“Saxophonist and singer Ned Ferm is one of the rare players equally comfortable unleashing waves of paint-peeling free jazz one minute and glittering, intimate country the next.”
Dan Ruccia, Indie Weekly, March 2018
“…And it starts fresh with Ned Ferm’s surprisingly raw tenor saxophone tone. Here we get a relatively long sequence where he tells us in a clear saxophone language, that here we can expect tough stuff, and when the two others come in, so we get the answer… It calms down eventually down a bit, but all the way this is like listening to John Coltrane come back to save the world. All three musicians are totally arrived on edge the whole way, and I must say I am most surprised Ferms effort, which is much tougher in their musical language than what I’m used to hearing him. On his solo album got a combination of jazz and country & western, which is natural for this American Dane.
All three musicians are totally on edge the whole way, and I must say I am most surprised Ferm’s effort, which is much tougher in their musical language than what I’m used to hearing him. On his solo album got a combination of jazz and country & western, which is natural for this American Dane. …And up front, with an energy we did not know he had, sits Ferm as the purest Pharoah Sanders in his heyday. This is simply a brilliant live recording with three of Scandinavia’s coolest jazz voices, unleashed at Nefertiti in Gothenburg.”
Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts, October 18th, 2016
“Ned Ferm is an extremely talented artist, that always seeks for the very sublime in all aspects of music. His ability to breathe with the universal pulse in all the layers of energy in the music is rarely incredible. As a composer as well as a singing improviser on his instrument, he seeks for the truth in all creation and has a brilliant and very seldom ability to fulfill the natural ways and lines in his improvisations and his storytelling. Being very rooted in the tradition and at the same time very conscious about combining innovative forces in his play – makes him a truly special one. For him – music is not an art form only – for him music is a living ongoing process. A state of mind. A way of living and breathing – and so it sounds.”
Carsten Dahl
Pianist, Composer, and Artist
“Ned Ferm plays a multitude of instruments, but is known mostly for his excellent saxophone playing … He is becoming a bit of a instutution on the Danish scene …”
– Copenhagen Jazz House Program, July 2015
“Ferm is a brute-force player who favors hard-angle skree and sickening drone, yet he also lets rip with plenty of passages both lyrical and mellow; the man’s no dunce, and he wrings grace out of the horn where you’d least expect it.”
Dustin Krcatovich, The Quietus, December 18th, 2015
“I have on several occasions had the opportunity to play with Ned and it has been just inspiring every time. Unpredictable, but deeply empathetic, Ned has an ability to go in and read the moment and, in my case, the soloist, effortlessly take part in the development of a common expression, a direction, and a sound.”
Steffen Brandt
Singer, Songwriter, Author, and Musician
“Ned Ferm is an American saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist who has been a regular part of the younger Danish scene – from jazz to rock. That he has become both because of his unique talent and his quality versa. From the moment he began his training at the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen (2001) he aroused attention with his sometimes unorthodox and boundary pushing playing. He, as a saxophonist, has been particularly inspired by saxophonists with great technical virtuosity that has worked extensively with shaping his sound. Ferm’s saxophone playing has its own tone and timbre, often with lines that are recognizable in the many different contexts he has been included in. From a short limpid tenor solo and little fills in a recording with Caroline Henderson; one of the many voices in Jacob Anderskov’s Accident; free improvisation group Phoenix City – the saxophone for more rock influenced context including Nikolaj Nørlund, Rhonda Harris, and Kira Skov. Ned Ferm’s continued presence in the Danish musician environment is both an enrichment and a positive challenge. His music is a fresh input to the Danish music scene.”
Ib Skovgaard
Producer, Journalist, and Editor for Jazz Special Magazine
“Spent All The Money” (2014) review excerpts:
“A record debut that is steeped in genre openness, music appreciation and gravity. 5/6 Stars”
Ivan Rod, Gaffa, 2014
“A highly recommendable album that could well run away with a Danish Music Award in the crossover category.”
Niels Overgård, Jazznyt Blog, 2014
“On this cd, where Ferm (with a great and like-minded team) comes fully to the forefront with his own deep-American material, he is most specifically reminiscent of Rollins on WAY OUT WEST in 1957… Ned Ferm is, besides being an expressive and penetrating saxophonist, also an excellent writer and interpreter of the classic country song.”
Peter Laugesen, Jazz Special, 2014
Ned Ferm 