Results for "Bengt Hallberg"

Bengt Hallberg

Born: September 13, 1932

Bengt Hallberg is, without doubt, one of the most influential pianists in the history of Swedish jazz. In his Encyclopedia of Jazz, Leonard Feather called him “his country’s foremost jazz pianist,” praising his “unique, light-fingered style, exceptionally effective in single note lines on medium tempi.”

Throughout the 1950s he played not only with all the most important domestic stars of the idiom, most notably baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin and altoist Arne Domnérus, but with American visitors such as Stan Getz, with whom he cut a recording of an old Swedish folk tune, “Ack Värmeland du sköna." This became a hit when released in the U.S. as “Dear Old Stockholm”. In January 1954, the Swedish jazz magazine Estrad named him “musician of the year.”

Terje Rypdal: Odyssey: In Studio and In Concert

by John Kelman
January 31, 2023

To achieve confluence, an artist must first demonstrate multiplicity. With the benefit of hindsight, the meeting of disparate concepts might appear inevitable when reassessing a decades-long career, but few artists actually possess not only the building blocks but the intuition and acumen to achieve what is, in Sanskrit, called Sangam. That ECM has two recordings using ...

Bengt Hallberg RIP

July 2, 2013

Bengt Hallberg, honored as one of the finest pianists in modern jazz, died today in Uppsala, Sweden, of congestive heart failure. He was 80 years old. Hallberg’s keyboard touch and harmonic inventiveness came to the attention of musicians and listeners outside his native Sweden on Stan Getz’s 1951 recording of the traditional song “Ack Värmeland du ...

Trio Con Tromba's Treasure Trove of Previously Unreleased Recordings

by Florence Wetzel
March 15, 2013

The term lagom is essential to the Swedish soul. There's no direct translation into English or any other language, but positive connotations of the word include “in balance" and “just the right amount," with the Swedish proverb Lagom är bäst translated as “Enough is as good as a feast." An aural equivalent of lagom can be ...

"Lone Wolf" Finds Plenty to Chew On

by Jack Bowers
March 8, 2013

With Betty sidelined by a bad cough, it was up to me to seek out local jazz events in February, and I managed to find a couple of pretty good ones, starting February 7 at the University of New Mexico's Keller Hall where SuperSax New Mexico performed for the third time in Albuquerque. As you may ...

Odyssey: In Studio and In Concert

By Terje Rypdal

Label: ECM Records
Released: 2012
Track listing: CD1 (Odyssey, Disc 1): Darkness Falls; Midnite; Adagio; Better Off Without You. CD2 (Odyssey, Disc 2): Over Birkerot; Fare Well; Ballade; Rolling Stone. CD3 (Unfinished Highballs): Unfinished Highballs; The Golden Eye; Scarlet Mistress; Dawn; Dine And Dance To The Music of The Waves; Talking Back; Bright Lights—Big City.

Oslo International Jazz Festival 2011

by John Kelman
August 31, 2011

Oslo International Jazz FestivalOslo, NorwayAugust 15-20, 2011 There's always an eager sense of anticipation when returning to Norway, whether it's the barren but beautiful north of Svalbard, the stunning, mountain-surrounded Molde, the picturesque Kongsberg, the fjord-gateway of Bergen or the rugged beauty surrounding Kristiansand. But going back to Norway for the ...

Confessions of a Mad Journalist

by Jack Bowers
May 6, 2011

The headline above this column has almost nothing to do with its contents; it was designed simply to grab your attention. That's what we writers do: offer a modest prize with one hand while concealing a more desirable treasure in the other. It's what we have in common with magicians. Actually, as last month marked the ...

Jacob Karlzon: Heat / Improvisational Three

by Chris Mosey
May 26, 2009

Jacob Karlzon is one of the most interesting pianists on today's Swedish jazz scene--percussive, intense, yet capable of great lyricism. Unwilling to be pigeonholed, he plays in a great many different constellations, most visibly with vocalist Viktoria Tolstoy, great granddaughter of Leo, for whom he composes and arranges. At the age of 39, Karlzon has already ...

All-Star Sessions 1953 / 54

By Bengt Hallberg

Label: Dragon Records
Released: 2008
Track listing: Whiskey Sour; Side Car (Take 2); Limehouse Blues; Pink Lady (Take 3); Pink Lady (Take 1); Side Car (Take 1); Pink Lady (Take 2); Red Wails in the Sunset (Take 1); Red Wails in the Sunset (Take 2); Doe Eyes (Take 1); Doe Eyes (Take 2); Redhead; Depressionism; Meatballs; Blues in Fourths (Take 3); Blues in Fourths (Take 1); Blues in Fourths (Take 2).