Nordkraft Big Band & Rasmus Holm
Dear Voting Members of The Recording Academy/GRAMMYs®
Nordkraft Big Band aims for the GRAMMYs and we hope you’ll spent a little time on this Danish based big band and take a listen to our fantastic music.
Below you’ll also find a little text about the big band and composer Rasmus Holm.
Best Alternative Jazz Album
EVERYDAY SYNESTHESIA: SONIC PICTURES
Nordkraft Big Band, Rasmus Holm
Best Instrumental Composition
SHOE II – PATTERNS
Composed by Rasmus Holm
Nordkraft Big Band, Rasmus Holm
About “Everyday Synesthesia: Sonic Pictures”
Everyday Synesthesia: Sonic Pictures is an innovative project by trombonist and composer Rasmus Holm, recorded with Nordkraft Big Band.
Inspired by synesthesia—the phenomenon in which the senses overlap—Holm transforms everyday shapes, colors, and objects into original compositions for big band.
The album also challenges the traditional big band sound through an experimental production approach and an innovative mix, creating a new and immersive listening experience. The result is an artistic work in which music, perception, and sound design merge into a contemporary reimagining of the big band format.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Nordkraft Big Band
Nordkraft Big Band has established as one of the most active, visionary, and serious ensembles within rhythmical contemporary music in Denmark and enjoys wide recognition for their recordings and concerts.
If the name Nordkraft Big Band sounds familiar, it’s maybe because the big band was part of a Grammy Award-winning project together with Chief Conductor, Remy Le Boeuf. The award was presented for Best Instrumental Composition for the tune First Snow, commissioned and recorded by Nordkraft Big Band.
It was founded in 2010 in Aalborg (Northern Denmark) to present high-level performances and strengthen the local area artistically. Rooted in the big band tradition, and previously led by American bass player/big band leader John Clayton (2017-19), now led by 6 x Grammy-nominated and 1 x Grammy-winning American composer and saxophone player Remy Le Boeuf, the 17-member ensemble continually explores the format with ground-breaking projects.
Nordkraft Big Band has released serval records of very different nature and is, among other things, played on radio and streamed all over the world.
Nordkraft Big Band has collaborated with several prominent musicians, including Remy Le Boeuf (US), John Beasley (US), John Clayton (US), Bob Mintzer (US), Robben Ford (US), Sinne Eeg (DK), Roger Neumann (US), Aalborg Symphony Orchestra (DK), Nikolaj Bentzon (DK), Zika (GL), Aviaja Lumholt (DK/GL), Nabiha (DK), Mathias Heise (DK), and many more.
Photo: © Lars Horn / Baghuset 2026.
Press Quotes
“… the band’s in peak form, ever responsive to the emotional ebbs and flows of the music and attentive to charts without being constricted by them.”
– Ron Schepper, Textura
Rasmus Holm
Rasmus Holm is a Danish trombonist, composer and arranger working at the intersection of contemporary jazz, improvisation, and large-ensemble music. His work explores the tension between tradition and experimentation, with a focus on narrative, texture, and emotional impact.
Since 2023, Holm has been a producer for the Danish Radio Big Band and leads the Rasmus Holm Quartet, featuring Julius Gawlik, Thorbjørn Stefansson, and Amund Kleppan. As an arranger, he has worked with Nordkraft Big Band, John Clayton, Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In 2024, Holm received a Danish Music Award for Best Alternative Jazz Album for anXietY Suite, recorded with the Rasmus Holm Quartet and Crush String Collective. He has also received a Danish Arts Council commission for big band and was selected as Album of the Week on Danish Radio P8 Jazz.
Press Quotes
“It’s such a fresh, inspiring sound, exploratory yet musical in the best sense”
– UK Vibe
“.. A musician who doesn’t put himself at the center – he uses the collective”
– Jazznyt
“.. could have gone straight into a Blue Note record from the 60’s”
– Salt Peanuts