Jesper Thilo

Born in 1941, Jesper Thilo has probably never played better than right now. However, that statement has often been heard since the early 60’s, when he began performing. Over the years he has played with slews of jazz greats – Ben Webster, Harry Edison, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, J.C.Higginbotham and Vic Dickenson would be just scraping the surface. He held a long-time chair in the DR Big Band, where he digested every musical influence that came his way. Thilo originally studied classical cla- rinet, an instrument featured on his CD Stunt Records, JESPER THILO ON CLARINET. Since 1990, he has led his own quartet. If you listen clo- sely, you may still hear traces of Webster and “Lockjaw” Davis, but they come out as pure Thilo.