Mikkel Ploug - Hope (2025) [Hi-Res]

Danish guitarist-composer Mikkel Ploug formed his trio with Danish bassist Jeppe Skovbakke and Irish drummer Sean Carpio way back in 2006, shortly after graduating music school. Recorded in studio after a European tour, Hope captures the renewed energy and finesse of three friends who continue to spark each other's creativity. There's subtlety here too, the same melodic lyricism and harmonic novelty heard to such great effect on Ploug's acclaimed solo acoustic guitar releases for Songlines, Alleviation (2017) and Day in the Sun (2022). (Two pieces from Alleviation were streamed several million times on Spotify). The program is completed by arrangements of two songs by Carl Nielsen, Denmark's great classical composer. Mikkel calls these beautiful old tunes "my Danish standards".

Throughout May 2020, during the lock-down, Ploug serenaded his Copenhagen neighbors from his apartment balcony with nightly electric guitar performances of music he'd been working on during the day. Followed by thousands of viewers around the world, these offerings soon led to the studio album Balcony Lullabies. The group record that followed, Nocturnes (2022), features the trio and saxophonist Mark Turner, a close collaborator since the trio's earliest days. That record's subdued tone contrasts with the more dynamic, upbeat feel of Hope. It's modern jazz that's very approachable and that also repays repeated listens to appreciate its distinctive twists.

...this Danish instrumentalist/composer creates altogether entrancing music.
Doug Collette
Glide Magazine

I loved every track on this album: introspective, inventive, tasteful and positive...The playing is nuanced and heartfelt.
Fraser Jackson
The Whole Note

Mikkel Ploug guitar
Jeppe Skovbakke bass
Sean Carpio drums