Christina Dahl Quartet

Christina Dahl is one of the most respected Danish saxophone players. She is a band leader and composes music for small and large ensembles. She has performed in countless constellations and is known by her unique soul-tingled sound and her lyrical interpretations that go straight to the heart.

Her playing varies from the most intimate and understated to the the explosive.

Jesper Lundgaard is one of the most respected Danish bass players in Denmark and abroad. He has toured all over the world with virtually all the big names in jazz – among others with Michel Petrucciani, John Scofield, Thad Jones, Benny Carter, Ed Thigpen, Tommy Flanagan, Dexter Gordon and Svend Asmussen. He has played on more than 500 records – of which he has been a producer of 50.

Espen Laub von Lilienskjold on drums is one of the most talented musicians in Denmark at the present. His playfulness and special way of complementing the totality of the music helps to create a totally unique expression. His playing is refined, dynamic and always extremely musical.

Niclas Knudsen is without any doubt one of the best guitarists in Denmark. He plays within several genres and has a fantastic capacity for melodic expression and a unique and varied way of coloring his sound. Apart from working with his own projects, like Ibrahim Electric etc, he has, among others, played with Adam Nussbaum, Tom Jones, John Tchicai, Dave Liebman, Ray Anderson and Billy Preston.

Every musician within the quartet has the role of being a lead soloist in a united playful free musical communication with great personal originality. The quartet plays with a freedom and dynacism that results in music of a playful and airy quality. The repertoire consist of original compositions by Christina Dahl. Within these compositions lie stories that have symbolic meaning compared to life and it’s richness of all colors.

Her latest CD is from 2014, entitled Life’s Carousel. It is the 8th cd with Christina Dahl as a leader. Jesper Lundgaard has received the Danish award Bent Jædigs Hæderspris in 2010. Christina Dahl received the same in 2010. She has also received an award from the Composer’s Union DJBFA in 2011 and the award Walther Klæbels Mindelegat in 2012.

Lately the quartet har played a number of exclusive concerts in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Their music har been received with an overwhelmingly positive feedback: Henrik Jöhnemark from Jazz i Malmø writes on Facebook: ”Thanks for a fantastical concert!”. Pjotr Egholm from Giant Steps writes: Great concert! The best concert I’ve been to in a long time!”.

Kjeld Lauritsen writes: ”Wonderful concert with Christina Dahl and her orchestra. Extremely jazzy, even the ”free” compositions showed all the signs of a long life lived with the experience of this mode of expression”.

Bengt Asplund from Floda: ”Thank you so much for the incredible music in Floda yesterday evening. What a lovely tone and technique and what flow and great band playing. The best I’ve heard in a long while – maybe the best I’ve ever heard?”.

Svend Bjerstedt in Kristianstadsbladet: “Beautiful and pleasant. This is jazz that never succumbs to being showy, based on the old and tried standard repertoire, or a swing party or full of cliché filled gestures! Here stories are told of personal involvment, new stories with considerable spirituality and sensuousness and with a great openess to lyrical changes of mood. It’s beautiful and well played together. The music captures you with its seriouness and empathy. The playing together is very alert, the arrangments rich and the solos spiky. Dahl has a mature full blown tone in her tenor sax and a real authority in the whole register. Niclas Knudsen is a very sound-conscious electric guitar player, Jesper Lundgaard is phenomal at making the contra bass sing with a clean, sonorous tones. The drummer Espen Laub von Lillienskjold excells at quiet brush cascades”.