Written interview with Jens Christian Kwella, John Stowell and their new album The Room․
Jazz Blues European Union: – Thank you for taking the time to have this interview with Jazz Blues EU. Tell us about your music. When did you start performing?
Jens Christian Kwella: – I started playing guitar when I was about 13 years old and played my first professional concerts when I was 16.
In the beginning, I played rock music, then funk and fusion, and through that path I eventually found my way into jazz.
What do you consider to be your hometown and how does that affect your music?
I consider Aarhus, Denmark, to be my musical hometown. It is Denmark’s second-largest city, and I have been active there as a musician for 35 years and as a teacher at The Royal Academy of Music for 25 years.
It is a city with a very rich and diverse music scene covering almost every genre. At the same time, because the city is relatively small by international standards, most musicians know each other, and there is a great deal of exchange and collaboration between different genres.
What performers have been your inspiration?
My inspirations come from musicians and composers across many genres. To mention just a few: Johann Sebastian Bach, Thin Lizzy, Django Reinhardt, Pat Metheny, Leonard Cohen, Jim Hall, and Mike Stern.
What do you find most challenging about being an independent artist in today’s music industry?
The biggest challenge is booking concerts. If you are not a well-known enough name to have a booking agent, it can be difficult to get through.
At the same time, there are fewer and fewer venues for jazz, while the number of highly skilled musicians continues to increase.
What do you base your success on?
Continuous work with booking and disciplined practice, combined with my effort to be professional and to treat both audiences and fellow musicians kindly and with respect.
Can you talk about your experiences collaborating with other artists or musicians? How does it influence your creative process?
My experience of working with other artists is that you cannot simply do things the way you usually do, so you are challenged in terms of your habits and routines. This often has a positive effect on the creative process.
However, from time to time you meet people who are not interested in genuine collaboration and only want their own ideas to prevail. In those situations, it is best to leave the project amicably and professionally.
What was your latest musical release?
My latest release was The Room by Kwella & Stowell.
Do you have any news to share? Could you share the story behind your latest new CD Jens Christian Kwella, John Stowell – The Room what inspired its creation?
I first met John Stowell in 2010 through our mutual friend and great guitarist Ulf Bandgren. Since then, we have regularly toured, performed, and held workshops together as a duo and sometimes quartet whenever John has visited Denmark.
It has been a great pleasure and inspiration to play with John over the past 16 years. His playing style is completely unique and demands that you constantly listen and stay present. In the guitar duo format, where you can’t hide behind anything, it often creates an almost magical and deeply intimate space for me that I wanted to try to capture and document.
After our tour last autumn, we therefore spent a day and a half recording 11 tracks at The Hideout Studio in Aalborg (DK), 9 of which was released on the album The Room.
This is an organic release with a minimum of editing, as we wanted to preserve the live experience where nothing can be corrected afterward. We embrace the music with all its small imperfections (mostly on my side) and instead try to capture the moment.
How does your latest album fit into your creative path? Is this a goal you wanted to achieve?
Yes, it had long been my wish to record a duo album with John. My creative path is about exploring different areas and formats, and the guitar duo format has been one of those areas of exploration.
How do you approach the process of songwriting, and are there any specific themes or emotions you tend to explore in your music?
That is difficult to answer. I study many things and draw inspiration from many different sources. Often, I simply write a melody and the accompanying chords, and then allow the musicians to shape the music when we perform it.
As an indie musician, how do you navigate the balance between creative freedom and commercial appeal?
I have projects where we play purely commercial jazz music, such as lounge music for receptions and swing music for parties and similar events. In addition, I have other projects where creative freedom is the main focus, and in those projects the number of gigs and the income are considerably lower than in the commercial side of my work.
I enjoy doing both very much, and I am fully aware that the parameters for the two are different. Because of that, the balance works well for me.
What role does technology and social media play in promoting your music and connecting with your audience?
I use social media to promote my concerts and to raise awareness of my musical projects and bands.
Could you describe a memorable live performance experience or tour that has had a lasting impact on you and your music?
It is actually difficult for me to single out one specific experience. However, my best experiences have most often taken place on small, intimate stages together with musicians I know very well.
In an era of streaming platforms, how do you feel about the changing landscape of music consumption and its impact on independent musicians?
I remember not so long ago when selling CDs at concerts made up a significant part of a musician’s income. Today, nobody in Denmark owns a CD player anymore, so producing CDs no longer makes sense. A few hipsters still buy vinyl records, but the cost of producing them far exceeds what you can earn from sales.
Everyone listens to music on streaming platforms, and for smaller artists like myself, the financial return is very limited. On the other hand, streaming allows you to reach audiences much further around the world, which can be an advantage when it comes to booking concerts.
Musicians often have a close relationship with their fanbase. How do you engage with your fans and build a dedicated community around your music?
I do that mainly at the concerts themselves and through direct personal interaction. I can see that many younger musicians are very good at using social media for this purpose, but my audience is largely different and belongs to another generation.
How can fans find you? Lastly, please share some final words with the fans.
My fans can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and on my website, kwella.dk.
My final words to any fans would be: go out and listen to live music. At a time when the internet is filled with AI-generated music and smaller artists earn virtually nothing from their recordings, it is incredibly important that audiences continue to support live music.
By Olivia Peevas
