MARIA KANNEGAARD
Genres: Post Bop, Nu Jazz, Jazz Related Improv, Composition, Jazz Related Electronica, Hip-Hop, 21st Century Modern • Denmark

Maria really started focusing on performing jazz in 1985. She also started studying at the Trondheim Music Conservatory in 1992, in Norway, majoring in jazz performance. In 1997, after meeting bassist Mats Eilertesen and drummer Thomas Strønen, she went on to form her own trio, showing a fully developed and coherent style, and performed her own original compositions. By 2000, her first album featuring her own compositions was released, "Breaking the Surface", by the German label Act. The album was a summary of old compositions and new songs, lyrical yet with active free improvisation throughout. The album was released internationally, and received excellent reviews. The national jazz critic Roald Helgeim wrote of the album, "I immediately sat up and noticed Maria Kannegaard the first time I heard her - She was playing beautiful tunes, and then there was something about the way she was improvising. Something well defined, conscious, well-thought read more...