FILM PREMIERE: Bud Powell's Life + Nikolaj Hess pays tribute
Tickets
3in1: Film screening / Meet film maker Haeyong Moon / Tribute concert
Oplev Europa-premieren på en ny dokumentar "BUD LIVES!" om jazzpianisten Bud Powells liv og musik, der finder sted netop i det Jazzhus Montmartre som han elskede og spillede i gentagne gange i 1960'erne, i et forsøg på at komme sig over den brutale behandling, han fik hjemme i USA inden flugten til Europa.
Efter visningen er pianisten Nikolaj Hess vært for en hyldestkoncert til ære for Bud Powell sammen med AC på bas og Mikkel Hess på trommer.
Den Los Angeles-baserede filminstruktør Haeyong Moon flyver ind fra USA som særlig gæst til visningen og fortæller om filmen om Bud og hans musik efter showet.
Bud Powell er en af jazzens mest geniale giganter, men også mest tragiske skæbner i amerikansk jazzmusik: bebop-pianisten omskrev jazzklaverets sprog for altid, men tilbragte en stor del af sit liv plaget af sygdom, racisme og institutionel vold.
Da han kom til København i 1962, fandt han endelig noget, der nærmede sig fred. Det var også ham, der "opdagede" bassisten Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersens talent og spillede med ham.
Han blev født i New York City den 27. september 1924 ind i en musikalsk familie i Harlem. På Minton's Playhouse, i de små timer om morgenen, i selskab med Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker og Dizzy Gillespie - blev bebop-genren født. Powell var dens leadpianist og opfinder.
Han afmonterede det gamle venstrehåndsmønster, der havde defineret jazzklaveret, og erstattede det med sparsomme akkorder, mens hans højre hånd spandt melodilinjer med blændende fart og intelligens.
Bud Powells liv blev dog overskygget af lidelse og mishandling. I begyndelsen af 1945 blev han brutalt tævet af politiet i Philadelphia og pådrog sig alvorlige hovedskader, der satte gang i en livslang cyklus af psykisk sygdom, hospitalsindlæggelse og elektrochokbehandling, der skadede ham snarere end helede.
I foråret 1959 tog Powell et modigt skridt: han forlod New York og fløj til Paris. Europa modtog ham som en kongelig. I begyndelsen af 1962 ankom Powell til København for at spille på Jazzhus Montmartre. Han optrådte derefter flere gange som "resident artist" med længere ophold i København, før han vendte tilbage til New York og døde i 1966.
Et fantastisk filmklip findes af Powell fra Montmartre, hvor han spiller Anthropology. Klippet er kornet, lysende og levende. SteepleChase Records udgav senere optagelser fra hans sessioner i København i 1962.
Efter filmen "BUD LIVES!" fortsætter aftenen som nævnt med en live hyldestkoncert af en af Danmarks mest suveræne pianister, Nikolaj Hess. Han er en grænseoverskridende virtuos, hvis lyd spænder over nordisk jazz, post-bop, nyklassisk og globale traditioner – en pianist, hvis dybe fordybelse i jazzhistorien matches af en opfindsom kreativ fantasi. Han har komponeret til Lars von Triers Melancholia og den Emmy-vindende Netflix-dokumentar Mountain Queen. Denne aften sender Nikolaj Hess sit eget kærlighedsbrev til Bud Powell – på det eneste sprog, der virkelig betyder noget, musikken.
For at se mere om filmen besøg www.budpowell.com eller www.instagram.com/budlivesfilm
Line-up
Nikolaj Hess - Piano
Anders "AC" Christensen - Bass
Mikkel Hess - Drums
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Special guest: Haeyong Moon, film maker behind "BUD LIVES!"
🇬🇧 ENGLISH:
This is a one night only very special occasion - the European premiere of a new documentary "BUD LIVES!" on the life and music of sensational jazz pianist Bud Powell at the very club, he loved and played at repeatedly in the 1960s trying to recover from the brutal treatment he got in the US.
After the screening pianist Nikolaj Hess is hosting a tribute concert to honour Bud Powell.
The Los Angeles based film director Haeyong Moon will fly in from the US as a special guest for the screening, and take questions about Bud and his music after the show together with Nikolaj Hess.
Bud Powell is seen as one of the most genius and also most tragic figures in all of American jazz music: the bebop pianist rewrote the language of jazz piano forever, but then spent much of his life in the grip of illness, racism, and institutional violence.
Coming to Copenhagen in 1962 he finally found something close to peace, and was the one who discovered the talent of bassist Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen while being at Montmartre.
He was born in New York City on 27 September 1924 into a musical family in Harlem. At Minton's Playhouse, in the small hours of the morning, in the company of Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie — bebop was born. Powell was its lead pianist and inventor.
He dismantled the old left-hand striding pattern that had defined jazz piano, replacing it with sparse, jabbing chords while his right hand spun single-note lines of dazzling speed and intelligence.
However, Bud Powell's life was shadowed by suffering. In early 1945, he was brutally beaten by Philadelphia police, sustaining serious head injuries that set off a lifelong cycle of mental illness, hospitalisation, and — shamefully — electroshock treatment that damaged rather than healed.
In the spring of 1959, Powell made a bold move: he left New York and flew to Paris. Europe received him like royalty. In early 1962, Powell arrived in Copenhagen to play at Jazzhus Montmartre. He performed a residency several times with long stints in Copenhagen before he returned til New York and died in 1966.
A remarkable film fragment survives of Powell playing Anthropology at this very club that year — grainy, luminous, and alive. SteepleChase Records later released recordings from his 1962 Copenhagen sessions.
Following the film "BUD LIVES!" the evening continues with a live tribute concert by one of Denmark's most celebrated pianists, Nikolaj Hess. The pairing is inspired: Hess is a boundary-pushing virtuoso whose sound spans Nordic jazz, post-bop, new-classical, and global traditions — a pianist whose deep immersion in jazz history is matched by a restlessly inventive creative imagination. Described by Mitch Myers of Magnet Magazine / Down Beat as "one of the most inventive pianists working today," and praised for a touch that is "effervescent and golden," Hess brings to Powell's music both the reverence of a scholar and the fire of an original artist.
He has composed for Lars von Trier's Melancholia and the Emmy-winning Netflix documentary Mountain Queen. This night, Nikolaj Hess offers his own love letter to Bud Powell — in the only language that truly matters.
To learn more about the film, please visit www.budpowell.com or www.instagram.com/budlivesfilm
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JAZZ & FOOD
Get the full experience and enjoy a delicious dinner before the concert. This is a concept we offer on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Order your dinner when you buy tickets.
Read more about our Jazz & Food here.