Biography

Content:
About/Bio – Grants/awards – Main Album releases – Performed / recorded with  – performed in – commisions – teaching & research:

Jacob Anderskov (b. 1975)

About / BIO:

Jacob Anderskov is a pianist, composer and bandleader from Copenhagen. He has released more than 25 albums as a bandleader and co-leader since his debut in 2001. He has received numerous awards and hailed by the international press as an outstanding voice in contemporary music. Anderskov has performed in most countries in the western hemisphere with his own projects. His oeuvre encompasses everything from improvised works in small groups to almost thoroughly composed material for larger ensembles.

Anderskov’s music often incorporates improvisation, colouring, or new ways of bridging the continuum between the composed and the undefined. In the recent years he has also had several projects with classically trained musicians, playing more exactly composed material of his, with or without Anderskov himself participating in the performances as an improviser or leader.

Among the bands he has been forming and leading are ANDERSKOV ACCIDENT, AGNOSTIC REVELATIONS, RESONANCE (formerly known as JACOB ANDERSKOV’s STRINGS PERCUSSION & PIANO), KINETICS, ANTIOXIDANTERNE, JACOB ANDERSKOV SOLO, AIRTO MOREIRA – JACOB ANDERSKOV DUO, JACOB ANDERSKOV TRIO, JACOB ANDERSKOV PÅ DANSK (“Jacob Anderskov in Danish”), and DOCTOR STRUCTURE.

Jacob Anderskov graduated from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen in 2002, his studies including a 1-year stay in New York (1999-2000). He was one of the founding members of ILK Music (2003-2004), and the first ILK chairman (2004-2008). Since 2019 he is appointed Professor at Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium (RMC), Copenhagen.

Grants/awards/nominations etc.:
Nominated for Nordisk Råds Musikpris 2018, as a composer, for the album “Resonance”.
Elected as ”Danish Music Export ’Spearhead’” as part of ”Danish Jazz Launch”, 2005-2008, with ”Anderskov Accident”.
Danish Government Art Council 3-year working grant (”det 3-årige arbedslegat”, 2004-2007.
Danish Music Awards as a leader:
2013, ”Jazz composer of the year” for ”Granular Alchemy”
2003, ”Jazz surprise of the year” for ”Anderskov Accident”
2002, ”New name of the year in Danish Jazz” for ”Doctor Structure”
Danish Music Awards as a co-leader/ co-composer/ co-producer:
2004, ”Jazz surprise of the year” & ”new name of the year” for Pasborg-Mockunas’ ”Toxikum”
2007, ”Album of the year” for Lovedale: Grill Music
(plus a number of other titles, working grants, project grants, etc.)

Album releases: see updated version on albums (as a leader) & Discography (total) page:

Jacob Anderskov has performed and/or recorded with

(Alfabetisk:) Thommy Andersson, Ursula Andkjær Olsen, Lotte Anker, Anders Banke, Jim Black, Peter Bruun, Gerald Cleaver, Peter Dahlgren, Nils Davidsen, Marc Ducret, Mats Eilertsen, Petter Eldh, Ellery Eskelin, Ned Ferm, Michael Formanek, Frank Gratkowski, Bunky Green, Henriette Groth, Mary Halvorsson, Billy Hart, TS Hawk, Mark Helias, Jeff Hirschfield, Daniel Humair, Mads Hyhne, Jakob Høyer, P.O. Jørgensen, Rune Kielsgaard, Søren Kjaergaard, Ingrid Laubrock, Thomas Lehn, Christian Lillinger, Jesper Løvdal, Paul Lovens, Rudi Mahal, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Tony Malaby, Dieter Manderscheid, Marilyn Mazur, Bill McHenry, R.J. Miller, Liudas Mockunas, Anders Mogensen, Airto Moreira, Thomas Morgan, Bob Moses, Kresten Osgood, Evan Parker, Stefan Pasborg, Christine Pryn, Tom Rainey, Jakob Riis, Pete Robbins, Herb Robertson, Anette Slaatto, Jeppe Skovbakke, Lew Solloff, Jaak Sooäär, Tyshawn Sorey, Chris Speed, Loren Stillman, Raymond Strid, Laura Toxvaerd, Kasper Tranberg, Per Vers, Cuong Vu, Jonas Westergaard, Nils Wogram, Jesper Zeuthen.

Performed as a bandleader/composer in Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Greenland, Holland, Croatia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Sweden, Czeck Republic, Germany, USA – and, as a side-man also in several other countries.

Main commisioned compositions (beyond own ensembles):
DMA Jazz 2021 “Spirit of the Hive”.
Danish National Radio commision for Graabrødre Kammerkor, at ”P8 Jazz Alive”, Koncertsalen, March 2018: ”Underlige Aftenlufte – but who is the dreamer?”.
For G((o))ng Tomorrow festival: Odes to Ali Skandrani (2017)
For Ursula Smith: ”Cello Suite 2013”. (solo cello) @ Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter 2013. Album release on the way.
For Ensemble Nordlys: Loko Lumo Nutrado Kommunumo, @ Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter 2013 (vln, cello, clar, pno).
For Nordjysk Sinfonietta: ”Decet & Trompet”, 2012.
For Copenhagen Art Ensemble: ” ’Visa’ & ’på samma gång’, på samma gång”, 2011 (3 horns, bass, drums, pno, vocal), album released 2014.
For Anette Slatto & Hans Andersen duo: Ujjayi Dance, Whistleblower Whispering & Lament for Sanity, 2011 (viola-pno duo) @ Open Days, 2011.
For Wundergrund Festival: I Danmark er jeg født – remake, 2010.
Eidos trio: Post Industrial Stone Age, 2009 (flutes, clarinettes & marimba, suite)
Copenhagen Art Ensemble: De Andre/les autres, 2008, (8 musicians + elektronics)
SPOR festival: A Pitch Smog now (composing what?), 2006, with Ivo Nilsson (pno, trb, 2 x elektronics)
Copenhagen Art Ensemble: Mitosis – The Pilgrims, 2005 (12 musicians + elektronik)

Teaching and research:

Jacob Anderskovis currently Professor “M.S.O.” at Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen, since 2019. Earlier he held a position as Associate Professor at the same institution.

Further teaching/ lectures/ talks/censoring includes: NMH (Norges Musikhøjskole), Oslo – Musikhochschule Köln, Germany – Souza Lima Conservatory, Sao Paulo – Belgrade Conservatory – Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius – Den Norske Filmskole, Lillehammer – Den Danske Filmskole, Cph. – Syddansk Musikkonservatorium & Skuespillerskole (Odense & Esbjerg) – Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium, Århus.

Main Artistic Research projects: see the “Research” page

Reviews:
“Anderskov expands sonic language of Danish Jazz. … Superb.” Peter Margasak, Down Beat, March 2013

“Danish pianist Anderskov has been remarkably prolific over the past decade or so, winning multiple awards and being widely hailed as a dazzling new force in European jazz. (…) Anderskov himself proves on track after track that virtuosity and vision don ́t have to be mutually exclusive”. Marcus O’Dair, Jazzwise Magazine, May 2013

“Over the last decade or so, pianist Jacob Anderskov has emerged as one of the most exciting and original voices … deeply modern…” Down Beat, November 2010

“For those who still didn’t know, there is by now no way around realizing that Jacob Anderskov belongs to the most extraordinary artists of contemporary music… A high point in improvised Music…” Hans-Jürgen von Osterhausen, Jazz Podium, May 2010

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