As a musician you join a lot of bands – some last long, some are short-lived or maybe just projects for a limited amount of time. I have made a list of some of the more influential bands, I have joined during the years, but it will never be complete or correct.
The bands I am joining at the moment are listed under the Band menu.
One of the first bands I joined during high school was called Rungsteds Lyksaligheder. My very first professional gig was with a Dixieland jazz band called Jazzbanden. In 1973 we played in and around Copenhagen at places like Vingaarden, De 3 Musketerer and Vognporten. I joined a political left-wing band called Oktobergruppen in 1974 and later that year I met my first life time musician friends in the fusion group Bohena, among them my longtime teammate drummer Ole Rømer. We continued together with saxophone player Simon Spang-Hanssen in the original jazz trio Strange Bros. Both Bohena and Strange Bros. won first prize at the international jazz competition in Dunkerque, France, in 1974 and 1975.
I joined one of the first fusion bands in Denmark in 1975 called Cox Orange with among others Flemming Ostermann, Holger Laumann, Karsten Simonsen, Birger Sulsbrück and Ethan Weisgaard. In 1976 one of my mentors in music, probably the most import one, the late John Tchicai, joined the Strange Bros. and in 1977 we made my very first recording: Darktown Highlights. Later in the 1970’s I joined Jørgen Emborg Quartet and the Cuban latin band Salsa Na Ma. Finally in the 1970s I joined Six Winds with among others Marilyn Mazur, Alex Riel and Ben Besiakov.
In the 1980’s I joined fiddler Svend Asmussen’s String Swing, the pop group Halberg/Larsen and Pierre Dørge’s New Jungle Orchestra. I also had my own group, a fusion rock band called Pete Dan Band with the late Jeppe Reipurth on drums. I also played with the rock legend Link Wray in a trio with Jeppe Reipurth, and the short-lived Mazur/Markussen Quartet, that lasted until Marilyn joined the Miles Davis Band. To other long-term bands in the 1980’s was Mikkel Nordsø Band and the many constellations of pianist Jan Kaspersen. I also had a band called Op Op Op with Danish and Norwegian musicians.
In the 1990’s most of the bands kept touring and recording, and while I was directing the Rhythmic Music Conservatory I joined Berimbau, who played mainly school concerts. My relations to Moroccan Gnawa music started and I collaborated with master musician Mustapha Baqbou, playing in Morocco and Denmark.