I started my original EKQ (trombone/alto front line with piano, bass and drums) way back in 1967. After winning a DOWN BEAT Scholarship to BERKLEE COLLEGE of MUSIC in 1969 I moved to Boston that year and formed a new quintet with my old confrere from the original EKQ, Michael Hove (currently lead alto with the Danish Radio Jazzorchestra) and three Americans, bassist Jeff Czerbinski, vibist Jon Eriksen and drummer Stefan Ziewacs.
In the Fall of 1970 the quintet, minus Ziewacs, moved to Denmark, where we recorded our first LP "Erling Kroner Quintet - Music Book" with Danish drummer Bent Clausen. Czerbinski and Eriksen soon moved back to the States, and Danish pianist Ole Matthiessen and Henrik Hove, Michael's brother, on bass (both part of the original EKQ in 1967), rejoined the quintet with new drummer Henrik Simonsen in 1972. The band was very active up thru the seventies, often being expanded into the "Erling Kroner Tentet". In 1977 I was asked, by the Danish Jazz Academy, to record a new LP with my quintet for the Storyville label. Having recently disbanded for various reasons, I put together a recording quintet and tentet with Michael Hove, Danish guitarist Ole Molin and two Swedes, my old friend from Berklee 1973 (my second stint there, studying with Herb Pomeroy), Lars Beijbom on drums and Palle Danielsson on bass. The Tentet sides had Allan Botschinsky and Tim Hagans on trumpets among the added horns. (Tim and I worked with Beijbom's group "White Orange" based in Stockholm from 1978 - 1981). The release of this record, "The Forgotten Art", among other things led to my being awarded the annual Ben Webster Prize in 1979. This again led to the inauguration of a new, working "Erling Kroner Tentet", which lasted until 1988 and recorded two LP's, "Entre dos cielos" 1982 and "From the Dark Side" 1986.
Simultaneously I was working with the quintet format, though more sporadically. One version was with Per Goldschmidt on tenor, Marilyn Mazur on drums and Klavs Hovman on bass. I later changed to a trombone-only front line with Morten Højring on guitar and piano, bass and drums.

Since the late eighties I concentrated on the piano-less nonet, the "Erling Kroner Dark Side Orchestra", with a.o. Lars Beijbom (dr), Højring (g), Bob Rockwell (ts), Goldschmidt (bari) and Argentine bandoneón player Gustavo Toker as the tenth member. The CD "Erling Kroner Dark Side Orchestra featuring Gustavo Toker on bandoneón" was the result of that. Lars Beijbom and I joining forces in the "Beijbom Kroner Big Band" early 1994 was the end of the "DSO". The two CD'S "BEIJBOM KRONER BIG BAND LIVE IN COPENHAGEN" (1996) and "OPPOSITES ATTRACT" (1998) are the first recorded examples of this cooperation.

ERLING KRONER 'DREAM' QUINTET 1996 to 2004 - the HISTORY:
After many years of concentrating my musical energies in the "Erling Kroner Tentet" (1979 -1988), "Erling Kroner Dark Side Orchestra" (1989 - 1993) and, from 1994 on, the "Beijbom Kroner Big Band", I started itching to playing in and writing for a small group again on a more regular basis. Since the late eighties I had not been having any quintet, putting all my efforts into the larger formats. It was very fulfilling - and yet . . . Some years back, I started yearning for working in a smaller format, and started thinking about forming a new quintet. I was looking around, paying attention, and keeping my ears wide open. I played with and listened to a lot of great players, but that special magic I was looking for, I didn't seem to find.
Then in July 1994 I met and played with a young tenor player. Her name was Pernille Bévort. We played a lot together in a Cuban-Danish salsa band, "Grupo Changó". I was intrigued. She was a very nice player, good sound and  intonation. And some very nice solos, too. She had a strong feeling, and was soon dubbed Pernille 'Sentimiento' by the Cubanos. Her knack for blending with other horns impressed me. It slowly dawned on me that here I might have just that other horn, I had been looking for, that special magic. Eventually I decided to do something about it and called my old sidekick Henrik Simonsen to set up a quintet jam on my book. That was it! From the word go, she was right on the money - the uncanny ability to phrase and blend with my horn, seemingly without effort, and her work-alike approach to improvisation. No licks, no bebop baloney. Straight music from the heart, twisting, turning, finding her own path thru the music - and with that wonderful sound and feeling. Then and there I decided to form a new quintet with her and Simonsen. The only questions that prevailed were: Where do I find the perfect bassist and either guitarist or pianist to complete the quintet? I kept my ears open, waiting, biding my time.
In the spring of 1995 an old acquaintance of mine Kurt Larsen who played baritone with my short-lived "Erling Kroner Big Band" in 1975, sent me his new CD. He didn't play baritone anymore, but accordion, and how he played! Very personal concept on his unorthodox instrument. Very mature and what a taste. He used to be a school teacher, playing music only part-time, as far as I knew. Especially one cut on his latest CD "51" called "Circle" a short, original solo-vehicle for accordion, sent me for a loop. His playing brought to my mind Astor Piazzolla, not because he played anything like Astor, but because he performed as mightily as would an Astor Piazzolla or a Dino Saluzzi. As I kept looking for the right pianist or guitarist, Kurt's sounds kept reverberating in my head, and one day - better late than never - I realized that I didn't need look any further, what I needed was Kurt Larsen and his inimitable touch. Now only one problem persisted: to find Mr. Right on the bass. I was spoiled, admittedly, by having been served by the extraordinarily creative bass playing of Klavs Hovman for close to 10 years, so the search continued.
Finally, in the Fall of 1995, conducting an ad hoc big band in some student-projects in Aarhus, Denmark, I realized that something was going on, literally behind my back, at the rehearsals. There was this young kid on bass. He didn't sound bad(!). Two days later I asked him if he would be interested in joining my new quintet! Good thing I did! I realized I had to move fast to secure him for my group, before the world got hip to the fact of his enormous talents. His time, sound and intonation are exquisite, and add to that a talent for making a solo into a statement that belies his young age. In November 1995 I brought young bassist Jesper Bodilsen and the rest of the 'guys' together for the first time. And was the chemistry just right! You never know about those things, but I had a feeling!
The DREAM QUINTET had it's last performance in 2004 and was officially disbanded in 2006. The DREAM QUINTET has two cd's to it's name: 'ahí va el negro' from the JAZZPAR concert 1998 with guests Dino Saluzzi and Quique Sinesi on Storyville and and 'Tromboníssimo' - introducing the Dream Quintet 1999 on Music Mecca.
A new EKQ is in the works, tentatively under the name Erling Kroner NEW DREAMS Quintet with Bévort, Larsen, Graig Earle (bass) and Dennis Drud (drums)

For current information about the new Erling Kroner Quintet, check out EKQ the NOW . . . .