Bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen dead at age 58

NHOP was perhaps Europe's finest bass player, ever. He was best known in the US for his work with Oscar Peterson and expatriate American musicians like Dexter Gordon.

Obit from Macleans.ca

Famed Danish jazz musician Niels-Henning Oersted Pedersen dies

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Niels-Henning Oersted Pedersen, one of Denmark's best known jazz musicians, who performed with legends such as Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie, has died at age 58.

Oersted Pedersen, the bass player widely known by his initials NHOP, died Tuesday in Copenhagen, leading jazz experts and Danish media said. The cause of death was not immediately known.

His career as a bass player took off in 1962 when, at age 16, he played in Copenhagen's famed Montmartre jazz club, where American greats including Count Basie, Gordon and pianist Bud Powell performed.

However, his international breakthrough came in 1973, when he joined the Oscar Peterson trio produced by Norman Granz.

"In reality, he was Denmark's best know musician regardless of the genre," said Cim Meyer, the editor of Jazz Special, a Danish music magazine.

Meyer said Oersted Pedersen was lucky to be a jazz musician in Denmark when famous U.S. musicians settled in the country believing they found refuge from racism, police harassment and musical obscurity in the United States.

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