Roadmap

Denmark's leading outlet for forward-thinking jazz, April Records, proudly presents a new signing in the Toftemark/Benack III Quintet. Bridging Nordic lyricism with the hard-driving energy of New York, their debut album 'Roadmap' is set for release in November. The project is co-led by Copenhagen-born saxophonist Andreas Toftemark, a European Jazz Master and recipient of the Bent Jædig Prize, whose career has taken him from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam to The New School in New York. He is joined by Benny Benack III, the multi-award winning Emmy-nominated trumpeter and vocalist lauded for his charismatic performances with the likes of Christian McBride, Chad Lefkovitz-Brown, Peter Bernstein and more. Rasmus Sørensen adds a vital piano voice, fresh from winning a Danish Music Award in 2024 and releasing Balancing Act (2024) featuring modern drum icon Kendrick Scott. On bass, Finnish talent Kaisa Mäensivu - leader of her own project Kaisa's Machine - brings international credentials shaped at the Sibelius Academy, Manhattan School of Music, and festivals including Pori Jazz. Completing the lineup is New York drummer Joe Peri, a Grammy-winning artist featured on Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga's Love for Sale and a familiar face at Birdland, Mezzrow, and other NYC institutions. Together, they craft Roadmap - a set of originals born from tours around the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and honed on the road. Each member contributes compositions: from Toftemark's modal-driven title track and brisk swinger What Gets You to Peri's hard-hitting opener Icebreaker, Mäensivu's funk-tinged The Lemur, and Sørensen's harmonically dense New York Attitude. The quintet also delivers moments of intimacy, with Again - a co-write between Toftemark and Benack - adding lyrics penned on tour and sung with understated warmth. As Benack reflects: "When I play with Andreas, I'm thinking of Joe Henderson and Kenny Dorham, of Clifford Brown and Harold Land. But this isn't just a revival of a classic hard bop record-the heart and soul of it is the Copenhagen-New York connection".