THE LOW END Vol.4: Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen

Orsted Pedersen is a name that might not sound familiar to the more amateur jazz fans, especially to the American audience. His full name is Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and he is the guy who at the age of seventeen turned down an offer to join the Count Basie orchestra. It was mainly because of the difficulties with the legal permission to live and work as a musician in the United States as a minor, but the Dannish bass virtuoso was already playing as a backup musician for legends, working regularly at Copenhagen's Jazzhus Montmartre, after his debut there on New Year's Eve 1961, when he was only fifteen. By the mid-sixties, the young bassist performed with musicians such as Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Stan Getz, and Bill Evans, with whom he toured in Europe in 1965. During the subsequent years, Ørsted Pedersen played bass for Ben Webster, Brew Moore, Bud Powell, Count Basie, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Jackie McLean, and Ella Fitzgerald.

A superb double bass player, Pedersen could pluck the heavy strings with all four fingers of his right hand, where most bassists relied on one finger, or two at the most. His big, rich sound is legendary, but even more is his ability to play walking bass lines at the most frenetic tempos, and over sustained periods behind soloists. That’s why he wasn’t just the first choice, but the only one when Oscar Peterson had to replace Ray Brown in his iconic trio. Brown himself stated that “the newcomer was the only bassist I could think of who would be quick enough to keep up with Peterson.” His long lasting career with Oscar Peterson secured him a place in jazz history, but it was also his work in drumless duo and trio formations. He worked extensively with pianist Kenny Drew, recording over 50 albums together, but also with Stéphane Grappelli and Joe Pass, and as a leader.

Ørsted Pedersen also had a particular ability to interpret Danish songs and folk melodies. He often played within trio ensembles, partly collectively with the trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and the keyboard player Kenneth Knudsen, and partly under his own name, usually with guitarists like Philip Catherine and Ulf Wakenius. In 1999, he co-led a duo with pianist Mulgrew Miller, touring Europe, Japan, Australia, and Korea. This format was later enlarged into a trio featuring drummer, Alvin Queen. This trio remained intact until Pedersen's death in 2005.