Ben Webster Prisen

The American saxophonist Ben Webster is one of jazz's immortal legends and has played with the greatest of the greats: Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald just to name a few. In 1964, Ben Webster moved to Europe and fell in love with Copenhagen. Here he lived and played with the greatest names on the Danish jazz scene for long periods until his death in 1973. Since 1977, the Ben Webster Foundation has annually awarded Denmark's largest jazz prize to one or more Danish musicians, using funds from the sale of Ben Webster's immortalized music.

The award ceremony usually takes place in Copenhagen. But this year it moves to Kolding, where the association Jazz6000 together with the Ben Webster Foundation hosts the year's lavish award ceremony at the venue Godset.

At the award ceremony, the winner receives the prize and presents their music in the form of a concert with musicians of their choice. Additionally, the Ben Webster Foundation hosts a concert with a specially selected Ben Webster All-Star band, consisting of some of the country's foremost jazz musicians.

Ben Webster All Star-band line-up:
Uffe Steen: guitar
Martin Schack: piano
Jens Jefsen: double bass
Espen Laub von Liljenskold: drums
Finn Odderskov: tenor saxophone

The Prize Winner of 2024
The up-and-coming drummer Cornelia Nilsson, born in 1992 in Sweden and residing here, has quickly become a big name on the Scandinavian jazz scene. For the past seven years, she has been touring Europe with some of jazz's greatest living stars: Ben Besiakov, Tim Hagans, Seamus Blake, Mathias Landæus, Anders 'AC' Christensen, Zier Romme, and the two Swedish saxophone giants Tomas Franck and Gilbert Holmström, just to name a few. One of the great honors in jazz Cornelia Nilsson received in 2019 and 2022 when she played with the piano legend Kenny Barron's trio and the star bassist Ron Carter, both of whom have played with heavyweights like Miles Davis and Stan Getz.

In February 2024, Cornelia released her critically acclaimed debut album "Where Do You Go," showing that she is a woman with a great and explosive jazz format. The album includes tracks recorded with two different trios. In one, she plays with the Danish star bassist Daniel Franck alongside the already legendary pianist Aaron Parks from the USA. In the other, they play with the amazing Hungarian tenorist Gabor Bella. For the 2024 Ben Webster Prize presentation, Cornelia Nilsson will perform a trio concert with Gabor Bolla and Daniel Franck.

The winner of the 2021 Tivoli Jazz Prize, this year Cornelia Nilsson rightfully deserves the honor of winning Denmark's largest jazz prize. Huge congratulations to Cornelia Nilsson for the Ben Webster Prize 2024, to a great jazz musician!

Cornelia Nilsson Trio line-up:
Cornelia Nilsson: drums
Gabor Bolla: tenor saxophone
Daniel Franck: double bass

Review of Where Do You Go:
"As Ned Ferm, who is also the album's producer, writes in the album's liner notes, she explores space and beauty with Aaron Parks on their 6 tracks together. While there is literally a fire burning in three out of the four tracks she made with Bolla. I love both sessions.

When Bolla ignites the fire with Ornette Coleman's The Sphinx or the standard East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Cornelia Nilsson is gasoline on the fire. It's explosive! With Parks, it's something entirely different and more sensual. Listen for example to Cornelia Nilsson's composition The Wanderer, where they merge in a calmly waltzing tempo, with unrest lurking just below the surface." (Jazznyt)