Benjamin Koppel plays jazz with a novelist's narrative

Spotlight On

Today, the Spotlight shines On Danish saxophonist, composer, and best-selling author Benjamin Koppel.

Benjamin joined us to discuss his July 2023 release Perspective, the latest work from KCB Collective, a trio that, in addition to Koppel, includes Scott Colley on bass and Brian Blade on drums. It looks great on paper and sounds even better.

Benjamin is the grandson of Danish classical composer Herman D. Koppel, while his father, Anders Koppel, is a renowned Hammond organ player and a composer. As you will hear, music, creativity, and the arts are in the Koppel DNA.

We recorded this episode at the end of September, and since then, Benjamin has announced another new project, due out November 25. White Buses tells the story of the Red Cross evacuation operation at the end of World War II that rescued over 20,000 prisoners from Nazi concentration camps. The work features a mix of first-person spoken accounts gathered by Koppel himself and brand-new compositions performed by a set of international all-stars. We recorded our talk before this project was formally announced and before the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, which added an all-to-unfortunate timely nature to its release.

Benjamin and I had a great time connecting, which came on our second attempt after he and I had some time zone snafus. Luckily, we were both able to laugh it off and get cooking. Enjoy.

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Dig Deeper

• Visit Benjamin Koppel at benjaminkoppel.com
• Listen to Perspective by Benjamin Koppel, Scott Colley & Brian Blade on Bandcamp or your streaming platform of choice
• Follow Benjamin Koppel on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube
• Visit Scott Colley (bassist) at scottcolley.com and Brian Blade (drummer) at brianblade.com
• Cowbell Music
• White Buses - Passage to Freedom
• KCB Collective - "Precipice" - Live At Inkonst Malmø
• Annas Sang - a novel by Benjamin Koppel
• A Brief History of Jazz in Copenhagen

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