Simon Toldam Trio
Nils Davidsen / Bass Simon Toldam / Piano Knut Finsrud / Drums
“Orchestra of the year”, at Danish Music Awards Jazz 2021
The Trio´s album OMHU awarded “BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR at Danish Music Award 2019
The telepathic interplay between Nils on bass, Knut on drums, and Simon on piano has been present and thriving since they began playing together in 2010, when they instantly became one of the most acclaimed and versatile bands based in Denmark. Whether parading or drifting, deafening or silencing, the understanding displayed between the three musicians demonstrates their uncanny ability to beat and blow as one organism.
Their debut album, "Sunshine Sunshine or Green as Grass,” was heralded as a masterpiece by jazz critics and nominated as “Jazz Album of the Year” at the Danish Music Awards in 2012. The success continued with the also-nominated duology “KIG OP 14” and “KIG OP 15” in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Their latest release OMHU is their strongest offering to date, and was awarded “Best album of the year” at Danish Music Awards Jazz 2019. On the album, their strong and clear musical visions shine in their continuous exploration and reinvention of the art of the piano trio.
Nils, Knut and Simon are all in demand players on the European scene of jazz/improv. ST3 has been touring in Europe and Japan several times. Japan has become a favourite, and new album OMHU is also released on licence in Japan by the Japanese label Song X.
Individually Nils, Knut and Simon has played all over the globe, with various good friends and great musicians as: Tom Rainy, Gerald Cleaver, Han Bennink, Herb Robertson, Axel Dörner, Dave Liebman, Marc Ducret, Nils Petter Molvær, Gianluca Petrelli etc.
Simon Toldam is one of Scandinavia’s most exciting and distinguished musicians, having released 14 albums as a leader and co-leader. He is a four-time winner of Danish Music Awards and is a member of the Danish jazz and contemporary music recording label, ILK Music. In 2015, he received the prestigious 3-year grant from The Danish Arts Foundation. In addition to leading the Simon Toldam Trio and STORK, Toldam is a member of Dutch drum legend Han Bennink’s trio, appearing on three celebrated albums together. He is also known for collaborations with Axel Dörner, Yasuhiro Yoshigaki, Chris Speed, Marc Ducret, Evan Parker, Peter Brötzmann, Eivind Aarset, Nils-Petter Molvær, Marilyn Mazur, Tristan Honsinger, Dave Douglas, and Jakob Bro.
Photo: Kristoffer Juul Poulsen
Simon Toldam Trio
Live at Koncertkirken Copenhagen, April 2020
Fast forward to 5.50 for music to begin.
“Perhaps one day we will forget what it means to sit still in contemplation, gazing at the clouds in the sky, but then music, slow music, will be the entry into a world where it’s possible to reconnect with a feeling of presence. The record spinning could very well be Simon Toldam Trio’s Omhu…
..It’s the careful attention to details that almost makes the music three-dimensional. ”
“Notes are falling as raindrops amid prowling textures, shuffling timbres and reptilian mood shifts. It all happens the way sounds occur and rise in nature and provides a distinguishing listening experience.”
“This Jazz - improvisational and free, more ambient and with a nostalgic patina as expressive and wild and yet again into the open air bursting irascible, is typically European, Scandinavian, dark, epic, lyrical, delicate and coarse, rough and smooth in every motive”
““Simon Toldam ... one of the most impressive figures on the bustling Scandinavian
improvised music scene”.”
“The contrast to light and dark in the timbre seems to be absorbed in a Per Kirkeby canvas.”
“The pieces are anything but brazen or cool, but carried by impressive intuition, and not least, this is also music of great beauty.”
“the trio succeeds to deliver promising comments to the koans of «OMHU», leaving us, the listeners, with enigmatic themes that keep lingering on in our minds, while we reflect on the elusive elements of time and space.”