Edition Kontrapunkt (the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and also German word for counterpoint) is a Danish classical music record label based in Klampenborg and founded in 1987. [1] The label is owned by Steeplechase Records, the Danish jazz label. [2] [3]
The label has made the first recordings of many major works by Danish composers, including the first recordings of Ib Nørholm's symphonies in 1993.
Jean Reinhardt, known by his Romani nickname Django, was a Romani-Belgian jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most significant exponents.
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his eighties.
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era, when people were dancing the Lindy Hop. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and Django Reinhardt.
Martin Taylor, MBE is a British jazz guitarist who has performed solo, in groups, guitar ensembles, and as an accompanist.
Biréli Lagrène is a French jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt–influenced style. He often performs in swing, jazz fusion, and post-bop styles.
Bror Fredrik "Esbjörn" Svensson was a Swedish jazz pianist and founder of the jazz group Esbjörn Svensson Trio, commonly known as e.s.t.
Manouche jazz is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–1953), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908–1997), as expressed in their group the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Because its origins are in France, Reinhardt was from the Manouche clan, and the style has remained popular amongst the Manouche, Manouche jazz is often called by the French name "jazz manouche", or alternatively, "manouche jazz" in English language sources. Some scholars have noted that the style was not named manouche until the late 1960s; the name "Manouche jazz" began to be used around the late 1990s.
The Quintette du Hot Club de France, often abbreviated "QdHCdF" or "QHCF", was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli and active in one form or another until 1948.
Loose Tubes were a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to be the focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz. It was the main launchpad for the careers of many future leading British jazz players including Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Eddie Parker, Julian and Steve Argüelles, Mark Lockheart, Steve Berry, Tim Whitehead, Ashley Slater. In 2015, the band reformed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band's formation, with concerts at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Brecon Jazz Festival and a sold out week at Ronnie Scott's.
Iain Ballamy is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time and was featured as one of the world's all-time greats in "100 Jazz Legends". BBC Music Magazine. December 2011. The Guardian described him as "one of the world's distinctive saxophone voices". One of his closest musical collaborators is Django Bates.
The Hot Club de France is a French organization of jazz fans dedicated to the promotion of "traditional" jazz, swing, and blues. It was founded in 1931 in Paris, France, by five students of the Lycée Carnot. In 1928, Jacques Bureaux, Hugues Panassie, Charles Delaunay, Jacques Auxenfans, and Elvin Dirat came together to listen to jazz and, later, promote its acceptance in France. The point was to make the public aware of jazz and to defend and promote the style in the face of all opposition. The club began in the fall of 1931 as the Jazz Club Universitaire, as the members were all still students; it was reborn and reimagined in 1932 as the Hot Club de France.
SteepleChase Records is a jazz record company and label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time. He began recording concerts at Jazzhus Montmartre, where many American musicians performed, and was given permission by some of the artists to release the material commercially.
Hot Club Records is a jazz record label established 1982, by guitarist Jon Larsen in Oslo, Norway. The label has released over 350 CDs, DVDs and books, mostly jazz related.
Dawgwood is a 1993 all-instrumental album by American musician David Grisman, recorded with his group David Grisman Quintet. It is the second album recorded under Grisman's own label, Acoustic Disc. Grisman's self-named "Dawg" music was well established when this album was recorded — it is influenced by traditional bluegrass, jazz, gypsy music, Latin and more. Most of the songs are composed by Grisman, the two covers being Django Reinhardt's "Bolero de Django" — a gypsy song which Matt Eakle's flute gives a more modern flavour and "Asanhado" by Jacob do Bandolim. The last piece on the album, "New Dawg´s Rag" is a song previously released on album The David Grisman Quintet, but with "updated" arrangement.
The Danish Quartet is a name which has been carried by four Danish quartets:
Henri Baumgartner (1929–1992), known professionally as Lousson Reinhardt, was a French gypsy jazz guitarist and the first son of Django Reinhardt by his first wife, Florine Mayer.
Boulou Ferré is a French virtuoso jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, and improviser. He is the brother of Elios Ferré, also a jazz musician, with whom he has recorded widely. His repertoire includes jazz and classical music. He is considered one of the greatest contemporary musicians of the manouche tradition and has contributed to the genre through his knowledge of both jazz and classical music and his interest in the contrapuntal music of J. S. Bach.
Chasin' the Gypsy is the sixth album by saxophonist James Carter which was released on the Atlantic label in 2000.
Visitation is a studio album by American jazz bassist Sam Jones which was recorded in March, 1978 for the Danish SteepleChase Records label. This is his ninth album as a leader. The record was re-released on CD in 1994 and as an LP in 2014 with three bonus tracks.
Ian Cruickshank was an English electric and acoustic guitarist most associated with the blues-rock and gypsy jazz genres, also well known in the U.K. as an educator, author and columnist, record producer and record label owner, festival organiser and promoter of artists in the gypsy jazz world. He achieved some success in the 1960s in the Keef Hartley Band playing electric guitar under the pseudonym Spit James before becoming enamoured of the gypsy jazz style originated by Django Reinhardt in the 1930s and devoting almost all of his energies to educating, performing and promoting activities in this area up till his death in 2017. He published several influential books on gypsy jazz, was producer and music co-ordinator for the TV Documentary Django Legacy, was the owner of the Fret Records record label, and organised the UK Gypsy Jazz Guitar Festival annually from 1997 to 2000.