Laura Toxvaerd
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composer, saxophonist, researcher
Laura Toxvaerd
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composer, saxophonist, researcher
BIO DISCOGRAPHY PHOTOS ARTISTIC WORKS ARTISTIC RESEARCH PUBLISHERS
My Latest album CALLING (Toxværd, Faust, Anderskov) was released November
2020 -
LINK
Featured on BBC radio 3 programme Freeness - LISTEN
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Tidens strøm ILK292LP (2019)
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Drapery ILK293LP (2019)
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Release concert was reviewed
(in Danish) in the Danish newspaper Politiken (5/6 hearts) -
LINK
"Tidens Strøm is a successful recording, which, while short (27 minutes), stands alone" - Robert Iannapollo, The New York City Jazz record, May 2020 - LINK About Drapery: "sterling examples of the mutability of jazz and the continuing possibilities of fusion and are heartily recommended to cultural gatecrashers and anti-purists" - Mark Keresman, The New York City Jazz Record, January 2021 - LINKReview in Jazz'halo, Februay 2020, by Georges Tonla Briquet - LINK Review in Lira, Februay 2020, by Peter Bornemar - LINK |
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Watch my performance (with Jeanett Albeck & Kristian Tangvik) at Danish Music Award Jazz 2020 - LINK - "Toxværd brillerede med en uimodståelig pondus", Ivan Rod, GAFFA - LINK
French magazine Citizenjazz reviewed Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2019 - LINK - including an interview with Lotte Anker about female saxophonists & improvisers - LINK
DownBeat, February 2019: "Prominent players [in Copenhagen] making a global impact include saxophonist Laura Toxværd, percussionist Marilyn Mazur, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, guitarist Jakob Bro and drummer Kresten Osgood" - LINK
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Laura Toxvaerd: Songbook (2019) Press Release here Published by ILK Music - LINK
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Songbook (2019) contains texts, lyrics and notations of the two albums Tidens strøm & Drapery. Music, words and images are mutually embedded in each other in the sense that the notations in the songbook can be considered visual expressions of the sound of the albums’ music. And the other way round is the music created from the songbook’s lyrics and notations. The texts in the book tell about the process the entire work went through while it was being created. The book is released together with the LP Tidens strøm, a studio recording of songs composed by Laura Toxværd and the LP Drapery a recording of graphic notated songs by Laura Toxværd. With support from Danish Arts Foundation, Koda’s Cultural Funds, DMF & DJBFA
Interview (in Danish) in the Danish music magazine OS, March 2019 - LINK Review on The Free Jazz Collective, april 2020 - LINK |
DownBeat, July 2017: "Toxvaerd plays with a complete commitment, and the stance is as much one of performance art as music" - LINK
Artist portrait & interview in DownBeat, May 2017 - LINK
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Compositions Part 1 ILK261LP (2016)
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Compositions Part 2 ILK262LP (2016)
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"Toxvaerd
is a well-established performer and composer on the European scene [...]
this is an exemplary selection of jazz compositions, self-contained,
stylistically varied, beautifully executed and, so far, endlessly
fascinating"
- Jazz
Journal & a Jazz Noise, January & February 2017 - LINK
2 x RECOMMENDED NEW RELEASES + HONORABLE MENTIONS and review (Comp. Part 1) - The New York City Jazz Record, October & December 2016, January & February 2017 - LINK - LINK - LINK "Laura
Toxværd har banket en ny milepæl ned på jazzens uendelige landevej"
- Bjarne Søltoft, Jazz Special, September 2016 - LINK "En bedre CV enn disse tre platene, kunne hun nesten ikke kommet opp med!" - Jan Granlie, salt peanuts*, July 2016 - LINK "som en forunderlig blanding af et smertensbrøl og et jubelskrig [...] Toxværd veksler mellem det yndefuldt medrivende og barsk ekspressionistiske saxspil. Hende bør man ikke undlade at stifte bekendtskab med" - Christian Braad Thomsen, Weekendavisen, July 2016 - LINK Video: Compositions Part 2 with Dødens Garderobe (from the album-released concert at Jazzhouse, Cph) - LINK
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Pladeshop ILK256LP (2016) With Simon Toldam & Marilyn Mazur Press Release here LP for sale only here |
"The vocal performance Vandet and the title track are pure poetry" - Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazzmosaïek, September 2016 - LINK "Fragmentary scores and lurid lapses make Pladeshop an innovative album even on the shelves of innovators" - Tiago Ferreira, Na Mira do Groove, August 2016 - LINK "Laura Toxvaerd har med pladen Pladeshop lavet en forunderlig plade. Jeg er i den fantastiske situation, at jeg ikke umiddelbart kan finde en label, at sætte på musikken. Jeg har sandt at sige, ikke hørt noget lignende [...] Pladeshop er min favorit" - Niels Overgaard, JazzNyt, August 2016 - LINK "Ferocious, ethnic-flavoured free improv" 4 out of 5 stars - Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times, July 2016 - LINK "Reed player Toxvaerd [...] is an adventurous, gifted conceptualist" - Josef Woodard, DownBeat, March 2016 - LINK
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An art book: Laura Toxvaerd: Compositions - 18 Graphic Scores (2016) Press Release here Published by Forlaget SPRING - LINK |
This book contains graphic scores of compositions together with reflective texts and is the result of my artistic research project as an adjunct lecturer at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen. The project was granted by Danish Ministry of Culture’s Committee for Artistic Research.
Read about the project here "the lovely book Compositions - 18 Graphic Scores [...] is an incitement to creativity" - Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader, August 2017 - LINK "her latest graphic notation project, 18 Compositions [...] Toxvaerd is a fascinating and sometimes theatrical player, who can coax a big, bracing sound on alto, but who savors space and nuance, and the Abert Ayler-esque effect of funneling melodic motifs through an overtone-sculpting, flinty tone" - Josef Woodard, DownBeat, October 2016 - LINK "Laura Toxværd’s 18 Compositions [...] is the product of great thought refracted through a fabulous, rough-hewn sound and multi-spatial approach" - Andrey Henkin, The New York City Jazz record, September 2016 - LINK 5 out of 5 stars-concert review (in Danish), Rockzeit, July 2016 - LINK |
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Phone Book - ILK190CD (2012) Laura Toxvaerd - Alto Sax, Jacob Anderskov - Piano Press Release here Score: Androidangle |
HONORABLE MENTIONS 2012 + RECOMMENDED NEW RELEASES - Andrey Henkin, The New York City Jazz Record, February 2013 - Review by Donald Elfman -
LINK
"high-class modifications of the alto saxophone-piano tradition that should probably lead to further encounters" - Ken Waxman, JazzWord, February 2013 - LINK "a superb collection of duets" - Peter Margasak, DownBeat, March 2013 "Toxvaerd’s scores, as reproduced in the booklet, are a clever combination of visual material (...) The combination is irresistible. Phone Book is as sensuous as it is intellectually challenging. It seems to reference all sorts of music (...) The striking thing about Phone Book is that with each repeated hearing it seems to grow (...) this is Laura’s date by virtue of the compositions, which are simply wonderful." - Brian Morton, Point of Departure, December 2012 - LINK "If jazz is dead, no one has told Denmark the news. The saxophonist Laura Toxvaerd and pianist Jacob Anderskov here collaborate on four of the former's art-brut graphic notations (all incorporating scissored shards of a Danish phonebook) moving from lines of cautious beauty to detuned blasts of caged animal fury." 4 stars - Andrew Male, MOJO, November 2012 - LINK "Fishbone dämmert wieder verhangen durch verträumte Minuten, in denen beide Protagonisten versunken scheinen, musikalisch Gedanken nachhängen. Sehr hübsch! (...) Zwar wissen Toxvaerd/Anderskov zu melancholischer Versunkenheit anzusetzen, viel mehr aber haben sie ein Händchen für rasante, wohl überlegte und radikale Freiform." - Volkmar Mantei, Ragazzi, September 2012 - LINK "Parution à Copenhague de « Phone Book » de Laura Toxværd chez ILK Music. Il s'agit de son troisième album avec comme particularité le fait que les compositions aient toutes été couchées sur papier en utilisant des pages d'annuaire téléphonique." - Alex Dutilh, Radio France, septembre 2012 "Intressant musik, med bitar av melodier som finns återgivna som noter i de grafiska bilderna som väl för mig mest ser ut som konstverk (...) Fint tolkat av Toxvaerd (...) Musik som känns förtätad och innehållsrik" - Jan Strand, OrkesterJournalen, Sverige, december 2012 "This duo album underlines the fact that Laura Toxvaerd in both compositional and atmospherical ways are a one-of-a-kind profile on the Danish jazz stage" - Niels Overgård, JAZZNYT, Denmark, October 2012 - LINK Review in the Swedish magazine Lira - LINK Portrait in the Danish magazine JazzSpecial #132 - LINK 5 out of 6 stars-concert review in the Danish magazine GAFFA - LINK Video recording from Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2013 - LINK |
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D D - ILK168CD (2010) Laura Toxvaerd - Alto Sax, Frederik Thaae - Guitars, Piano & Percussion, Mikkel Engel Gemzøe - Drums & Percussion Press Release here |
RECOMMENDED NEW RELEASES - Andrey Henkin, AllAboutJazz-New York, January 2011
MELHORES DISCOS INTERNACIONAIS 2011, review by Goncalo Falcão: 4 out of 5, Jazz.pt "Here we have quasi-Weillian Eurofolk-ethnic music with a Zorn-flying-Luttenbacher sort of outness. [...] Cuts tend to be quite short: there’s thrash Jazz, nutting-out skronk sax, some compositional bite, out crime-secret-agent-Jazz, the Oscar Meyer Weiner theme song meets no-wave-new-wave-skronk-wave. Some moments sound like a retro mimic of a bar honker sax and the routines are not as simple as might at first seem." - Cadence Magazine, April 2011 - LINK Review by Vincenzo Roggero, All About Jazz Italia, May 2011 "Blandt de få kvindelige instrumentalister, der er brudt igennem i det nye århundrede, finder man altsaxofonisten Laura Toxværd. [...] De tre musikere spiller primært Laura Toxværd-kompositioner, og det er små vignetagtige numre med både sjove og romantiske vinkler. Og her holdes monotonien i skak af underfundig veloplagthed og ren eksplosion." - Kjeld Frandsen, Berlingske Tidende, 2010 - LINK Nomineret til DMA JAZZ 2011, Årets Danske Jazzkomponist "Altsaksofonisten Toxværd er helt under foten på Ornette, og jeg må innrømme at jeg synes hennes aggressive utblåsninger er fascinerende og flotte å høre på. (...) relativt korte, men poengterte og hissige utblåsninger, som alle kunne gått rett inn i på ei plate med Ornette. Det er rocka, fritt og freidig, og ikke minst morsomt. (...) Anbefales!" - Jan Granlie, Jazznytt, Norge, 2010 Review in the Swedish radio show Kalejdoskop - Lina Langendorf, Sveriges Radio, oktober 2010 - LINK |
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NO. 1 - ILK127CD (2007) Laura Toxvaerd - Alto Sax |
TOP 5 BEST DEBUT ALBUMS OF 2007 - AllAboutJazz-NewYork RECOMMENDED NEW RELEASES - Andrey Henkin, Allaboutjazz-NewYork, July 2007 "This promising Danish improviser [...]. A fascinating project that includes a solo saxophone performance made for Danish radio and a collaboration with producer Thaae in which saxophone sounds are multilayered and electronically manipulated to create a large-scale ’composition’. [...] Toxvaerd’s distinctive sound - light, but with real muscle - sets this exciting record apart." 3 stars - The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, Ninth Edition, 2008 "the phenomenal altoist Laura Toxvaerd. Her debut solo effort, no. 1 (ILK, 2007), is an exciting breath of fresh air that breaks new ground for the alto saxophone" - Elliott Simon, AllAboutJazz-NewYork, July 2007 "she delivers a unique demonstration of versatility. By combining noise with tones and melodic fragments, she’s riding the fence between the Classical saxophone quartet tradition and the Hip-Hop world of rhythm through noise. [...] place her in a class all by herself. [...] reveal one unique persona. [...] With this saxophonist, however, there seems to be no limit to the extent that her instrumental wails, moans, squeaks and groans will carry her." - Jim Santella, Cadence Magazine, October 2007 - LINK "Laura Toxvaerd, a young Dane, delivers a studio suite of blown/electronic miniatures and plays live pieces strung together for her debut no. 1. Studio tracks blare, oddly riveting and mechanistic, like Devo (eg, ’Tin Soldier’) while her live bits (all under three minutes) warm before eyes, molasses chips melting to taffy." - Fred Bouchard, AllAboutJazz-NewYork, January 2008 - LINK "From Copenhagen, Denmark, saxophonist Laura Toxvaerd composes geometric post-jazz using graphic notation. Some of her scores are to be exhibited in New York this May and published in the Notations21 graphic score anthology." - The Wire, 2009 Recommended in Danish national radio by Ib Skovgaard, dr.dk/jazz, 2007 "Laura Toxvaerds album 'No. 1' byder på en oplevelse, man vil huske. [...] det afgørende er, at man ikke blot fornemmer en klar musikalsk tanke bag disse udfoldelser, men at musikken i sin fremførelse bobler af en fandenivoldskhed, man ikke kan undslå sig. Og ydermere demonstrerer Toxvaerd [...], hvor fint hun også behersker et så ortodokst begreb som tonal flerstemmighed." - Boris Rabinowitsch, Politiken, 2007 - LINK "a music that is surprising and overwhelming. [...] Toxværd is delivering in a refreshingly different fashion. [...] It is all the way through an inspiring delight to spend some time enjoying Toxværd’s innovations." - Allan Sommer, JazzSpecial, 2007 |
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