About the album
When Danish drummer Alex Riel had his 70th birthday in September 2010, the legendary Copenhagen jazz club, Jazzhus Montmartre, decided to celebrate the occasion since it was here that Riel began his career in the early 1960s. The celebration lasted for more than a week, where the man of the hour was presented in a number of constellations that included Palle Mikkelborg, Annisette, Marilyn Mazur, Santa Cruz and Hanne Boel, among others.
To round out the festivities, Alex Riel chose three of his favourite musicians to form a band for the occasion. The quartet primarily played jazz standards, including well-known numbers by Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans and John Coltrane. The combination of these four jazz giants turned out to be "a match made in heaven" and luckily the result was documented in a recording. The audience went wild and was left wondering how there could still be so much pep in the birthday boy after ten days of concerts in a row! The concert was also reviewed by the Copenhagen daily, Berlingske Tidende, where it received a practically unheard-of six-out-of-six stars.