Kai Peter Anthon Nielsen, better known as Kai Ewans (April 10, 1906 – April 3, 1988) was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 reedist.

Ewans played initially as a banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

ist, but switched to saxophone in 1923 when he formed the Blues Jazz Band. The group disbanded in 1924, after which Ewans joined Valdemar Eiberg

Valdemar Eiberg

Valdemar Eiberg was a Danish jazz musician.Eiberg formed what is thought to be the first Danish jazz orchestra in 1923, and in 1924, his ensemble recorded the earliest known examples of Danish jazz, "I've Got a Cross-Eyed Papa" b/w "In Bluebird Land".Eiberg's band became a launching pad for...

's ensemble from 1924-26. He adopted the name Kai Ewans in 1927, and led Denmark's first big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 in 1927-28, thereafter leading bands in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 through 1931. Following this he played with Bernard Etté, Kai Julian (1931-32), and Eric Tuxen (1932-36). He founded a new big band including mostly musicians from Tuxen's ensemble in 1936, and recorded copiously with Benny Carter

Benny Carter

Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...

 in the 1940s. The ensemble dissolved in 1947, and after this Ewans worked in business in the U.S., moving to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in 1956. From 1960 to 1964 he ran a restaurant with Carter in Beverly Hills, and later in the decade returned to Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 to play again. He retired to Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

late in life.