Odense Jazz Orchestra meets Loren Stillman

The Odense Jazz Orchestra teams up with renowned saxophonist Loren Stillman for an ambitious meeting of American jazz and Nordic orchestral colour.

Reimagining six of Stillman’s compositions for large ensemble, the album is released on 16 January via AMM Records. Stillman brings his intimate, finely shaped writing into dialogue with the orchestra’s expansive, evolving big-band language. Developed in close collaboration with arranger Kasper Tagel and conductor Torben Sminge, the project places his characteristically lyrical voice within a broader, richly textured sonic landscape shaped by the orchestra’s distinctive Nordic sound.

Stillman, whose recording credits include work with Paul Motian, Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, and John Abercrombie, has been praised by The New York Times, DownBeat, JazzTimes, and NPR for his balance of complexity and clarity. His compositions, often compact and narrative in shape, take on new life in this setting: familiar ideas become broader landscapes; small details are magnified through inventive textures and ensemble interplay. At the heart of this recording is the idea of dialogue: between structure and improvisation, individual and collective sound, American jazz heritage and Nordic tone. As bandleader Hans Christian Heide Erbs notes: “Even though we come from vastly different backgrounds and parts of the world, we have so much in common. It’s in the very nature of music and being a musician.”

The six pieces each open a different door into Stillman’s musical world. A Tree Falls is a reflective ballad carrying the sense of new beginnings. Waterworks, inspired by a wildflower-lined hiking trail near Missoula, Montana, unfolds with gentle motion. Buffalo, a blues for North America’s great roaming giant, shows Stillman’s earthy side. Like A Magic Kiss turns graceful melody into something quietly spell-like. Fowlkes pays tribute to the late trombonist Curtis Fowlkes. And Dervish, coloured by hints of Persian culture and Sufi-influenced circular motion, brings the album to a whirling close. Recorded at Peak Productions in Odense, the session features Stillman on tenor and soprano saxophone alongside standout soloists from the orchestra, whose long-running mission is not only to perform big-band music, but to develop it. 

Since its founding in 1994, the ensemble has brought together leading Danish musicians, collaborated with guests ranging from Stacey Kent and Richard Bona to Ingrid Jensen and Lars Jansson, and continually pushed the format into new territory.

With this release, Loren Stillman and Odense Jazz Orchestra present an album shaped by warmth, curiosity, and shared artistic purpose. It is a meeting of traditions, but also a meeting of people—and the result is music that feels both personal and panoramic.