Denmark has made some significant contributions to enhancing the quality of life since it first became organised as a unified state back in the 10th century. One thinks of Hans Christian Andersen, of wonderful bacon, butter, aquavit and smørrebrød - to mention just a few delights.
But, if you are a jazz enthusiast, you think particularly of bass players. For some inscrutable reason, Denmark has produced some exceptionally fine jazz bassists. Four which come immediately to mind are Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Bo Stief, Hugo Rasmussen - and, of course, the leader of the trio featured here: Mads Vinding.
Born in Copenhagen on December 7th, 1948, Mads Vinding did not so much take up the bass as have it thrust upon him. Says Mads: "I was 11-years-old and my teacher pointed at me and said, 'You are going to play the bass.' And so I did."
That teacher was not a bad judge, because Vinding and the double bass proved to have a high degree of mutual compatibility. Mads began playing professionally at the age of 16 and became house bassist at the celebrated Montmartre Jazzhus, where he had the opportunity to play with many of the great names in jazz.
Over the years he has appeared on more than 600 albums and has accompanied such major artists as Benny Goodman, Hank Jones, Gary Burton, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ben Webster and Johnny Griffin - to name just a few.
Mads was a member of the Radioens Big Band in the late 1970s when it was under the direction of Thad Jones, and, in the early 1980s, of the Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band.
Mads has performed all over the world, has written several film scores and has been the recipient of a number of special awards, including first prize as best soloist in the Nordring International Radio Contest, the Ben Webster Prize in 1982 and the Palæ Jazz Prize in 1997.
He is unquestionably a world-class bassist and his work on this album is exemplary.

Alex Riel, born in Copenhagen on September 13th, 1940, also had the opportunity to hone his natural talent in the Montmartre Jazzhus where he was resident drummer between 1963 and 1965. He has long been regarded as one of the most accomplished drummers in Europe and his musical associates have included Ben Webster, Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Durham, Chet Baker, Joe Pass, Michael Brecker, Toots Thielemans, John Scofield and Michel Petrucciani.
Riel was elected Danish jazz musician of the year in 1965, won the Palæ Jazz Prize in 1993 and the Danish Musicians' Union honorary prize in 1996. He has appeared on more than 300 albums and his recording The Riel Deal, won a Danish Grammy Award in 1997.

The trio is completed by pianist Roger Kellaway, a tremendously imaginative and versatile musician with a formidable technique who brilliantly combines a highly exploratory and adventurous approach with a sure grasp of the traditional roots of jazz.
Kellaway, born in Newton, Massachusetts on November 1st, 1939, studied piano, bass and composition at the New England Conservatory from 1957 to 1959 and began his professional career as a bass player with Jimmy McPartland and Ralph Marterie.
After moving to New York and switching to piano, he worked as a studio musician for five years and had spells with small groups run by Al Cohn and Zoot Sims and Clark Terry and Bob Brookmeyer.
During the sixties he recorded with Ben Webster, Jim Hall, Oliver Nelson, Maynard Ferguson, Wes Montgomery and Sonny Rollins and then, in 1966, moved to Los Angeles where he joined the big band of Don Ellis - a move which he regards as one of the most important of his career. He subsequently worked as musical director for Bobby Darin, performed and recorded with saxophonist Tom Scott, toured with Joni Mitchell and recorded with guitarist Mundell Lowe, Carmen McRae, Jimmy Knepper, Zoot Sims and Harry Edison.
He has composed the scores for 22 films and received an Academy Award nomination for his music for the Barbra Streisand film, A Star Is Born.
In the 1980s he toured and recorded extensively with bassist Red Mitchell and the duo made many tours of Europe and the USA. In 1993 he played piano on all tracks of the Diane Schuur album, Love Songs and in 1996 his Concord album, Inside And Out, with cornettist Ruby Braff received widespread critical acclaim. Kellaway's Scandinavian connection, which began with Stockholm-based Red Mitchell and continued with Norwegian singers Karin Krog and Magni Wentzel, eventually embraced Denmark when, in 1994, Mads Vinding was called upon to deputize for Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on a tour with Magni and Roger.
But Kellaway remembers an earlier meeting with Vinding - on a jazz cruise with the S.S. Norway in 1991:
"I had just finished a set with George Mraz and Grady Tate - and it was a monster set. I was then disappointed to learn that I had to do another set in the next hour with Grady and another bass player - which was Mads. But it turned out to be another monster set! What a wonderful player Mads is.
"Alex, of course, is relatively new in my life, but he and Mads play so well together and we have so much fun together. I love the Danish sense of humour - we have a good time, we play a lot of music and it is just terrific to work with them. They are truly inspirational, musically."

The opening track, Blue In Green, was premiered on record by Miles Davis in March 1959 and there has since been a certain conflict about its true authorship. In his autobiography, Miles Davis claimed that he was the sole composer. But Bill Evans told writer Conrad Silvert: "Actually, it's my tune - even though Miles is credited as co-writer for reasons only he understands. One day, at Miles' apartment, he wrote on some manuscript paper the symbols for G minor and A augmented. And he said, 'What would you do with that?' I didn't really know, but I went home and wrote Blue In Green."
What is indisputable is that it is a beautiful piece - and an unusual one, being only ten bars in length - and the trio plays it with great sensitivity and feeling.
Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer wrote The Days Of Wine And Roses a quarter of a century ago, probably without realising that they had created a great vehicle for jazz improvisation. The trio gives the piece an extra lift by playing the first 16 bars in F and the second a minor third up in Ab.
Irving Berlin's 1933 classic, How Deep Is The Ocean provides a demonstration of the great rapport among the three musicians. Says Mads: "We were improvising freely and the tune just sort of emerged."  The trio takes the tune at a rather faster pace then usual and Kellaway's solo work here is quite remarkable. He's a real, two-handed piano player and, as throughout the album, he gets impeccable support from Vinding and Riel. This track also has a superb solo by Mads. And an indication of the atmosphere of informality which prevailed at the session comes after Vinding's solo when Kellaway plays four bars and then leaves a gap to see whether it is going to be fours with the drums or eights.
Vinding's beautiful warm and mellow sound brings out the full beauty of Thad Jones's delightful A Child Is Born, which recalls his association with Thad. Kellaway contributes a spare and delicate solo.
Daddio Don is Kellaway's salute to his former friend and associate Don Ellis and, appropriately enough, it is in the unorthodox time signature of 11/8. And the impressive thing about this track - and the one that follows, Seven, which is another Kellaway original, this time in 7/4 - is that the trio swings effortlessly through the pieces. Says Roger: "It is no real difficulty for me to improvise in these time signatures because once I learned to do it with Don Ellis, I never stopped doing it. The problem for me over the last 30 years has been to find bass players and drummers who can really play these odd times. Most players
don't go beyond 5/4 time. They have a problem to do seven or 11, or anything more complicated. And it is even rarer to find a bass player and a drummer in the same rhythm section who can really play freely and confidently in this time and feel it."
Kellaway gives ample proof of his mastery of unusual time patterns with marvellous solos on both originals and Mads and Alex contribute flawless support as well as fine solos.
It's back to traditional mode with Squeeze Me, the Duke Ellington classic, which Kellaway handles in lighthearted style, sneaking in sly quotes from Benny Goodman's A Smooth One and Rose Room and, later, a snatch of Where Or When. He also takes liberties with the melody, sharpening the fourth note of the tune in the best Jonathan Edwards tradition.
For Vinding's solo, Kellaway makes effective use of guitar-style accompaniment and then shares eights with Alex.
The final track, You Must Believe In Spring, which has a typically logical Michel Legrand chord progression, provides an elegant and eloquent ending to this album, with Vinding playing the first eight bars of the theme against Kellaway's ever-sensitive accompaniment.

One final observation: The next time you hear someone make the old crack about a piano trio consisting of two musicians and a drummer, just tell him or her to listen very attentively to Alex Riel - a consummate musician and an essentially musical drummer whose work is assured, accomplished and always appropriate.

This is state-of-the-art piano trio jazz, with bassist, pianist and drummer working as equal partners and with great empathy and cohesion to produce an intensely swinging and highly stimulating album.

- Mike Hennessey