“NEW VISIONS FOR A NEW WORLD”
About the album
“I am grateful for the journey, the music, and the incredible support from my listeners and collaborators” says Sir Niels Lan Doky, age 62, as he looks back on 48 years as a professional musician—with 46 album releases as a leader or co-leader and four decades as a recording artist signed to nearly every major and independent label in his field.
Recent decades have brought turbulence and challenges to everyone in the recording industry, but Doky is known for moving forward without looking back, embracing change when others hesitate. “I view the erosion of values and traditions not as a reason for lament but as an opportunity to reaffirm and uphold them,” says Doky. He continues, “I know I speak for all music lovers when I say that I miss the album format—the days when an entire album was conceived as a cohesive artistic statement and a fully integrated work of art, rather than just a compilation of singles.”
Long gone are the days when the market allowed artists to invest enormous amounts of time and resources into recording projects—reaching for the stars in terms of production value. Yet, finding himself at what could arguably be called the rock-bottom state of the recording business, Doky chose to take a path in the exact opposite direction. He embarked on what would become his most ambitious and elaborate album production to date.
A mission impossible in terms of financing, compounded by the challenges of the COVID lockdown, it took Doky five years to complete the album entitled New Visions For A New World, which was released last August 22nd.
The album features a total of 25 musicians, including some of the world’s most iconic and legendary artists (and multiple prior GRAMMY® Award winners) alongside some of the greatest new talents in jazz and beyond.
The five years it took Doky to make the album were also a time of deep reflection on the state of the world. “As the album title suggests, I remain optimistic and fearless, embracing hope and courage for what lies ahead”, says Doky.
For members of The Recording Academy only:
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Categories for GRAMMY® consideration:
Category: Jazz Performance
Artist: Niels Lan Doky
Track Title: Geopolitics
Personnel: Niels Lan Doky featuring Terri Lyne Carrington
Category: Jazz Instrumental Album
Artist: Niels Lan Doky
Album Title: New Visions For A New World
Personnel: Piano, Rhodes and synths: Niels Lan Doky / Bass: Steve Rodby, Felix Pastorius, François Moutin, Tobias Dall & Rune Fog-Nielsen / Drums: Lenny White, Harvey Mason, Terri Lyne Carrington, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Paul Wertico, Greg Hutchinson, Alvin Queen, Niclas Bardeleben & Louis Moutin / Guitar: Mike Stern, Claudio Suriano & Mads Oldenskov / Tenor sax: Bill Evans / Soprano sax: Bill Evans & Marta Wajdzik / Alto sax: Marta Wajdzik & Fredrik Kronkvist / Harmonica: Mathias Heise / Flugelhorn: Luca Aquino / Trumpet: Björn Ingelstam / Guest Vocals: Viola Meyer (track #9) & Björn Ingelstam (track #3)
PRESS QUOTES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
El Diaria (Spain): “Lan Doky - I mentioned it on one occasion- is one of the most important European pianists of the last, now 50 years.” - Andrés Garrido, 2023 // San Javier Festival Review (read the entire review here)
Rob Mallows (UK Jazz News): “[...] his playing was just impeccable throughout.”
La Opinion De Murcia (Spain): "An uneven mix of the romantic and the rhythmic, which tends to explode, like fireworks, in all directions" - Ángel H. Sopena, 2023 // San Javier Festival Review (read the entire review here)
El Diaria (Spain): "Lyricism and freedom. Blissful and unforgettable moments. His trio partners, the Dall brothers, are the perfect accompanists to his compositions and performances". - Andrés Garrido, 2023 // San Javier Festival Review (read the entire review here)
La Opinion De Murcia (Spain): "He is firmly focused on the melody, exhibiting a rare and disproportionately strong sensibility reminiscent of Erroll Garner and Bill Evans." - Ángel H. Sopena, 2023 // San Javier Festival Review (read the entire review here)
Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University (USA): "There is nothing more encouraging and satisfying than to encounter for the first time a young Jazz musician of real stature, someone who can make you feel that the future of the music is in good hands. There can not be the slightest doubt that Doky's talent is of real significance - that rare thing in the Jazz of our time, an original voice in the great tradition." - Dan Morgenstern, 1986
Swing Journal (Japan): “Niels Lan Doky is the best pianist of his generation. I am stunned by the freshness of his music.” - Sugita Hiroki
International Herald Tribune (New York Times International Edition - USA): “Niels is not gloating about being at the top. He just belongs there.” - Mike Zwerin
El Diario, (Spain): “One of the most important pianists that European jazz has given us in the last 45 years” -Andrés Garrido
Plurimeida Spectacles (France): “This Danish pianist is one of the most prolific musicians of his generation. Nothing stops his excessive and relentless musical research on levels only accessible to the greatest artists in jazz”
New York Times (USA): “Fresh and provocative approaches” - John S. Wilson
Jazziz (USA): “A sound all his own. It is difficult not to come away very impressed.” - Scott Yanow
Hot House (USA): “Inventive and ultra lyrical.” - Gene Kalbacher (USA)
JazzTimes (USA): “His songs (...) could serve as evocative soundtracks for glamorous films – romances, jewel heists.” - Leslie Gourse
Telerama (France): “A very personal romantic sensibility. A melodist, with a deep and enlightening touch.”… “Niels Lan Doky has proven to become one of the most convincing disciples of Bill Evans. Niels has also assimilated the history of jazz piano, by going back to at least Art Tatum, instead of stopping, as many do, at Hancock and Jarrett, to explore the post-Evans era”. - Michel Contat
A Nous Paris (France): “The master of Nordic jazz.” - Stéphane Koechlin
Le Monde (France): "If one needed proof of the strength of Danish jazz, this proof would be named Niels Lan Doky"
Jazz Journal (UK): "Niels Lan Doky is a pianist of many parts. He can be spikily laconic, appropriately rhapsodic and fiercely muscular. He is also a most sensitive accompanist." - Richard Palmer
Down Beat Magazine, (USA): “Airy textures and ironic, almost humorous detachment [...] playful and bluesy [...] tender meditation.... clever conversation." (****) - Larry Birnbaum
Down Beat Magazine, (USA): "Kicks and spins, has command of rhythmic enticement. Has a romantic streak, and a spirit of harmonic adventurousness. Sounds fresh and gives some future scope to the acoustic piano." - Owen Cordle
Billboard Magazine (USA): “Burns with memorable themes and excellent playing."
Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden): "He has the same sparkling charisma as guitarist Pat Metheny. Intelligent, imaginative and wonderful!" - Ingrid Strömdahl
Berlingske Tidende (Denmark): "Doky masters the language of Jazz with amazing superiority. His solos are characterized by thematic and harmonic ingenious and he can stretch the rhythm to the bursting point. Doky can make his instrument sing." - Jørgen Siegumfeldt
Aktuelt (Denmark): "Doky is a Jazz giant!" - Karl Emil Frederiksen
La Verdad, (Spain): “Playing from the heart, raising the audience some centimeters from the ground, combining perfect execution and internal tidal waves” - Alexia Salas
La Opinion de Murcia, (Spain): “Full of beauty and a certain spirituality. The music of Niels Lan Doky is vibrant, committed, and very personal, without excessive virtuosity or superfluous special effects... This pianist has nothing to prove as he exhibits such an exceptional sensibility so rare in our day.” - Ángel H. Sopena
MeinBezirk, (Austria): “Niels Lan Doky, with a constant smile at the piano, looks back on his collaborations with greats like Randy Brecker and John Scofield and he can clearly be counted among this elite.” - Alexandra Rangger
FAST FACTS
Born October 3rd, 1963 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jazz pianist, composer and producer. Also a film director, published author and lecturer.
Knighted by HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark on April 16, 2010.
International elite career spanning over 43 albums released under his own name since 1986.
Prodigy and professionally active since the age of 13.
Graduated w/ honors from Boston’s Berklee School of Music in 1984; Winner of The Oscar Peterson Award, The Count Basie Award, and The Boston Jazz Society Achievement Award.
Collaborations with a majority of the jazz world’s greatest artists (for more info, see list HERE)
Has performed for the world elite (Pope John Paul II, Sir Roger Moore, etc).
Has lived most of his life abroad (Boston, New York, Paris and London).
Co-founded the reopening of jazz club Montmartre in Copenhagen in 2010.
Returned to Denmark in 2013 to open The Standard Jazz Club with father of the New Nordic food movement, Claus Meyer.
Has won numerous awards, accolades, gold discs, a.o. in both Europe, North America and Asia.
Gave the TEDx Talk "How Jazz Wisdom Will Change Your Life" in 2016.
Published the book "Improvisation - in music, work and life" (Gyldendal) in 2015 (Danish language only)
His first feature film "Between a Smile and a Tear" had its theatrical premiere in 2005.
Member of The Danish Arts Council (2003-2007).
Appeared on the American TV news channel PBS NewsHour alongside Yo-Yo Ma og Paul Simon in March 2020 in a piece about the COVID-19 crisis and music’s power.
Appeared on the United Nations International Jazz Day April 30, 2020 live from the Foreign Ministry of Denmark in a globally broadcasted concert hosted by Danish foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod.