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Peter Knudsen

Peter Knudsen started playing the piano and also began writing his own music at the age of 10, and discovered jazz and 20th century music as a teenager. Having worked for some years with adapting the music of Debussy and Ravel for jazz trio, Peter and his trio recorded Impressions- a tribute to Debussy and Ravel in 2008, released on Found You Recordings. During 2009-2010, the trio did two summer tours in France. The trio has also performed at Swedish jazz clubs, festivals and concert halls.

In 2010, he launched the project Peterson-Berger revisited, a quartet featuring Joakim Milder on Saxophone performing new arrangements of Swedish composer Wilhelm Peterson-Berger's music. In 2011, the group toured with the material and also recorded an album in the composer's home Sommarhagen. During the same year, Peter also formed the octet Peter Knudsen Eight and recorded the album Sagas of the Present featuring his own compositions. The album was released on the Italian label CAM Jazz and reviewed favorably by Down Beat, All About Jazz alongside European magazines. In 2016, Knudsen was commissioned to write new big band compositions for the acclaimed Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, resulting in the folklore-inspired suite Nature Spirits, also released as an album with the same name by Do Music Records in 2019. During 2015-2016, Knudsen also toured in Brazil on two occasions with a Brazilian-Swedish trio featuring drummer Kiko Freitas, as a part of a teacher exchange. Around the same time he started working with the group Derupeto, an international quartet with members from Sweden, Brazil and Mozambique. The group released their debut album Derupeto in 2020.

In 2018, Knudsen started a duo together with classical guitarist David Härenstam, a collaboration that led to the critically acclaimed album All in Twilight in 2023, with a repertoire that ranges from Japanese art music and French guitar equilibrism to Swedish folk music. Knudsen and Härenstam’s duo work was also integrated into a larger project of improvising over 20th-century music with musicians from the Scandinavian jazz scene, something that resulted in the album Reimaginations in 2024.

Knudsen also teaches piano, improvisation and ensemble playing at the School of Music, Theatre and Art at Örebro University, and is currently finishing a PhD in Artistic Research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Awards

Ingvar Johansson Memorial Award, 1999.

Derupeto Quartet: Derupeto

Read "Derupeto" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
January 8, 2021

Hailing from Linkoping, Sweden, Gothenburg-based Jazz guitarist Tobias Grim and his new eclectic quartet offer an exciting musical statement on their brash debut, Derupeto. On tap here is a highly energetic production showcasing elements of African, Brazilian, American and Swedish influences on a nine-piece album of fresh new originals from the band resulting in a contemporary and unforgettable jazz sound. The guitarist would not have been able to accomplish the magic on this new outing without the help ...

"Possessed of a solid technique, the Swedish pianist seems to sit solidly in the tradition of someone like Bobo Stenson, although he may be a little more upbeat than Stenson. (...) What’s truly nice about this disc is that the trio truly uses the motivic material from the classical source material as the basis for improvisation, rather than stating the themes and then going off in a different direction." - Jazzreview.com

"Peter Knudsen Trio plays astounding, and the sound quality is a pure pleasure. (...) entire themes are transferred to a jazz trio format, and one must say 'hats off' for doing it in such a talented way, with such musical and technical capacity." -Politiken (Denmark)

"Music of rare lyrical quality (...) this outstanding CD is to be enjoyed by both the classical listener as well as the jazz lover!"
Nordische Musik (Germany)

"For those who like these classics, Bill Evans, and why not Keith Jarrett, there is much to enjoy here." - Jazzrytmit (Finland)

"Exciting and challenging playing that brings out a new dimension in the music, yet preserving all the beauty of the originals at the same time" Upsala Nya Tidning (Sweden)

"Together they have created a piece of art." -Lira (Swedish music magazine)

Primary Instrument

Piano

Location

Stockholm

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

Teaches jazz piano and ensemble playing at university level (Music Academy of Örebro)

Clinic/Workshop Information

- Ensemble exercises in Polymeters, Polyrhythm - Ensemble playing and improvising across the genre boundaries - Piano trio/small ensemble clinics with focus on interplay, switching roles etc.