Sisters of Jazz
Biography Sisters of Jazz
Anna Pauline
is a jazz vocalist and songwriter who sings straight from the heart. Born in Kalmar but raised in Höganäs, she grew up in a musical family, with a father who is a well-known trumpet player and a Danish mother familiar with the wealth of Denmark’s rich musical tradition. Anna Pauline’s multicultural identity has enriched her artistry, and her linguistic abilities have made her something of a world citizen in the jazz sphere.
As a vocalist, Anna Pauline’s early inspiration came from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day, Peggy Lee, Doris Day and Marilyn Monroe, as well as from singer/songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Emmylou Harris. Her debut as a singer came at the tender age of four, and she went on to perform in a number of amateur musicals and reviews.
Anna lived and studied for a time in Copenhagen, and in 2012 she completed her master’s degree at the Malmö Conservatory. Anna sees it as her mission not only to preserve the rich heritage of vocal jazz, but to contribute to it with her own compositions and lyrics, a process she began during an extended stay in France in 1996. Her debut album, “Meant to Be”, was recorded live at Dunker’s Auditorium in Helsingborg in 2011, followed by a series of concerts in Scandinavia, as well as the US. The album was nominated that same year for the prestigious Golden Record award by Orkester Journalen, and became the readers’ choice.
Anna Pauline has performed with a number of artists over the years including Peps Persson, Viktoria Tolstoy, Nils Landgren, Siw Malmqvist, Gösta Linderholm, John Pohlman, Papa Bue’s Viking Jazzband, Jesper Thilo, Gunhild Carling, Jazzin’ Jacks, Peter Asplund, Magnus Lindgren, Claes Jansson, Andreas Öberg and Anders Bergcrantz, among others.
Anna’s latest album was released in 2015, and has garnered great reviews in DIG Jazz, Lira, Sydsvenskan and Orkesterjournalen, to name just a few.
Pernille Bévort
Tenor, soprano and alto saxophone, band leader and composer (flutes and clarinets as well).
Pernille Bévort is a graduate of the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark (1989-1993). After completing her degree, she has become increasingly in-demand as a member of various jazz ensembles in Denmark and Sweden.
She is known for her intense and creative saxophone playing with everything from duos to big bands. In her music you constantly sense a clear and distinct direction; beautiful sonic timbres, exciting rhythmic and melodic progress and – above all – excellent solos.
Apart from working with small ensembles, Bévort has performed with several professional Big Bands in Denmark during more than a decade: The Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band, Kroner’s New Music Orchestra, The Danish Radio Big Band and the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra (Klüver’s Big Band) among others.
As a member of The Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band and as a frequent substitute with other professional big bands in Denmark, she has performed with many international artists. Among these are: Randy Brecker, Tony Coe, Putte Wickman, Tim Hagans, John Scofield and Richard Bona.
Since 2015 Pernille has been a regular member of the Swedish Monday Night Big Band in Malmö and from 2016 she has been playing several projects with another Swedish Big Band: the Bohuslän Big Band in Göteborg.
One tour with the Bohuslän Big Band was in oct. 2017 with Maria Schneider.
She is also part of the new Danish 13-piece ensemble Maluba Orchestra with Marilyn Mazur, Fredrik Lundin and Kasper Bai as the 3 co-leaders and composers. This group had its debut during the Jazz festival in Copenhagen 2017 and their first album was awarded a Danish Music Award Jazz as album of the year.
Since 1995 she has been leader of several diverse ensembles. At present these include her trio, Bévort 3, and the septet/octet Radio Bévort. Pernille Bévort has released 15 albums as band leader (June 2023).
Apart from her own groups, Pernille has composed for several other ensembles.
Among these are The Copenhagen Art Ensemble and a variety of ToneArt work shop ensembles (ToneArt is a composer association).
Pernille Bévort has been awarded the prestigious Ben Webster Prize, the JASA prize (jazz reviewers) and the LO’s Kunstnerlegat (artist grant) in acknowledgement of her work.
Furthermore, Pernille has received several composer grants from the Danish Arts Foundation within the last decade. From 2011 untill 2013 she was part of the comittee for composer grants in the Danish Arts Foundation (the jury concerning rhythmic composers).
April 11th 2021 Pernille Bévort received an honorary award from the Danish Conductors Association (an association of conductors and band leaders).
The album BLIK with Radio Bévort (may 2020) was among the top 10 Danish jazz albums of the year (2020) according to the jury from the Danish jazz magazine Jazzspecial (14 reviewers). Oct. 2020 Pernille was also nominated for a Danish Music Awards Jazz as composer of the year with this album.
