Music: Giants' Axes Resurface In Copenhagen

Giants' Axes Resurface In Copenhagen

If some horns at last year’s Copenhagen Jazz Festival evoked shades of the past, it may have been because they literally were the instruments played by jazz giants—musicians on the order of Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, Thad Jones, Ben Webster and Sahib Shihab.

These and other musicians toured through Copenhagen from the '50s on. Some settled and lived out their lives here, instigating a lively jazz scene; and in passing they left more than their musical influence – they left their horns. Local musicians claim that the special timbre of the American giants’ instruments can still be heard today.

Tenor saxophonist Carsten Meinert plays the same axe Hawkins used when he recorded his eternal version of “Body And Soul” in the 19305. “It’s an old Selmer Balanced Action, handmade in Paris in the ‘30s," says Meinert, who has played Hawkins’ tenor since the early ’6Os.

“Hawk sold the horn at the end of the ‘50s, when he was in Denmark as part of an around-the world tour with Benny Carter’s band,” says Meinert, an early Danish Coltrane disciple. “He may have sold it to a member of Kai Julian’s orchestra, who later peddle-d it to the Marne Sorensen music store. They reconditioned the horn and sold it to me for 800 kroner (about $114). I’ve had it ever since, and l love it It has a very special tone—maybe Hawk's soul landed in there.”

Over the years, tenor saxophonists Stan Getz (who settled for a spell in Denmark), Dexter Gordon and David Liebman made generous offers on the horn, but Meinert refused to part with it. According toMeinert, it’s the sound, not the money, that counts. “I really don't know if I could play on another horn,” he says.

Tenor saxophonist Webster, who moved to Copenhagen in the late ’60s, lies interred in Assistens Cemetery in downtown Copenhagen. Still in Copenhagen as well, in the hands of saxophonist Jesper Thilo. is one of Webster's less-than favorite alto saxes. Since Thilo‘s main instrument is tenor, just like his old friend Webster, he hasn't played the alto much, either.

 Jens Søndergaard, a Danish dentist by day and prominent soloist after hours, plays Sahib Shihab’s old handmade alto. Shihab, an alumnus of the Fletcher Henderson and Dizzy Gillespie big bands, married a Danish woman and worked out of Copenhagen in the 1970s and '80s.

“It’s my baby,” Søndergaard says with the sax. “All my life I’ve changed saxes the way others change their underwear, but now l play exclusively on this lovely Selmer Mark Vi, which l bought from Sahib's widow. Everybody’s crazy about the sound—it’s tight and spare – and even after many years the horn stays in perfect tune. Sahib would have liked that.“

 Søndergaard also bought Shihab’s baritone sax, but since he rarely used it. he sold the horn to Michael Hove, who has played it in the Danish Radio Big Band and at concerts in Tivoli Gardens Lars Stiigvad plays traditional jazz on Dexter Gordon's violet-colored Selmer-VI tenor sax. The color, says the Copenhagen-based tenor player, was a novelty back in Gordon’s day. “When the grandson of the original Selmer, in Paris. took over the business, he wanted to try something new and daring," Stiigvad says. “So he came up with a colored saxophone it made quite a sensation. Later, they tried black and other colors, but Dexter's was the first - or one of the first - and he got it down at the factory.”

 Amateur trumpeter Søren Damving recalls a sweet story of how he got hold of the Getzen comet owned by the late Thad Jones, co-leader of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. Jones settled in Copenhagen, where he died and was buried in 1986. “Around 1983-'84, Thad sometimes led a big band that I played in," Damving says. ‘The Fredensborg Big Band was an amateur group. Like all the players, l had a warm relationship with Thad Jones. The rehearsals and concerts were always attended by his wife, Lis, and their son Junior. Our son was about Junior‘s age - and the two were always around on the floor and playing together at rehearsals. When Thad married Lis, our Fredensborg band played at the wedding. And when Thad was buried in Vestre Cemetery, I was asked to give a talk at the funeral."

 Lis Jones offered Damving the Getzen cornet. which showed clear signs of use. The lacquer was worn and the bell was cracked. ‘All slides and valves, though, are in perfect shape. Damving says. ‘’I play it often.’’

-Jack Lind and Fradley Garner

DOWN BEAT august 1999