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Mikkel Ploug

Danish guitarist and composer Mikkel Ploug (b.1978) has performed all over Europe, Brazil and the US with his bands Mikkel Ploug Group, Mikkel Ploug Trio and Equilibrium. He has recorded 12 albums for internationally reknowned labels such as Sunnyside Records (USA), Whirlwind (UK) Fresh Sounds New Talent (ES) Songlines Recordings (CA). Mikkel has performed as a soloist with The Royal Ballet in Copenhagen and works with american choreographer and dancer Tilman O’Donnell.

His solo album Alleviation has over 2 million plays on Spotify and his 2018 album “Faroe” was selected for the Grammy category “Best Instrumental Jazz Album”.

He has worked as a sideman in Sean Carpio’s Wowos and for NYC alto player Pete Robbins Transatlantic and performed as an opening act for Wayne Shorter early in his career. Mikkel who started out on drums at the age of four has a master awarded with a distingtion for composition from the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, Holland, he has lived in Berlin, and now resides in Copenhagen.

Performances:

Brazil, USA, Canada, China, Israel, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Holland, England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Faroe Islands. Mikkel has appeared at Elb Jazz Festival, Savassi Festival Belo Horizonte, Northsea Festival The Hague, Brey Jazzfestival, Copenhagen Jazzfestival, Spalicek Festival, United Islands Prague, Musik i Lejet. and at clubs like Pizza Express (London) Jamboree (Barcelona), Sunset (Paris), A-Trane (Berlin), Unterfahrt (Munchen) Oslo Nasjonalscene (Oslo) Jazzhouse (Copenhagen) Moods (Zurich) Singen Jazzclub (Singen) and many more.

Performed as a leader and sideman with:

Mark Turner, Loren Stillman, Bill McHenry, Theo Bleckman, Pete Robbins, Tommy Crane, Joachim Badenhorst, Sissel Vera Pettersen, Jeppe Skovbakke, Rebecca Collins, Marlon Browden, Sean Carpio, Kresten Osgood, Thomas Agergaard, Anders Christensen, Mikkel Hess, Tue West, Niels Lykkegaard, Kenny Wheeler, Eivind Opsvik, Robin Fincker, Simon Jermyn, Jonas Westergaard, Hugo Rasmussen, Kevin Brow, Niels Vincentz, Flin Van Hemmen, Robert Stillman, The Unusual History Of Ether and many more.

Teaching:

Mikkel has worked as an external expert for master exams at University of Basel and the Conservatory of Luzern. He has taught as a guest teacher at Prague International Jazz Workshop, Conservatory of Würzburg, Jydsk Conservatory Stævne Uge, Århus, Odense and Rytmisk Conservatory in Copenhagen.

Lectures:

Mikkel gives lecture on harmonies in human speech. The project is entitled “The Hidden Composition”.

Education:

Mikkel received his master from the royal conservatory of the hague in 2005 and was awarded a distinction for his original compositions. Mikkel originally started out on drums at the age of four before changing to guitar at twelve.

Gear

Gibson, D'Angelico, Newtone Strings, Polytone Amps.

Mikkel Ploug: Balcony Lullabies

Read "Balcony Lullabies" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 29, 2020

Upset, isolated and frustrated during the early stages of the near-global COVID-19 quarantine, Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug did what he does best; he picked up his instrument and started playing. Sitting on his balcony and reflecting on the moment, Ploug set beauty in strings, allowing his sound to hold aloft. His appreciative neighbors listened with rapt attention, applauding at the conclusion of that otherwise personal performance. And so began the balcony lullabies. At 6:15 p.m. every evening, ...

Album Review

Mikkel Ploug: Faroe

by Neri Pollastri
June 5, 2019

Il rapporto artistico tra il tenorsassofonista statunitense Mark Turner e il chitarrista danese Mikkel Ploug è piuttosto lungo e consolidato, avendo i due suonato per circa dieci anni nel quartetto messo in piedi da Ploug dopo il suo arrivo in America nel 2005. E proprio l'intesa prodottasi tra i due è stata lo stimolo che ha spinto quest'ultimo a concentrare tutta l'attenzione sul suono dei soli sax e chitarra, per realizzare un disco in duo, su brani originali la scrittura ...

Album Review

Mikkel Ploug & Mark Turner: Faroe

by Dan Bilawsky
August 15, 2018

While tenor saxophone heavy Mark Turner has toured with guitarist Mikkel Ploug's quartet for approximately a decade, the unique musical alliance developed between this pair has never before received such a high degree of attention. With Faroe, Ploug presents thirteen original compositions written or rearranged specifically to telescope their bond(s), explore the very essence of the melodic-harmonic communion, and artfully merge the precomposed and the improvised. Opening with the title track, a number that finds Turner's matte-finish melodies ...

Hi-Res Jazz

Dálava, Gordon Grdina and Mikkel Ploug: Songs Old, and Sounds New

by Mark Werlin
December 19, 2017

Strangeness--a word that connotes foreignness, otherness, and a sense of unease when confronted by the unfamiliar. The sound of recognizable musical forms may attract us, in the same way we are drawn to familiar faces or voices. The sound of a foreign language may set us on the alert; syllables we do not recognize, meanings we cannot understand. And what if the words cannot always cross the boundary from one language to another, and the meanings never be ...

Album Review

Mikkel Ploug: Alleviation

Read "Alleviation" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 18, 2017

Alleviation is a fascinatingly winsome document showcasing what occurs when tool serves as muse. While out and about in New York in 2016, Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug happened upon a musical curio--a mahogany-top Gibson Banner LG-2. The instrument, essentially a wartime relic made by the (mostly) female work force in Gibson's Kalamazoo plant in the early '40s, was a worn-down wonder, preserved yet clearly put through life's demands. But the personality, quality of sound, and innate character of this guitar ...

Album Review

Equilibrium: Liquid Light

Read "Liquid Light" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 15, 2015

This European trio's third release is abetted by Songlines Recordings' pristine audio processes, which is a vital aspect since many of these tracks are quietly penetrating in scope and designed with ethereal atmospherics. The artists' specialty may lie within an artsy, avant-garde schema via a channel of electro-acoustic tone poems, enamored by Sissel Vera Pettersen's luminous and diffused wordless chants. Even though these largely temperate pieces are lithely woven amid the bumps, spikes, valleys, and a hint of new age ...

Album Review

Equilibrium: Liquid Light

Read "Liquid Light" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 2, 2014

The concept of equilibrium is all about the balancing of opposing forces, actions, or influences; the music of Equilibrium is largely about the same, though some twists, focal point shifts, and ambient sound plays complicate and muddy the concept a bit. Equilibrium--a trio comprised of Belgian clarinetist Joachim Badenhorst, Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug, and Norwegian vocalist Sissel Vera Pettersen--quietly yet boldly goes to places unknown, finding and creating the maximum in minimalist settings while blending voices and ...

Recording

New Release By Mikkel Ploug & Lars Graugaard

Source: Kaylee Wesley Pearson
August 1, 2014

Clang has released Ngelo by Danish guitarist and composer Mikkel Ploug and the Danish musical chameleon Lars Graugaard. All tracks on Ngelo are edited improvisations that provide a listening experience that combines the liveliness of the moment with a concise structure, either with a well-defined atmosphere or of a particular compositional aim. The three ballad-style tracks are highly interactive with Lars’ computer generating all accompaniment through real-time analysis of the guitar, including bass-lines and the various counterpoints. A second group ...
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“An original voice with something to say…” – Bud Kopmann – All About Jazz (US)

“Mikkel Ploug is the latest sensation in European jazz guitar with a personal voice and sound that shines.” La Vanguardia

“Masterclass – The danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug is on the way into to the champions league of contemporary jazz” – Alex Schmitz – Jazzpodium (DE)

“Mikkel Ploug’s compositions are gorgeous. “Chords” [another Ploug composition] leaves me breathless.” – RVAJazz (US)

“An original voice with something to say…” – Bud Kopmann – All About Jazz (US)

“Mikkel Ploug is the latest sensation in European jazz guitar with a personal voice and sound that shines.” La Vanguardia

“Masterclass – The danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug is on the way into to the champions league of contemporary jazz” – Alex Schmitz – Jazzpodium (DE)

“Mikkel Ploug’s compositions are gorgeous. “Chords” [another Ploug composition] leaves me breathless.” – RVAJazz (US)

“Music this free and also this beautiful is a rare gem and it just keeps getting better with every listen” – The Province (CA)

“stunning ambience” – All About Jazz (US)

”unique work by this European trio” – Will Layman US national public radio, Popmatters/Jazztoday (US)

“Magnificent modernism” – Politiken (DK)

”musical medicin” – Dagsavisen (NO)

“deeply forceful” – All About Jazz (US)

“…great originality and elegance.”- Downtown Music Gallery, (US)

“Equilibrium is a largely successful and highly unusual collaboration” – Tim Clark – Luna Kafe

“….tyngdlösa tillstånd av vackra, mjuka rörelse” – Johan Scherwin – Lira SE

“As time has passed, Ploug’s melodic gift has become clearer” – Jakob Bækgaard – All About Jazz (US)

“Harmoniehof” … further illuminates his tightly knit band.” – Mark F Turner – All About Jazz (US)

Aside from their very real talent and a defined sound, this group is also interesting in being an unselfconscious meeting of contemporary European and American jazz musicians which, outside the perilous world of touring soloists and pick-up bands, is a pretty rare commodity in jazz – Cormac Larkin – National Irish Tribune (IE)

“Guitarist Mikkel Ploug’s star has been ascending—not only in his native Denmark, but also in various overlapping international jazz circles.” – Elliott Simon – All About Jazz (US)

“Mikkel Ploug has been slowly, but surely, building a reputation for himself, and deservedly so. His live performances speak for themselves – Jerry D’Souza – All About Jazz (US)

“As time has passed, Ploug’s melodic gift has become clearer” – Jakob Bækgaard All About Jazz (US)

”Mikkel Ploug var (…) absolut stimulerende og en (ung) mand, man skal regne med, der både indeholdte en særegen, melodisk dybde og et stort kryptisk og solistisk pulserende hjerte”- Jakob Østergaard Nielsen – Gaffa (DK)

”Plougs musik er… særdeles personlig i hans helt naturligt melodiske kompositione” – Jørgen Siegumfeldt – Jazzspecial (DK)

“One of Europes most talented young jazz musicians…. “ – Emma Power – Evening Echo (IE)

”Mikkel Ploug er næste skud på stammen af store jazzguitarister”- New Note Jazzfestival (DK)

“Ploug also impresses with melodies that do not become clichéd” – Elliott Simon – All About Jazz (US)

“Et nyt guitar talent stormer frem med en indtagende udgivelse som rygstød” – Cim Meyer – Jazzspecial (DK)

“Moden og interessant pladedebut fra den unge danske guitarist … på egne præmisser – skaber Ploug og co. en musik, der udfordrer og forfrisker ved sine komplekse koder, sin energi og sin svævende melodiske fornemmelse” – Christian Munch Hansen – Information (DK)

“Gruppen fortjener pladeselskabets kvalitetsstempel og omvendt er en plade som denne med til at konsolidere Fresh Sound New Talent’s ry.” – Jakob Bækgaard – Geiger (DK)

“… men samtidig bidrager Ploug her med noget nyt og andet og træder gedigent i karakter med sine dristige og originale kompositioner, der i hvert fald får den lysende, danske jazzeng til at småskælve og endnu en gang invitere til høst, plov og pløjning.” – Jakob Østergaard Nielsen – Jazzspecial (DK)

“A highly individual sound… A thoroughly enjoyable affair.”
Concerto Magazine

“”Ploug is part of a generation of guitarists who absorbed as much from Radiohead as they did from Bill Frisell, so while there is all the openness and adventure of an improviser with his own distinctive language, it is informed by a more rugged, indie-rock sensibility, driven forward by Carpio’s subtle, ever-changing grooves.”
★★★★ The Irish Times

“In all the band’s music there is a refreshing lack of interest in showing off technique with the focus resolutely on making good music, with simplicity or complexity neither here nor there. It’s a really lovely listen.”
The Jazz Breakfast

“Recorded last year in intimate circumstances at Black Tornado Studios in Copenhagen, the location lending its name to the album title, the material is largely Ploug tunes, easily digestible in the main, at their best when the tidiness of the writing gives way to a sprawling spilling out beyond the bridge, a Nordic Americana the flavor.”
Marlbank

“The music is deserving of the widest possible audience.”
Bebop Spoken Here

“Appeals to a wider audience which will give them the greater exposure and recognition that they deserve.”
Sandy Brown Jazz Reviews

“Guitarist Ploug’s trio session has a talkative style that’s plenty charismatic… rich textures and sharp melodicism keep the ear riveted throughout… occasional flourishes of folk-rock are a nice touch.”
Bird Is The Worm

“A Danish guitarist with a sound partly reminiscent of Mark Ribot, his country-blues-ish twang is written all over this likeable, long-standing trio recording of his originals.”
Jazz Times

“The trio sounds as natural in the studio as on the live stage.”
Medien-Info

”A highly individual sound… the maximum economy executed without any note gluttony… A thoroughly enjoyable affair.”
Glicka

“Everything flows and as a result of a decade of existence of the trio is perfectly interlocked. Ploug has been one of the favorites of guitar nerds and certain magazines, now he should also be perceived beyond.”
Leipziger Volkszeitung

“Definitely worth listening to for people who think they have heard everything.”
Musik Reviews

” Presents the fun, commonality and connection in groove of the three musicians who have toured extensively as a unit the last decade on jazz stages worldwide.”
Rheinmain Magazine

”Mikkel Ploug from Copenhagen plays a nimble guitar, semi-acoustic, Gibson, vintage look. And this vintage impression runs pleasantly through the whole album recorded together with bassist Jeppe Skovbakke and Sean Carpio on drums.”
Sound And Image

“Quiet, prudent and careful, very harmonious and relaxed… much elegance is on broadcast… independent and original.”
Musik An Sich

”A unique album.”
Nachrichten

“It’s rare to hear a trio where the acoustic bass pulsates with such warmth, drums play so unpretentiously and refined yet at the same time with such strong rhythm, and guitar plays with such grace.”
Saarbrücker Zeitung

”Music full of inspiration and self-confidence.”
Sol (DE)

”An emotional trip.”
HiFi & Records

“Vibrant, interesting music.”
Jazz NYT Blog (DK)

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