Background
She was born in New York and has lived in Denmark from age six.
composer percussionist singer jazz musician
She was born in New York and has lived in Denmark from age six.
She is of Polish and African-American descent. Since 1975, she has worked as a percussionist with various groups, among them Six Winds with Alex Riel. Mazur is primarily an autodidact, but she has a degree in percussion from the Royal Danish Academy of Music.
She has worked with many musicians, including John Tchicai, Pierre Dørge (New Jungle Orchestra), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Palle Mikkelborg, Arild Andersen, Eberhard Weber, Peter Kowald, Jeanne Lee, January Garbarek, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Gil Evans, Dhafer Youssef, and Makiko Hirabayashi (Makiko Hirabayashi Trio).
Later jazz singer Tone Åse joined the band. In a second project, Percussion Paradise, she works regularly with percussionists Benita Haastrup, Lisbeth Diers and Birgit Løkke.
The United States. magazine Down Beat, in 1989, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2002 selected Mazur as a "percussion-talent deserving wider recognition". In 2001, she was awarded the Jazzpar Prize, the world"s largest international jazz prize.