Happy New Year! (a personal note from Niels Lan Doky)

Photo by Attila Kleb

This past year confirms more than ever what I have come to realize and become more and more conscious of in recent years: We live in an era of major change across the world and are in the midst of dramatic paradigm shifts on so many levels: AI, biotech, war, media, economics, climate change, geopolitics, fertility, demographics, morals, values….you name it! Our current era is probably the most transformational one that my generation will experience during our lifetime - and it is exciting to me to be here to witness it and be a part of it.

It is a basic human instinct to feel scared about change and uncertainty. But having spent most of my life perfecting the art of improvising, being a jazz musician has taught me to embrace the realm of the unknown. It is the field of endless possibilities where genuine creativity resides. And this applies to any improvisational context, also beyond music.

Life is the ultimate improvisation. We are a huge big band of 8 billion players, placed on a gigantic stage called The World -  all engaged in an interactive collective open-ended jazz improvisation called Life. Just like a performance by the John Coltrane Quartet, life itself is a work-in-progress improvised work of art, regardless whether all participants realize it or not. 

Improvised music has yielded numerous masterpieces over time, and it is my firm belief that, as a species, we also have the potential to turn our individual lives, as well as our collective life, into masterpieces. In music, even the smallest note in a batch of thousands, can play an essential role. In life, this phenomenon has occurred again and again throughout history, where one single person, regardless of how small, changes the world. In music as well as in life, I try to choose my “notes” as wisely as I can and always think of the bigger picture. I constantly ask myself how my choices also affect or contribute to the bigger creation.

All “mistakes” can be turned into non-mistakes, because subsequent to any “wrong” note that you play, you can always choose notes that retroactively will turn your “wrong” note into an essential component of a new group of notes that collectively constitute a new beautiful melody. In improvised music, we study the great masters to learn their tricks on how to do this. So ask yourself the question, who are the great masters of human existence? You don’t have to look for very long to realize that so much knowledge has already been developed and laid at our feet, by great masters, for thousands of years and to this day.

Playing in an improvisational jazz ensemble is one of the best exercises in democracy. It encourages individualism and requires self-expression but you are all working together towards a bigger goal. The exercise fails with immediate effect if you are not constantly looking out for each other, listening to each other and reacting to one another in the best possible way during each and every moment of your interactive collective improvisation.  I believe that if everyone in the world operated this way in their daily lives, humanity would reach its masterpiece potential with greater speed and certainty.

2022 was a fantastic year for me in many ways. I resumed international touring for the first time post-covid and it was a blissful experience to reconnect with audiences and friends in many countries abroad, and sharing the bandstand with some of the greatest luminaries in jazz history, such as Billy Cobham, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, Harvey Mason and Darryl Jones. At home here in Denmark I was thrilled to be able to invite Steve Rodby and Paul Wertico back for a wonderful video recording project. For our third consecutive year, the Niels Lan Doky International Jazz Collective upheld its residency at the prestigious Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, with incredible performances by Alvin Queen, Fredrik Kronkvist, Björn Ingelstam, Tobias Dall, Calle Brickman and not least Linley Marthe, a wonderful friend with spectacular talent and jaw-dropping musicianship. Finally it was a huge blessing to reconnect with Terri Lyne Carrington. She is one of my oldest and dearest friends in life and longest standing collaborators in music. She feels like family. She is now widely recognized as one the greatest drummers of all time and I am so proud of her. Reconnecting with Monica Getz and producing our second Sound Dues event in Helsingør was also amazing, with highlights including David Sanborn’s fantastic band (with Geoff Keezer, Ben Williams, Billy Kilson and Peter Asplund), my duo concert with my brother Chris Minh Doky, the Getz/Gilberto project at Terra Nova and much more. Our pop-up jazz club residency at the Copenhagen Opera House’s restaurant Almanak this Summer was also a great thrill.

Finally, 2022 was particularly special for me because I got to spend a lot more time with all three children of mine, given that two of them - my twins Ken and Mai - moved from Paris to Copenhagen. Rumi still lives in London, but he comes here a lot. So we have had a lot of wonderful times together this year. Nothing feels better to me than being with them. They are such great people. I am so proud of them and so thankful for their mere existence.

There are too many people behind the scenes to mention and thank here for all their invaluable contributions towards making all of our concerts, projects, events and tours happen. But to me they are just as essential as the musicians. I do in particular want to thank my teammates Jonas Holmark, Claudio Suriano, Charlotte Kirkeby and Mikael Christensen - without whom our accomplishments this year would definitely not have been possible. 

Last but not least I want to thank our dear loyal audiences who continue to come out and share special moments in time with us. I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2023 full of health, joy, love, inspiration, creativity, intelligence, wisdom, fun - and great music!

All the best,
Niels Lan Doky