DMA Jazz 2022: The winners are here!

The Danish jazz scene was thorougly celebrated on wednesday night with a big show in a packed venue - Musikhusets great hall. Read about the winners here!

The host Jeanett Albeck once again controlled the show tightly, and the selection of performers was at least as great and varied in practice as on paper. The first award was given to Vocal Jazz Release of the Year. The winners were Tone of Voice Orchestra, that were celebrated as having "an original sound that mixes diferent genres but stays exactly its own."

Representatives of the festival Jazz i Trekanten presented the award for New Jazz Act of the Year. The young Copenhageners in ALAWARI took the award home. The band has in a short amount of time become critically acclaimed, and was lauded as a new strong collective on the scene by the academy.

Next up was Cross Disciplinary Release of the Year. The award was presented to Lars Greve, whom the academy praised for creating "a fantastic audiovisual work, that is experienced differently on video or its beautiful vinyl release"

Track of the Year was awarded to Horse Orchestra for their Montag ist vielleicht der lustigste tag. Members of the academy called the track "a bastard child of ABBA, Herb Albert and Mingus. Like a whole album in single format", and points out that in just that one track Horse Orchestra shows everything they're about including undeniable musicality and unpredictable moods.

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Children's Jazz Award, special awards and grants

The Children's Jazz Award was celebrated earlier on the same day at a show at Gellerupscenen in Aarhus suburb Brabrand. The winner was Casper Mikkelsen & en FanJAZZtisk Trommerejse. They were chosen as winners by a jury of kids after a very engaging concert. The orchestra made a guest performance on stage at the main show at Musikhuset.

After that short intermezzo it was time for JazzDanmarks own award for Concert Experience of the Year. Constitutional head of the organization, Agnete Seerup took the stage with two representatives of the board, Maj-Britt Kramer and Anders Ørbæk. The winner was deemed Hess Is More for the concert series Apollonian Circles. This is an ongoing and increasingly spectacular and immersive series of concerts.

Hosts of the radio station P8 Jazz, Ida Rud and Niels Christian Cederberg, presented the stations own award for Zealot of the Year. The stations staff chose Anders Ørbæk as the winner for his work with Aarhus Jazz Orchestra in shaping it as a true local institution rather than a big band alone.

The grants for Musician of the Year and Ensemble of the Year were award to Kjeld Lauritsen and Bévort 3. They were both praised as unstopable work horses and for their willingness to engage in various aspects of cultural life, the music scene and public debate. The latter trio took the stage afterwards with their intense and melodic trio-jazz.

Døssing was the first act on stage. Photo: Camilla Gammelgaard

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The final awards

Jazz Composer of the Year was also awarded to Horse Orchestra. Experimental Release of the Year was presented to the same bands Jeppe Zeeberg for his solo album "Conventional". Zeeberg took the stage for the third time and received the award from Danish experimental music institution TS Høeg. "With the foot on the gas the listener is blasted into an energetic race of punk jazz, where every turn brings a new surprise" is said of the release within the academy.

The nights main award, Jazz Release of the Year, was awarded to Jeppe Gram for the album "The Doldrums". The academy statement praises the release in grand terms: "The artist is ahead of the beat in several respects with this exceptionally good release. The record is timeless class and a groovy good company, hitting bullseye with ease and schwung. A fantastic jazz record with young and mature voices convincing us that jazz has retained the power of the 60's and is ready for at least 60 years more."

With the mentioned awards and a glowing performance by the legendary Gitte Hænning & Aarhus Jazz Orchestra the years installment of Danish Music Awards Jazz was over. Stay tuned for next year, where we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of jazz in Denmark!

 

Musikhusets great hall was full. Photo: Camilla Gammelgaard

 

The winners are:

Jazz Release of the Year

Jeppe Gram - The Doldrums (Storyville Records)

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Jazz Composer of the Year

Horse Orchestra for Horse Orchestra - The Milkman Cometh (Self released)

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Vocal Jazz Release of the Year

Tone of Voice Orchestra - Tone of Voice Orchestra (Stunt/Sundance)

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Experimental Release of the Year

Jeppe Zeeberg - Conventional (Self released)

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New Jazz Act of the Year

ALAWARI - ALAWARI (April Records)

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Cross Disciplinary Release of the Year

Lars Greve - En verden, der melder sig (Self released)

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Track of the Year

Horse Orchestra - Montag ist vielleicht der lustigste Tag (Self released)

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Children's Jazz Award

Casper Mikkelsen & En FanJAZZtisk Trommerejse

P8 Jazz Award - Zealot of the Year

Anders Ørbæk, head of Aarhus Jazz Orchestra

JazzDanmark Award - Concert Experience of the Year

Apollonian Circles, arranged by Hess Is More

Jazz Grant - Musician of the Year

Kjeld Lauritsen

Jazz Grant - Ensemble of the Year

Bévort 3

 

Horse Orchestra won two of the night's awards. Photo: Camilla Gammelgaard

Gitte Hænning closed the show with Aarhus Jazz Orchestra. Photo: Camilla Gammelgaard

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DMA Jazz is produced by JazzDanmark and Musikhuset Aarhus

 

Partners: P8 Jazz, Music City Aarhus, KISSA og BrygBrygBryg
Supported by: DMA Jazz 2022 is financed by JazzDanmark, Statens Kunstfond, Augustinus Fonden, Beckett Fonden, Aarhus Kommune and William Demant Fonden.