At the 2019 EJC finals held on 13 July as part of the world-famous Copenhagen Jazz Festival and broadcast live (available here as catch-up) by Danish Radio’s P8 Jazz programme, Nefertiti from France received a prize of €3,000 as Ensemble of the Year, while the group’s drummer, Pierre Demange, carried off an award of €1,000 for Soloist of the Year.

The group’s other members are pianist Delphine Deau, saxophonist Camille Maussion and Pedro Ivo Ferreira on bass. More information on the band can be found here.

The offer of the finals is available to EBU radio organizations in MUSNew as JM/2019/07/02/01-05.

Formed in 2013, Nefertiti was proposed for the Competition by France Musique after jazz producer Alex Dutilh heard the musicians at a concert in Paris. In a brief post-ceremony interview, members expressed their delight, noting that they had never previously performed live on the radio. They praised the EJC’s impeccable organization and sound set-up, made possible by the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, DR P8 Jazz programme and its host/editor Fimmer Engel, and JazzDanmark.

An international jury announced the awards after hearing Nefertiti and the other three finalists: First Gig Never Happened (entered by ORF), Christiania Duo (MTVA) and Javier Subatin - Trance Trio (RTP).

The jury was made up of Hugo Sekoranja (RTVS), Lotte Anker (saxophonist, founder of Copenhagen Art Ensemble), Janne Lindvall (SR), Jens Rasmussen (DR P8 Jazz) and Kathrine Windfeld (Copenhagen Jazz Festival).

Jury Chair Hugo Sekoranja remarked: “The choice for the jury was really tough. The four bands were very, very different from one another. In the end, we chose Nefertiti because we liked their compositions, their arrangements and the soloists. But we stressed that the other bands were also very good, and we are happy that we had such high quality this year.”

The Euroradio Jazz Competition is aimed at promoting young jazz musicians through broadcasts by EBU Members. Up-and-coming artists are thus given exposure to a wide audience of radio listeners and jazz aficionados to whom they would otherwise not have access.