San Javier - July 26, 2019

“A recital full of beauty”

On the occasion of today's release of the “Improvisation On Life” album worldwide as well as the launch of our new website, Niels Lan Doky performed tonight with his trio at the San Javier International Jazz Festival in Spain. Two extraordinary musicians joined the jazz pianist, bassist Tobias Dall and drummer Niclas Bardeleben. The concert was a part of at double bill concert which featured both the Niels Lan Doky Trio and Maceo Parker and his band.

The concert subsequently got many great reviews, and among others the following quotes:

“Playing from the heart, raising the audience some centimeters above the ground.”

- Alexia Salas (La Verdad, Spain)

“A recital full of beauty. Such an exceptional sensibility so rare in our day.”

- Ángel H. Sopena (La Opinion de Murcia, Spain)

“With his characteristic and personal romantic sensitivity he managed to leave
the audience in love. Without a doubt a memorable concert.”

- Festival Internacional de Jazz de San Javier (Spain)

“The music of Niels Lan Doky … is treated with a depth that penetrates you deep into the spirit.“

- José Antonio García López (Tomajazz, Spain)

One of the reviews was written by Alexia Salas for La Verdad on Sunday July 28, 2019. The original article is in Spainish, so we here present you the review translated to English. Find the original article here.

Jazz San Javier
By Alexia Salas

The American legend Maceo Parker started dancing to a crowded auditorium, which had just finished giving standing ovations to the jazz trio of Niels Lan Doky.

What Niels Lan Doky and his two young musicians do not do, and never will do, is an algorithm. Playing from the heart, raising the audience some centimeters from the ground, combining perfect execution and internal tidal waves, is not about machines or prejudice about the coldness of the north. 

With a pronounced romantic accent, Danish fluid jazz quickly adheres to the skin. He began the show with two tributes, his own 'Forever Frank' dedicated to Sinatra, and a version bursting with magnetism and rhythmic tension of 'Man in the mirror', which Michael Jackson made famous in the eighties. His two accomplices began the show with signs of a spark that would raise further in intensity as the audience filled the venue. Doky is a talented composer, able to take you through the urban nightlife with 'Nature of the Business' and to widen your lungs with 'December'. His young drummer Niclas Bardeleben ended up stealing the spotlight with his original interventions, such as that brisk accompaniment on the tambourine and his creative final solos with drumsticks, brushes and hands in the most contemporary performances of the trio, inspired by the nature and culture of Scandinavia, whose musicians have taken the lead in the new paths of jazz.

© Photos by Pedro Sáez - Jazz San Janvier, 2019