Biography

Jeff Denson is a world renowned double bassist and composer who has performed in many of the worlds top jazz festivals such as the Berlin Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival Paris and the Montreal Jazz Festival to name a few. Jeff, a native of the Washington, D.C. Area, has actively performed in a myriad of genres ranging from jazz, classical and contemporary orchestral and chamber music, to R&B and pop. He has done extensive freelance work throughout the US, Europe, and Canada and has performed and/or recorded with distinguished musicians such as Bob Moses, Joe Lovano, Carl Allen, Kenny Werner, Anthony Davis, Geoffrey Keeser, Claudio Puntin, Lionel Loueke, Dan Weiss, Ralph Alessi, Charles McPherson and Lee Konitz. Jeff has received rave reviews in such periodicals as the Washington Post, NY Times, DownBeat Magazine, and has received such prizes as the German Cultural Award in 2006. Jeff also has the unique distinction as being a member of the Lee Konitz New Quartet. Jeff’s work with Lee Konitz is of particular importance due to its extraordinary originality of concept and group interaction and compositional improvisation, but also due to the fact that according to the legend himself, this is the “first actual band” that Lee Konitz has ever had. The Lee Konitz Quartet has garnered much international critical acclaim, including most recently winning the French Jazzman Magazine’s “Album of the Year Award 2010.”

Jeff has composed and arranged for jazz ensembles ranging in size from big band to trio as well as for string ensembles, solo double bass, and a chamber opera for Soprano, Baritone, Woodwind Trio, String Quartet, and Piano and Double Bass soloists. His compositions have been broadcasting on radio stations across the USA and Europe, and on television networks such as PBS in the USA and Arte in France, ORF in Austria and WDR in Germany.