Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado

Thorbjørn Risager, the Danish blues artist who first surfaced at the dawn of the 2000s, counts on Black Tornado as his regular backing unit. Drawn to both Southern soul and Chicago blues, he merged the two styles, a blend already audible on his opening release, the 2004 live set Live 2004. That same album also highlighted the abilities of Black Tornado, the ensemble Risager formed the previous year to realize his musical goals. In the mid-2000s the band and its leader joined Cope Records, the label operated by its own trumpet player; from then onward Risager maintained a steady pace, issuing albums on a biennial schedule and maintaining a busy touring calendar. International notice arrived in 2014 with Too Many Roads, the first of his projects to reach Ruf Records, an association that continued with Songs from the Road two years later and Change My Game in early 2017.