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Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen was born on May 27th 1946 in Orsted (Denmark) and died on April 19th 2005.

In the view of renowned jazz pianist Lennie Tristano he was simply the greatest bass player in the world, a sentiment shared by many other musicians, who rank his contribution to the instrument way up there with that of bass-revolutionary and Bill Evans-collaborator Scott LaFaro. The son of a church organist, Ørsted Pedersen - or NHØP, as he was quickly christened by his fellow musicians - initially studied piano before switching to bass at the age of 13. He had his debut at Copenhagen’s Montmartre Jazzhus on New Year’s Eve 1961, aged 15. He turned down an offer from the Count Basie band, feeling, at age 17, that he needed to continue his studies. As a member of the Monmartre's house band, he performed with saxophone legends Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Stan Getz, as well as bebop-genius Bud Powell, Kenny Drew, and Bill Evans, whom he accompanied on a tour of Europe in 1965.

Besides touring regularly with the Oscar Peterson Trio from 1974-1987, and accompanying nearly every big name in jazz, his playing can be heard on some 400 albums from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. NHØP combined a fearsome technique, utilizing the right hand in his own unique way, with a rich sound and a melodic inventiveness that, along with his rhythmic drive, made him one of the most in-demand accompanists ever. He formed creative collaborations with trumpeters Palle Mikkelborg and Allan Botschinsky, guitarists Philip Catherine and Ulf Wakenius, with singer Maria Joao and pianists Michel Petrucciani and Kenneth Knudsen. He was also a teacher at the Rytmiske Musikkonservatorium in Copenhagen. Ulf Wakenius, Pedersen’s long time friend and musical companion, states in the sleeve notes,

"I had the honour and pleasure of playing with Niels Pedersen for 15 years, both in his trio and with Oscar Peterson’s quartet. It was a fantastic musical journey. In my book, he was a bass genius. He was a member of a very exclusive club, "The musicians you recognize in one note". That club boasts members like Miles Davis and John Coltrane; and he belonged to that club!"

However, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen was also both a prolific leader and a soloist in his own right. In 1993, the Danish Radio Big Band recorded Ambiance, a showcase album for Pedersen, himself a long-time member of the band. His own working band of the last ten years, the NHOP-TRIO (featuring Ulf Wakenius on guitar and Jonas Johansen on drums) also had a prolific output. All the more wonderful that the ACT-label has managed to acquire the rights to two live recordings of this band, which also feature guitarist Ulf Wakenius in top form, and which will be released as one album. The first half of the release is a 1999 Danish Radio recording from the Aalborg Kunstmuseum, the second half is a NDR radio recording of a concert on March 11th 2005 in the Rolf-Liebermann-Studio in Hamburg. This is Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen’s last live recording and a fitting memorial to this unforgettable artist.