In 1967 I traveled across Europe with pianist Marcel Bernasconi, bassist Hans Hartmann and Jonas C.Haefeli (founder Platte 27). Via Stuttgart we went on to Amsterdam, Hamburg, Copenhagen and then passing Berlin on our way back to Zurich.
Hans Hartmann stayed in Berlin and later joined Mani Neumeier's indie rock group "Guru Guru".
I had immediately fallen in love with Copenhagen and I knew for sure that I would come back to this open city…
In our big family it was expected that the five sons would leave home as soon as their professional training was completed. I was downright happy to comply and travel back to Copenhagen to prove to everyone in the family that I could do it on my own. My two brothers Maurice (*1939) and Raymund (1944-2020) had already left.
Once I arrived in KBH, I quickly found a job as a graphic designer and illustrator in "Gutenberghus", the largest advertising agency at the time. I was assigned to the newly created "Creative Island" department. What an easy dream job!
Right away I was out looking to make contact with young musicians. I wanted to play drums in my spare time. A good place to go was the "Studenterklub" where they held jazz concerts. When I asked why the band wasn't playing that night, they told me the drummer hadn't shown up.
I approached the musicians and they spontaneously invited me to fill in. While we were playing, Don Cherry came on stage unannounced during the second set and we played "Oleo" with him. Don lived in Malmö (S) and he came to town often by speedboat - back then the fabulous bridge across the Oeresund wasn't built yet.
The band kept me as their drummer. Their young bass player Mads Vinding later became the house bass player at 'Jazzhus Montmartre'. He had followed in the footsteps of bassist N.H.Ø.P, who as of then was accompanying Oscar Peterson on his world tours. Mads and Torben Kær later played at the Montmartre jazz club with almost all the US musicians.
Knut-Bjørn Jensen Quintet, Copenhagen
Knut-Bjørn Jensen (ts)
Lars Togeby (tr)
Torben Kjaer (p)
Mads Vinnding (b)
Beat Kennel (dr)
Back then we were simply too young and inexperienced for the evening program at "Jazzhus Montmartre". So we played in auditoriums, schools and once on the mainland in Ârhus-Jylland.
I also played with Mads Vinding in the trio of pianist Torben Hertz. Once the US drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath had listened to our Marcel Bernasconi Quintet with Fredy Meier on my cassette player, he spontaneously offered me drum lessons. He set up two small drum sets on the Montmartre stage over lunch.
So my regular place was the first "Jazzhus Montmartre" on St. Regnegade. Their specialty back then was fusing local musicians with the 'big names' from overseas and other Scandinavian and European musicians. The old "Montmartre" was known all over the world and almost all the famous US musicians had performed there. Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Dollar Brand, Archie Shep, Kenny Drew, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Richard Boone, Oscar Pettiford, That Jones, etc…
Some of the "Africana musicians" ( Jazzclub in Zurich) stuck around Copenhagen: Makaya Ntshoko, who had joined Dexter, and Dollar Brand and his wife Bea Benjamin. Bassist Johnny Dyani from the "Blue Notes" has settled in Denmark for a longer time.
Even Ella Fitzgerald had an apartment in the posh outer neighborhood "Hellerup". Fellow musicians showed me their entry in the phone book. It said: "Frøkken (Miss) Fitzgerald, Standvejen". They also told me that she had a lover in Malmø.
Dexter got into trouble with the drug police in the early 60s and they wanted to deport him. The magazine "Politiken" launched a demonstration on the town hall square. The protesters carried placards like "We want Dexter!".
After a media frenzy, Dexter was granted a residence permit and later was even naturalized. After that, Dexter always introduced himself on stage as "Dexter Gordensen" and he actually learned Danish.
The radio big band and Danish television Copenhagen were very important institutions. Practically all the good Danish jazz musicians played there and thus came into contact with all the jazz greats who were in the city at the time.
«Freetown Christiania» from 1971 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freistadt_Christiania
The responsible authorities were much further and faster than we were in Zurich when it came to localities for the youth. From 1970 on, Anne and I traveled to Copenhagen every year. Of course we also visited "Christiania", which had just opened in 1971. What an experience and inspiration! Here we had the idea to look for a whole house in Zurich instead of a ground floor restaurant… In 1972 we Bazillen presented the project "A Bazillus for Zurich" to the press.
The cultural house "Huset" for the students from 1970 in Copenhagen
In 1970, the students were given a vacant warehouse near the Rathausplatz in the middle of the city, and various groups were given their own floor there. On the first floor the old jazz, and on the following floors folk, rock and at the very top in the library/canteen was the jazz avant-garde. Here I attended with Anne a concert with our friends John Tchicai and Christian Kyhl.
