Niclas Knudsen - Alt Er Ego (2019)

The incomparable Danish guitarist Niclas Knudsen has, with the project "Everything is ego" produced yet another musical treat from his musical witch kettle, where rock, jazz, blues, afrobeat and ragas are mixed into a dynamic and playful whole, which almost evokes description. To "Everything is the ego" concert at Tobaksgaarden May 11th at. At 21.00 you can also get to experience Niclas Knudsen in the role of both singer and songwriter - without it being at the expense of the extraordinary guitar game Knudsen is known for.

You probably know him as the guitarist in the Danish trio "Ibrahim Electric", where Niclas together with Stefan Pasborg and Jeppe Tuxen since 2003 have released one fantastic album after the other, which has delighted both the audience and the reviewers. But Niclas is much more than just Ibrahim Electric; During his career, Knudsen has folded his jazz within the jazz (including Adam Nussbaum, John Tchicai, David Liebman, Ray Anderson and Billy Preston), taught at the Copenhagen Conservatory of Music, and released four albums as a soloist and band leader - for Just to name a few few hits.

With "Alt Er Ego", Knudsen embarks on song writing and singing, which is an interesting experience, since most of Knudsen's music has previously had a predominantly instrumental focus and rarely used vocals. Fortunately, the inclusion of vocals does not mean that compromises have been made with the instrumental part of the music. Knudsen's eclectic musical melting pot is fully intact in the "Everything is the Ego" project, which contains inspirations from so different musical genres such as Nordic people, americana, afrobeat, and Indian ragas, which are put together in a musical sound image, which is completely unique and distinctive for Nicla's music and guitar games.

In "Alt er ego" Knudsen is surrounded by a team of very competent musicians, who count Dan Hemmer on keyboard, Jakob Falgen on bass and Mads Andersen on drums, which together make up a swinging and energetic whole who knowingly delivers fellow and counter-games to Knudsen's almost supernatural guitar playing.

Most impressive of all, Knudsen and the band, despite the music's experimental character, manage to deliver an unbelievable listening-grateful and festive concert that does not require reading music to enjoy the music of the evening.