account
basket
Challenge Records Int. Logo
"Necessity is the mother of invention." - Frank Zappa

Ned Ferm

Ned Ferm is a musician of many talents. He is an American with strong ties to jazz, rock and improvisational scenes in northern Europe. Musically, he is constantly on the move. His expression is many-facetted, and his saxophone (and all the other instruments he masters) can be heard on many Danish albums recorded during the many prolonged periods he has spent in Copenhagen.  He graduated from the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen while commuting between Denmark and USA. Back home, he has led a Country & Western band for years, in which he plays banjo and sings his own songs, so perhaps his debut as bandleader is more surprising to us than to Ned.  Ned was born in 1982 on an island off the coast of Maine. His grandparents listened to country and opera; his parents listen to rock. Ned found his own path somewhere in the middle. He was very young when he began playing violin, saxophone and drums, and he has since added other instruments to his repertoire. He was accepted at the prestigious William Patterson University Jazz School at 16. Then he discovered the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen. In an interview with the jazz magazine Jazz Special, he explains that he needed a fresh start, and that he had heard a lot of good things about Copenhagen, where rumors said that “there is a good conservatory, the girls are pretty, and everybody smokes weed”. Ned Ferm packed his instruments and moved to Denmark, away from the home of jazz. “I was accepted with open arms, not only on the jazz scene, I also played a lot of experimental music, rock and pop. Suddenly there were a lot of colors on the palette.” He was motivated by a reverence for the young Danish music scene. According to Ned the openness and spontaneity is unique and incomparable to any other scene in the world. Ned Ferm’s multi-instrumentality grows out of jazz, where he is often seen with his saxophone on stage with big Danish jazz names while also moving easily in alternative scenes and rock music. He appears on more than 30 albums, and now – finally – here is his band-leading debut.