The legendary Danish bassist Bo Stief, who has played with numerous giants from Dexter Gordon to Miles Davis, turns 80 on October 15, 2026. We will celebrate this with two concerts, for which Bo has selected four young new star musicians to play with, all of whom he has been a mentor to.

What is he known for?

Bo Stief began his musical life at the age of 17 in Jazzhus Montmartre, and from there one of the most significant careers in recent Danish music history has since unfolded. From the beginning, his rise was marked by his long collaboration and friendship with trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg in groups such as the Riel-Mikkelborg Quintet, which triumphed in Montreux and at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1968. And later the group Entrance, which from 1976–85 released three best-selling and acclaimed LPs as Europe's answer to Weather Report.

Bo has also had a significant international career and has appeared on, among others, on Miles Davis' Grammy-winning album "Aura", and he has also appeared on hundreds of albums with a string of Danish and international musicians.

Bo Stief has a special love for cultivating new musical talents. He has taught at all Danish conservatories, numerous MGK, college and post-secondary schools. His workshops for young people under the auspices of the annual Playground Live initiative are particularly successful, and have influenced an entire generation of new young talents.

What should I expect?

Bo Stief is turning 80 in full vigor and with a youthful mind intact. As mentioned, for the occasion he has put together a young "music orchestra", which he calls it due to their genre independence, as they draw inspiration from jazz, classical music, rock, pop and folk music. Bo's long-standing open attitude is also reflected in the unusual instrumentation with double bass, cello, guitar and trumpet - four otherwise deeply individual voices, which here merge into beautiful harmonies in a completely unique band sound. The orchestra is a “declaration of love for the future”, he says, and calls their music “Now music that is spontaneous, wild, poetic and transcends boundaries”.

Bo continues: “The selected musicians come from all parts of the music world, and have gone from being particularly talented to becoming great visionary, creative personalities with charisma and a broad, versatile musical ability and can-do attitude”.

What should I know about the other musicians?

There are no less than two bassists on stage this evening. In addition to Bo Stief, bassist Mathæus Bech will also be performing, who has had Bo as a teacher and mentor since he was 15, before he took a conservatory education at first Rytmekons and then The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.

Mathæus Bech has, among other things, played with Guldimund, has been bandleader at Østre Gasværk, and has received a Gaffa award for broadcasting live concerts with a wide range of musicians from his living room in Christianshavn during the Corona epidemic. Today, he is one half of the duo Dybfølt together with cellist Kirstine Elise Pedersen, who is also part of the quintet. The two are known for both their own compositions and groundbreaking interpretations in the field between classical and folk music. In 2024, Dybfølt won DR's prestigious P2 Award, and in 2025 their latest album was selected as P2's "Album of the Week".

Rasmus Mikkelsen on trumpet already participated in Bo Stief's talent project Playground Live in 2019. Today, he is a sought-after and versatile voice across the jazz and rock scene.

Guitarist Mads Nørgaard is widely recognized in jazz contexts, where he plays guitar in the group The Orgelheimers, but he is also a central part of the project Lucky Lo, which with its genre-crossing alt-pop has played at, among others, Roskilde Festival and released to great critical acclaim.