of albums after that). 

So needless to say, Niels arrived in Boston in a spirit of great optimism, excitement, inspiration, and opportunity. 

Using his access at Berklee, Niels started to gig around town with some of his teachers, such as Phil Wilson, Scott Robinson and Bill Pierce (tenor saxophonist with Art Blakey and Freddie Hubbard), and accompanying visiting out-of-town guest artists like Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophonist with Thelonius Monk), tenor saxophonist Steve Grossman (formerly with Miles Davis) and trombonist Slide Hampton. He also got to work with Alan Dawson, the great Bostonian drummer who is mostly known as the teacher of great drummers like Tony Williams, Terri Lyne Carrington, Harvey Mason, Vinnie Colaiuta, and many others.  But his closest connection turned out to be with his classmates and long time friends to be, bassist Ira Coleman, and drummer, Terri Lyne Carrington. 

Niels would generally stay at school all day from 9 AM until Midnight, 7 days a week, either to attend classes, do homework, practice piano by himself or play jam sessions with fellow students. As a result, he did not have as much time to go out and hear live music as he used to in Copenhagen, but he still got a chance to hear Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Woody Shaw, Earth Wind and Fire, and the group Steps Ahead featuring Mike Brecker, Eddie Gomez, Don Grolnick, Mike Mainieri and Peter Erskine (all of whom Niels would later work with). Mike Brecker is the most recorded tenor saxophonist of all time and definitely the most influential one of his generation. All of the young upcoming tenor players at the time literally worshipped Mike and witnessing their awe upon his entry on stage made quite an impression on Niels.

Niels worked hard at Berklee, completing the four-year program in only three years, and received The Oscar Peterson Award, The Count Basie Award, and The Boston Jazz Society Achievement Award along the way before graduating with honours in May 1984.  His father Thai flew in to Boston to attend the graduation ceremony. Niels’ diploma was presented to him by his former idol Oscar Peterson and the iconic jazz critic Leonard Feather. Oscar went on to hold a great motivational and inspirational speech for all the graduates, sharing that “if someone tells you that you cannot make a living playing jazz, don’t believe them”. The speech, as well as the mere presence of Oscar, made a great impression on Niels as well as Thai.

At the time of graduation, Niels decided to continue his career with his visions for the future, he needed to be in the mecca of jazz, New York City. So Niels and Terri Lyne Carrington decided to move down together, and by April 1st, 1984, they were sharing a Manhattan apartment on 108th street in Spanish Harlem.