Alex Riel
Alex Riel (born September 13, 1940 in Copenhagen ) is a Danish jazz and rock drummer.
Live and act
Riel began his career as a member of the house band of the Montmartre Jazz Club in Copenhagen, together with bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Tete Montoliu or Kenny Drew on the piano. There they accompanied guest musicians such as Ben Webster , Yusef Lateef , Don Byas , Donald Byrd , Don Cherry , Art Farmer , Thad Jones , Stéphane Grappelli , Kenny Dorham and Dexter Gordon . In 1965 he was named Danish Jazz Musician of the Year and recorded his first record in a trio with Pedersen and Drew. In 1965/6 he was part of the Bill Evans Trio on a European tour (with Eddie Gomez on bass).
Riel is at home in traditional jazz (two of his early role models are Sid Catlett and Zutty Singleton ) as well as in modern jazz and also played in rock groups: he was a member of the Scandinavian band The Savage Rose , with which he was also in toured the United States and performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1969 . With Palle Mikkelborg he formed a quintet in 1967, with whom he won first prize at the 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival and performed at the Newport Festival in the same year. With Mikkelborg he also led a jazz fusion group V 8 in the 1970s . He also worked with the locally very successful Danish rock singer and composer Sebastian in the 1970s and 1980s.
He recorded numerous records as a sideman, including a. with Wayne Shorter , Freddie Hubbard , Gary Burton , John Scofield , Jackie McLean , Bob Brookmeyer , Eddie Lockjaw Davis , Dizzy Gillespie , Archie Shepp , Michel Petrucciani , Chet Baker , Oscar Peterson , but also under his own name, etc. a. with Michael Brecker , Eddie Gomez (on the album Unriel ), Jerry Bergonzi , Mike Stern , Kenny Werner , Sweets Edison as sidemen. Recently he played in projects with the NDR Big Band together with Abdullah Ibrahim , as well as with Phil Woods , Charlie Mariano , Jacky Terrasson , Pat Metheny , Didier Lockwood .
Riel played in various trios over the course of his career, such as with the pianist Thomas Clausen . His own trio with pianist Carsten Dahl and bassist Mads Vinding won several Danish Grammys for Six hands, three minds, one heart . Since 2004 Riel has had his own trio with pianist Heine Hansen and bassist Jesper Lundgaard ( Alex Riel Trio , debut album What Happened , Cowbell Music 2004, album The High and the Mighty 2007, inspired by a John Wayne film).
The very versatile Riel (a necessity in a small country like Denmark) is considered a star in his home country. Despite his advanced age, he is still occasionally present at festivals in other European countries, for example with Ulf Meyer & Martin Wind at the JazzBaltica 2011. One of his students is the Copenhagen drummer Stefan Pasborg .
Prizes and awards
His album The Riel Deal won the Danish Grammy in 1996. He was awarded the Ben Webster Prize in 1999. In 2001 he received the Danish Django d'Or as a Master of Jazz .
Web links
- Alex Riel's website
- Alex Riel at drummerworld.com
- Alex Riel at Discogs (English)
References and comments
- ↑ with originally Anisette (vocals), Anders Koppel (electric organ), Thomas Koppel (piano), Flemming Ostermann (electric guitar), Jens Rugsted (electric bass)
- ↑ ›Jazz Baltica 2011‹ in honor of Esbjörn Svensson ( Memento of the original from May 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Music market, May 13, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Riel, Alex |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish drummer in jazz and rock music |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 13, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Copenhagen |