ØKSE feat. Mette Rasmussen, Val Jeanty, Petter Eldh & Savannah Harris

The band ØKSE is a true all-star line-up known for their sensational interplay of saxophone, bass and drums with samples, electronics and turntables. ØKSE means "axe" in Danish and refers not only to one of mankind's oldest tools, but also to the power and energy that connects us.
ØKSE collaborated with various hip-hop artists on the album of the same name, which was released last year on Backwoodz Studioz, "a brilliant debut somewhere between Nordic and Haitian voodoo symbolism" (Gonzo Circus). "Everything from jazz and joik to rap and Haitian voodoo." (Klassekampen). The international band consists of the NYC-based drummer Savannah Harris, who was recently a guest in the Marta Sánchez Trio, the Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, who was with us with her own formations and as a guest of Jonas Burgwinkel, the Swede Petter Eldh on bass, synthesizer and sampler, who has performed with Kit Downes, Peter Evans and many others, and, for the first time in the Stadtgarten, the Haitian electronic musician Val Jeanty.

"The glass wall between hip-hop and free jazz is the most obvious one to be broken through, but worlds that seem far apart at first glance are also interwoven in the sound and the underlying ideas." - Stijn Buyst, Gonzo (Cirkus)

"The appeal of ØKSE still lies in the interplay between the musicians, in their ability to improvise without losing the hypnotic groove that defines hip-hop, without ever sounding less than jazz musicians." - Joseph Sannicandro