March has started with a succession of truly beautiful days. It’s easy to get carried away and be tempted to prematurely shed those winter coats, but this is Scandinavia and it’ll be a while before the temperature here matches the current view out of the window.

We went for a walk on Sunday in the sun, and started off in Frederiksberg Gardens, my favourite Copenhagen park. The photo above is looking back up to Frederiksberg Slot (the castle on the left), and to the right you can see the landmark that is the tower in the zoo, both showing off their Danneborgs (the name of the Danish flag).

After a walk around the park, we went to find a grave I was told about in the course of my research for my jazz feature. It was the grave of jazz bassist Oscar Pettiford, who died here in 1960. He’s also one of the guys who has a road named after him in Sydhavn, which I mentioned here. His grave was recently (in the past few years) given a much deserved makeover by a Danish artist, with the help of generous donations and the tenacity of a Danish bass player. I need to check all the details, hence the suspicious lack of details here, but I hope to get it all into the newspaper feature. His grave definitely stands out from the more traditional stones that populate the sprawling Frederiksberg Kirkegård, right next to the park. Next time I’m passing, I’ll try to have a brush with me, and give him a tidy up. In the meantime, say hello to Oscar…