Athens Big Band & Veronica Mortensen

The Big Band of the Municipality of Athens was founded in 1998 on the initiative of the virtuoso pianist Yiannis Terezakis and since then it has recorded a very active and important presence in the musical events of the municipality of Athens, but also of the whole of Greece. The repertoire he performs includes historical compositions and arrangements by the pioneers of Big Band musicology and covers a very wide range of jazz musical currents.

The Big Band of the Municipality of Athens has performed in all major music and arts halls and festivals in Athens, Thessaloniki and the Greek region. It has been conducted by leading conductors and composers of jazz and contemporary music such as William Russo and Don Owens, while it has collaborated with distinguished Greek and foreign soloists. The musical performers who make up the Big Band of the Municipality of Athens have been selected from among the most capable Greek soloists and are distinguished for their high skill in improvisation and are distinguished for their flexibility in the interpretation of the different currents of jazz.

–

Greek-Danish Veronika Mortensen, jazz composer and singer, was born and lives in Denmark, where she studied music at the Aarhus Royal Academy of Music and the Rhythmic Conservatory of Copenhagen.

Her two albums "Pieces In A Puzzle" (2003) and "Happiness - Is Not Included" (2007), containing her own compositions, were well received by critics and were selected as "Album of the Week" by her National Radio Denmark. In 2007 she received an award from the Association of Danish Music Composers (Danske Populaer Autorer), in recognition of her work as a composer. She has participated in concerts in Denmark and abroad. Veronika Mortensen has been collaborating for the last three years with Big Band orchestras, touring in Scandinavia. Her new album "I'm The Girl" (2010), is a live recording with the Danish orchestra Klüvers Big Band, with whom she has a long-standing collaboration. The album features American drummer Dennis Mackrel (known for his work with Count Basie's orchestra and Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Quincy Jones) as well as vibraphonist Dave Samuels (who has worked with Spyro Gyra, Oscar Peterson, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Pat Metheny and Frank Zappa).