Niels Lan Doky – The Standard In Denmark
Can you describe your event this year for Jazz Day? We are doing an event in two consecutive parts: one is a symposium with lectures, panel discussions and debates, and the other are concert performances that relate to the topics of the symposium. The event lasts from 2 PM until 10 PM and we are live streaming 2 PM-7:30 PM and subsequently broadcasting on National radio and TV as well. In our various short breaks throughout the day we will also interview audience participants in order to have informal input and feedback in addition to that of the official VIP panelists.
The main purpose of the symposium is to discuss and explore the following questions: What are we going to do about jazz? Why keep a dying dinosaur alive? Jazz is a music genre which was once considered to be so provocative and popular, a magnet pulling young people into jazz clubs and music venues. It was a genre that paved the way for creative liberation and was credible in its take on humanity, because the musicians took their own medicine. But it is also a genre whose core audience in a few years’ time will be too old to attend concerts. Its venues are constantly struggling for finances, and whose survival depends on foundation grants and passionate volunteers. Will we still have jazz in 10 years from now? And should we? And how does jazz contribute in the 21st century? These are some of the questions that leading young jazz talents, established jazz artists and prominent arts and culture journalists from Denmark and abroad will be debating.
After the symposium, concert performances will feature four exceptionally talented young musicians (age 16 to 25) accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Legacy Quartet, which is a project established in cooperation with the Estate of Oscar Peterson and features the three original members of the OP Quartet plus myself on piano. I have had ties to OP since 1983 and am developing various projects with the family, including jazz educational and awareness raising projects. Oscar's daughter Celine Peterson will be one of the speakers (via video from Toronto) at our event in Copenhagen. We will also air the Herbie Hancock IJD video at our event.
What does jazz music mean to you? To your community? To me, jazz is the ultimate reflection of life itself. And life itself is the ultimate jazz improvisation. I apply the concepts, techniques and philosophies of jazz improvisation in my life in general and I view the entire world as a gigantic stage and life in general as one gigantic improvised jazz concert with the world's entire population as the performers.
I am giving lectures on a regular basis at various corporations and organizations (and coming out with a book in September) about how to apply jazz improvisation principles outside of the music context, at the work place as well as in your personal life. I see an increasing interest from people outside of the jazz world or even the music world, to understand how jazz artists can be creative on command, and how a jazz performance can be such a perfect illustration of democracy in action.
Denmark has a long history of having embraced jazz: Since the late 1950s, a record number of US expat jazz legends settled in Copenhagen (Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Ed Thigpen, Oscar Pettiford, etc.) and it transformed both them and their music as well as the local community of course, prompting a lush local jazz scene that only keeps on growing and being refined. The Copenhagen Jazz Festival is today arguably the largest in the world with over 1,000 concerts in 10 consecutive days each summer. And there are many jazz venues in Copenhagen and all over the country. The number of local high-level musicians today is staggering and according to a study done by Polygram in the late 90s, Denmark reached the world's largest average-per-capita consumption of jazz records. Overall I think it is safe to say that jazz plays an important role in the Danish community.
Why are you celebrating International Jazz Day? Why is it important? We feel that it is major turning point and milestone that UNESCO has decided to officially establish jazz as an international art form and musical language. We very much agree that jazz has been and continues to be a unique contribution to the world and that it has a rare ability to transcend all borders and cultural differences. These are very important values for mankind and Denmark definitely wants to be involved in supporting this effort and we have the deepest respect and gratitude towards UNESCO, The Thelonius Monk Institute and Herbie Hancock for taking this initiative and for bringing it to realization.
What do you hope for in celebrating this Day? I hope that we will contribute to bring jazz - the music itself as well as its spiritual, intellectual and philosophical values - to a broader audience and to a more prominent position in the collective consciousness.
What is your establishment/organization’s mission and how does it relate to International Jazz Day? See our latest edition of The Standard's mission statement (attached). As you can gather we are very focused on exploring and direct renewed attention towards to some essential jazz values, which is also what IJD is about.
What should people know about your activity for Jazz Day with the backdrop of your country/community? The backdrop of our country/community is described in my above replies to your questions + the attached mission statement. What people should know is that we will stream live (free access) from this link: http://live.thestandardcph.com/ We will stream symposium 2 PM-6 PM CET and concert 6 PM -7:30 PM. The symposium will be uploaded on YouTube afterwards and the concert will later be aired on national Danish TV (DR K channel) and national Radio (DR P8) and also available on VOD from http://live.thestandardcph.com/.
Can you share the challenges/difficulties you have had in preparing for the celebration of Jazz Day? The challenge has been to balance ambition with available budget, but luckily I have - myself personally as well as The Standard as an organization including my many associates - a really great network and an attractive platform that many want to be associated with, so we are able to go way beyond what could normally be accomplished with our available means.
What would you like to see happen through this day – short term and long term? Short term, and as mentioned before, I hope that we will contribute to bring jazz - the music itself as well as its spiritual, intellectual and philosophical values - to a broader audience and to a more prominent position in the collective consciousness. In addition, long term, I also hope that the world at large will adapt more of the principles that jazz has to offer. Imagine if all leaders in society had some kind of jazz background, it could be quite beneficial. To illustrate this I want to share this important and remarkable anecdote with you:
At the Zentropa film production company in Denmark (hugely internationally successful independent film company, producers of all Lars Von Trier's films, in addition to Oscar winning films by Susanne Bier and others) - the CEO is an amateur jazz drummer (and not a bad one!) and their entire legal department is made up of lawyers who are good amateur jazz musicians as well, based on a philosophy is that jazz musicians are far better at cooperating and coming up with creative solutions. And every Friday they have jam sessions in their cafeteria! I have close ties to Zentropa and I do feel that their pervasive jazz mentality is largely responsible for their success and for the uniqueness and the nature of their creative output.
How can an international network of people celebrating this Day contribute or help in your life? It is the old saying: if we combine our resources and voices across borders, we can speak louder than if we only work on our own in each of our small respective corners. Again, I cannot say enough how great and how important of initiative IJD is and I am very proud and honored to be involved.
Interviewed by Mika Shino, Director of Program and Global Outreach, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.