Mads Baerentzen

Mads Baerentzen (b. 1974) is a Danish Jazz Piano Player living in Aarhus.He graduated as the first rhythmic musician in Denmark with a master performance degree from The Royal Academy of Music in 2001. He started out playing the violin after the Suzuki method but changed to piano at age 13. Since then he has performed in a lot of different countries such as Thailand, Canada, USA, Poland, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Romania, Hungary, Austria a.o.During his studies he lived in New York in 1999 where he took lessons with the great American pianist Kenny Werner. Furthermore, he played a large number of gigs in smaller venues in "The Capital of Jazz". Since then Baerentzen has visited the city more than 10 times where he has both played and recorded at a number of occasions. Last time was in November 2006 where he recorded with singer Vivian Sessoms and some American musicians. An album under Vivian Sessoms' name that is going to be released later in 2007.In 1999 he also released his debut album "StandArt" with his trio, The Mads Baerentzen Trio. The two other members of the trio are bassist Morten Ramsboel and drummer Kristian Leth.During his stay in New York Baerentzen got to know a lot of great musicians. Among them saxophonist Eric Alexander with whom the trio recorded and toured in 2000. "785 Madison Ave" (named after the address where Baerentzen lived in NYC) was released in 2001.In the next couple of years the trio played a number of concerts both in Denmark and abroad and in 2003 their third album "Bill E" was released. It is a tribute to the great pianist Bill Evans who has been a great inspiration for Baerentzen during his whole career.In 2003 Baerentzen also met saxophonist Tim Ries on a trip to New York. First time was at the Jazz Standard where Ries played with his own band and the year after Ries was invited to Denmark to play a tour with the Mads Baerentzen Trio. Later same year Ries invited the trio to the States and since then there has been a number of occasions where they have played together. Last time was in May 2005 where the band toured and recorded the material to the trio's fourth album "The New York Project" which was released in 2006. The album also features the fantastic singer Vivian Sessoms.During the years Baerentzen has also worked with a lot of other bands and in 2005 he released an album with some songs written by the famous Danish composer Carl Nielsen - "Carl Nielsen - Sange". The album features singer Marie Carmen Koppel and bassist Peter Vuust.Since 2001 he has also been a member of the professionel Klüvers Big Band. A big band based in Aarhus which was formed in 1977, and since then the band has played with a large number of great musicians such as Kurt Elling, John Abercrombie, Joe Lovano, Bob Mintzer, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Marie Bergman a.o.Furthermore, Baerentzen is also a member of Veronica Mortensen Band www.veronica.dk which released their first album in 2003. The material for the second album was recorded in January 2007 and is going to be released in the late Spring. In December 2005 the band performed at the Bangkok Jazz Festival in Thailand and the CD is going to be put out in several Asian countries.A few links: www.madsbaerentzen.dk www.viviansessoms.com www.timries.com www.veronica.dk www.jazzconcerts.dk www.mortenramsboel.dk