On the 26 April 2005, in a small village in Denmark called Osted, the funeral was held of one of Denmark's national treasures: NHØP - Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, one of the world's greatest bass players, who has left us suddenly at the age 58 on 19 April. NHØP as he has been called in the international jazz world for over 40 years, died at his home in Copenhagen from a heart attack.
500 recordings
On over 500 recordings, NHØP accompanied and toured with the greatest jazz musicians in the world, from Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Beb Webster, Stan Getz, Bill Evan, Toots Tielemans, Chet Baker, Michel Petrucianni, Oscar Peterson, amongst many and also performed and recorded much as a lead bassist in his own right. A beautiful soul and great music maker, a bass legend whose unmistakable sound leaves an aching gap in this big and small world of jazz. The bass NHØP played all the way from his childhood stands silent in the corner of his music room.
"a supreme virtuoso" I have some very personal memories about Niels-Henning, having toured him three times in Australia since the mid nineties. He was a deep and beautiful human being, whose genuinely friendliness was outreaching, and who let some of us a little closer into his heart, from where his personality came through in his music so especially. During the last 10 years NHØP came to Melbourne 4 times: In 1996 and 2001 with his own Trio, in 1997 with the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra (Melbourne Festival), in 1998 with US pianist Malgrew Miller, and before all in the 1980's with pianist Oscar Peterson. Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, was described by Oscar Peterson as "arguably the most inventive bassist in jazz", a supreme virtuoso of the double bass, he was nevertheless one of the most judicious and least selfish of accompanists.
As prominent Melbourne jazz bassist Ben Robertson commented: 'His contribution to the music was vast and so profound. As a young prodigy and one who re-invented the vocabulary of the double bass, he set new standards for the next generation of bass players to follow. I will always remember the shock of hearing, for the first time, one of his solos on the radio and not being able to believe his fluency. It inspired me in my own playing. I was lucky to meet him a few times and was greatly impressed by his gentle almost 'shy' nature, and the way he had developed his unique approach to playing and solving some of the 'problems' of the double bass in a truly modern setting'.
Oscar Peterson's Trio
From 1974 until 1987, Pedersen toured regularly as a member of Peterson's trio. He was originally hired as an emergency replacement, on the recommendation of Peterson's original bassist, Ray Brown. "He's the only one I know that might keep up with you," were Brown's words, and they proved to be prophetic. Peterson wrote in his memoirs: "His virtuosity on the bass surpasses anyone else that I have known." Perhaps the best of Pedersen's many recordings with the trio is The Paris Concert (1978).
Pedersen remained firmly attached to his Danish roots. In recent years he led his own bands, made up mostly of Scandinavian players. Notable among these were the guitarist Ulf Wakenius, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and pianist Kenneth Knudsen. He also taught at the Rytmiske Musikkonservatorium in Copenhagen.
NHØP Pedersen, whose name proved such a mouthful that he was customarily referred to as "NHØP", was among the most frequently recorded jazz musicians in history, having taken part in more than 500 albums. There was scarcely a major name with whom he had not played in the course of the last 40 years.
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, the son of a church organist, was born at Osted, Denmark, on May 27 1946. He began piano lessons at the age of seven, and at 13, when he was tall enough, took up the double bass in order to play in his family band. He made such rapid progress that, within two years, he was playing at the Montmartre Jazzhus, Copenhagen's leading jazz club.
He became a member of the resident band, a trio which accompanied the parade of star soloists who passed through the club. These included the saxophonists Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon, trumpeters Chet Baker and Art Farmer, multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk and the pianist Bill Evans. At the age of 17 he was invited to join the Count Basie orchestra, but was forced to decline, mainly on account of his youth but also because he wanted to complete his studies.
NHØP's instinctive grasp of the jazz idiom allowed him to fit in with a remarkable variety of styles, including such avant garde artists as Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler. However, it was in the broad mainstream of jazz that he felt most at home.
DR BigBand
Between 1964 and 1982, and occasionally thereafter, he was a member of the Danish Radio Big Band, one of the finest jazz orchestras in Europe. He subsequently recorded an album, Ambiance (1993), which featured him accompanied by this band, in which his extraordinary technique is heard to full advantage. He had developed a method of playing pizzicato using all four fingers of the right hand, enabling him to execute very high-speed passages without sacrificing either tone or definition. Although he used an amplifier, there was always a deep, woody core to his sound.
During the early 1970s, Pedersen joined the American pianist Kenny Drew, then resident in Scandinavia, to perform duets at European festivals. Together they recorded a superb album, Duo, in 1973. He also recorded acclaimed duet albums with the guitarists Joe Pass and Philip Catherine, but it was his association with Oscar Peterson which brought him universal recognition.
Pedersen is survived by his wife, Solveig, and their three daughters.
Originally published in the Australian newspaper The Age, April 30, 2005.
Published at DanishMusic.info with persmission.
Henk van Leeuwen Australia Northern Europe Liaisons
