

Bent Axen – piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen – bass,
Bjarne Rostvold – drums
All tracks recorded in Copenhagen and mastered from reel-to-reel tapes
found in the collection of Niels Husum
Tracks 1/ 3/ 6 recorded 1962 for Danish Radio
Tracks 2/ 4/ 5/ 7-10 recorded 1963 for Danish Radio
Tracks 11/ 12 recorded 1962 for Danish TV („To+en+to“/ trio only)
* Tracks available on CD and digital album only
CD & LP: Sonorama C-99/ L-99 (Release Date: 17.03.2016)

They usually performed in the heart of Copenhagen, at the clubs “Montmartre” and “Vingaarden”, that would eventually become meeting points for the development of modern jazz in Denmark. During the pre-Beatles era, new styles like cool jazz and hard-bop were flourishing. While more and more American musicians settled in Copenhagen, nearly all of the quintet members also played in the “Danish Radio Jazz Group”, established in 1961 by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) and led by the first bassist of “Jazz Quintet 60”, Erik Moseholm. The radio group was regularly joined by well known international soloists like Dexter Gordon in a series of concerts. Stan Getz, Oscar Pettiford, Gordon and also Sahib Shihab had all moved to Copenhagen because of this new climate for jazz that was thriving at the time.

Allan Botschinsky was leading soloist in the band. He had studied music in the US and had played together with big American names in Copenhagen, e.g. Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon and Brew Moore. Pianist Bent Axen intended to become a veterinary surgeon, but ended up finding a career in jazz instead. As early as 1951, he had occupied the piano chair in the leading Danish jazz orchestra of Jonny Campbell. Later he recorded with Eric Dolphy. According to Down Beat magazine, jazz master Ray Brown described the young Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen as one of the most important bass talents he had ever heard.
“NHØP”, as he was later called, would in fact develop into one of the world`s best jazz bassists with an impressive concert and recording career, starting as a mere 16 year old schoolboy with “Jazz Quintet 60”. In the late 1950s, outstanding drummer Bjarne Rostvold was performing jazz on a daily basis as a key member of the Jørgen Grauengaard-Ensemble. He also played and recorded with his own trio, usually featuring Botschinsky and NHØP. Tenorist Niels Husum was featured on all regular releases of the quintet and later appeared on fantastic Danish recordings with Sahib Shihab and Palle Mikkelborg.

In August 1963 and after a Swedish tour with female singer Gitte Hænning, the quintet came together for its last studio recordings, released on a second and final album, entitled “Presenting Jazz Quintet 60” (Fontana). Needless to say, original copies of both LPs exchange hands for a small fortune today, while even Japanese reissue albums have become scarce. Against this background, we now hope you will enjoy this band’s additional “lost album” as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Lastly, thanks to everybody who supported this unexpected release, and most of all to Little Beat Records for providing the impetus behind it all. Ekkehart Fleischhammer, December 2016
Audio restoration and final mastering in 2016: Roskow Kretschmann at Audiomoto Berlin,
photo on frontcover: Jørgen Schiøttz, photo montage used with full permission of Inge Balling (Mrs. Schiøttz),
photos of Allan Botschinsky, Niels Husum and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen from the collection of
Allan Botschinsky, used by friendly permission, cover artwork: Ingo Wulff.
Executive producer (for release): Ekkehart Fleischhammer.
Big thanks to Allan Botschinsky, Inge-Lise Husum, Arne Reimer, Marion Kaempfert,
Thomas Johansen and Mogens Hjere/ Bilhuset Taastrup (hi-tech work),
Frank Büchmann-Møller, Tore Mortensen,
Inge Balling and Mark Kanak. This release is a collaboration between Sonorama Records and Little Beat Records.
All tracks are culled from Niels Husum's private tape collection being deposited with Little Beat Archives.
With this release we are especially pleased to emphasize and honour the importance of Niels Husum's jazz career.