TOMO JACOBSON
ARTIST STATEMENT
Playing music is my spiritual practice, and you are invited to join me in it.
I play for the love of immersion in the present moment. Nothing else but music gets me so close with now. The most powerful way of engaging with it for me is improvisation and experimentation – that subtle dance between what is, what was, and what will be. Whether I play free jazz, psychedelic music, jazz, devotional kirtan songs, noise, music in ceremonial contexts, music for meditation, whether I create songs through instant composition, or edit music heavily in post-production, whether I play the double bass, my electronic midi setup, electric bass, flutes and percussion, Moroccan Gnawa bass called guembri, or sing – I always improvise and experiment.
Improvisation and experimentation are means for me to create space for myself, co-performers, and the audience to inhabit, and then to live in that space, experiencing it together, even if for a brief moment. I challenge the boundaries between the artist, the artwork, and the audience through the deconstruction of the audience’s culture-bound expectations. In my performances, I aim for total collective immersion for all parties involved.
I love the unexpected, and therefore I tend to build cross-genre collaborations with people of different musical backgrounds than mine, work on projects that I can’t imagine the sound of, pick up new instruments – I will do anything not to stay in my comfort zone.
“Music is the healing force of the universe” Albert Ayler once said. I practice being with that force, and you are invited to join me in my practice.
EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
2018-2021 Advanced Postgraduate Diploma (Solist) in Artistic Research, Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen, Denmark
2013-2015 MA in Music Performance, Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen, Denmark – including 8-month long fully paid scholarship in New York and Los Angeles
2010-2013 BA in Music Performance, Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008-2010 Pre-conservatory, Frederiksberg MGK, Denmark
2006-2007 Støvring Højskole, Denmark, subjects: double bass, piano, photography, film, and pottery
2004-2008 BA in Musicology, University of Warsaw, Poland
WORK
2008-present Freelance musician
Performed with John Tchicai (US/DK), Hassan Hakmoun (Marocco/US), Mat Maneri (US), Adam Rudolph (US), Rasul Siddik (US), Andrew D’Angelo (US), Lotte Anker (DK), P.O. Jørgens (DK), Frank Gratkowski (Germany), Fred Lonberg-Holm (US), Sun Araw (US), Mikołaj Trzaska (Poland), Michael Blake (US), Alex Zhang Hungtai (Taiwan/Canada), Tanya Kalmanovitch (Canada), Jacob Anderskov (DK), Kresten Osgood (DK), Hugh Steinmetz (DK), Søren Kjaergaard (DK), Torben Snekkested (Norway), Jesper Zeuthen (DK), Paul Hubweber (Germany), Eliot Cardinaux (US), Brian Melvin (US), Jonathan Leland (US), Ole Morten Vaagan (Norway), Iku Sakan (Japan), Snøleoparden (DK), Keir Neuringer (US), Tristan Honsinger (US), Antonio Borghini (Italy), Willi Kellers (Germany), Lars Greve (DK), Peter Bruun (DK), Max Johnson, Anders Lauge Meldgaard (DK), Nils Davidsen (DK), Nicolai Munch-Hansen (DK), Rob Magill (US), Joe Williamson (US), Maria Laurette Friis (DK), Laura Toxværd (DK), Maria Faust (Estonia/DK), Aram Shelton (US), Ernesto Rodrigues (Portugal), and many others. Toured festivals and venues in most European countries, in the USA, Cuba, and in Peru.
2017-present Founder and Label Manager at Gotta Let It Out
Gotta Let It Out is a genre-fluid independent music label that has released 49 albums to date. The music released ranges from free jazz, through electronica, contemporary classical, indie pop, jazz, krautrock, techno, and more. Artists released include William Parker (US), Sun Araw (US), Mat Maneri (US), Herb Robertson (US), Mikołaj Trzaska (PL), Weasel Walter (US), Maria Laurette Friis (DK), Kresten Osgood (DK), Lars Greve (DK), Peter Friis (DK), and many others.
2010-present Festival and event organiser and curator
Journey Into Sound Festival – a festival mixing avant-garde music concerts with ‘healing music’ events and music meditations (2021-present);
Freedom Music Festival – an international festival presenting solo and duo free improv encounters, workshops, film screenings, and artist talks, the line-up included William Parker (US), Hamid Drake (US), Peter Brötzmann (Germany), Joëlle Léandre (France), Mat Maneri (US), Sylvie Courvoisier (Switzerland/US), Teguh Permana (Indonesia), and many others (2015-2018);
Summer Solstice Festival – a festival featuring concerts, art exhibitions, dance performances, artist talks, and poetry readings, artist included Sun Araw (US), Erica Stallones (US), Anders Vestergaard (Denmark), Nenne (Poland/Sweden), How?Why? (Romania), Rasmus Kjaer (DK), Sonja LaBianca (DK), and many others (2019);
Freedom Music in a Wooden House – a secret location concert series artists included Jesper Zeuthen (DK), Yngel (DK), Trio Layers (Poland), Kārlis Auziņš (Latvia), and many others (2016);
cyclical concert series during Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Vinterjazz Festival (2015-2017);
co-organized Mooment Festival (2015).
2018-present Owner of Flat Store
An in-house independent creative music and printed matter store located in Copenhagen.
2010-present Freelance music and improvisation teacher
Teaching both individuals and groups in double bass, composition, theory, hearing, combo playing. Part of the faculty at ImproCamp, a 7-day workshop in improvisation in Fredericia (2020).
RECORDINGS
As leader and co-leader:
- Maneri/Kalmanovitch/Jacobson/Osgood – Variations On No Particular Theme (Gotta Let It Out 2021)
- Wood Organization – Drimpro (Gotta Let It Out & Love and Beauty Music, 2021)
- Claus Poulsen/Tomo Jacobson – No One Knows (Noise Pelican Records, USA, 2021)
- Il sogno – Graduation (Auand, Italy & Gotta Let It Out, 2021)
- Sun Araw & Tomo Jacobson – VHW7 (Gotta Let It Out & Sun Ark Records, USA, 2021)
- Warmbladder – symphony wackoedipus “metamorphic” (Gotta Let It Out, 2019)
- Warmbladder – GUNK The Movie OST download original or not (Gotta Let It Out, 2019)
- Claustrophone – #1 (Gotta Let It Out, 2019)
- Dyberg/Masing/Rodrigues/Rodrigues/Jacobson – Egin (Creative Sources, Portugal & Gotta Let It Out, 2019)
- Mount Meander – Live in Berlin (Gotta Let It Out, 2019)
- Jacobson/Friis/Maniscalco + Karlis Auzins Solo – split : body (Gotta Let It Out, 2018)
- Il sogno – Birthday (Gotta Let It Out, 2017)
- Wood Organization – Wood Organization (Insula Jazz, Gotta Let It Out & Love and Beauty Music, 2017)
- Shelton / Tarwid / Jacobson / Berre – Hopes and Fears (Multikulti Project, Poland, 2017)
- Faster! – Faster! (Insula Jazz & Gotta Let It Out, 2017)
- Tomo Jacobson – Solo 1-12, twelve full length solo albums, one each month (Gotta Let It Out, 2017)
- Moonbow – When the sleeping fish turn red… (ILK Music, 2016)
- Mount Meander – Mount Meander (Clean Feed Records, Portugal, 2016)
As sideman:
- Vanessa Amara – That Kind Of Faint Hope / Excerpts, Outtakes & Radio Edits (Posh Isolation, 2021)
- Calum Builder – Messe (You are where you need to be) (ILK Music, 2021)
- Jacob Anderskov – Spirit of the Hive (ILK Music, 2021)
- Rune Lohse -7- – Kæmpeband (Gotta Let It Out, 2019)
- Sun Araw Trio XIII – Activated Clown (NNA Tapes, USA, 2019)
- Love – E Bik Dangam Lan (Love & Beauty Music, 2017)
- Sun Araw Trio XIII – Warsaw (Sun Ark Records, USA, 2016)
- Sun Araw Trio XIII – Antwerp (Sun Ark Records, USA, 2016)
- Pimpono Ensemble – Hope Love Peace Faith (Love & Beauty Music, 2016)
- Carlos López – Letters From København (Jazz Activism Records, Spain, 2014)
GRANTS RECEIVED
Received financial support for artistic work and artistic research from Statens Kunstfond, Idella Fondation, Oticon Fonden, Sonningfonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Dansk Komponistforening (DKF), KODA, JazzDanmark, DJBFA, Dansk Musiker Forbund (DMF), Dansk Artist Forbund (DAF), Musikforlæggerne, Populær Autorer (DPA) Københavns Musikudvalg, Nørrebro Lokaludvalg, Ole Herseth Foundation, Margrethe Axelsens Fond, and others.