Jazz Articles

Amanda Sedgwick: Reunion

by Jack Bowers
September 1, 2004

Here's yet another clear refutation of the ludicrous assertion that women jazz musicians are unable to measure up to their male counterparts. I know nothing about alto saxophonist Amanda Sedgwick--as Reunion was recorded in Stockholm, she may be Swedish--but I do know a player when I hear one, and Sedgwick not only holds her own on this engaging bop-based quartet/quintet date, she overshadows everyone including her seasoned front-line companion, the American trumpeter Philip Harper.

In trying to put my finger ...

Anders Persson: Lonely Fungus

by Jack Bowers
August 23, 2004

Another superb piano trio, this one led by Swedish virtuoso Anders Persson, whose main challenge lies in the fact that there are so many others at or close to its level. Nowadays, playing impeccably isn't nearly enough to make an audience sit up and take notice; there must be a collective persona, some indefinable yet indispensable quality that sets a group apart from its peers and makes it special. While it would be unsporting to compare Persson and his colleagues ...

The Jonas Knutsson Quartet: Fly Away

by Jack Bowers
November 1, 2002

Lovely and persuasive chamber Jazz that’s not without its hot–blooded moments performed by a quartet of accomplished young Swedish musicians led by thirty–seven–year old saxophonist Jonas Knutsson. Except for Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy” (coupled with “On the Lee Side”), everything was written by Knutsson, and the music draws its inspiration from sources as disparate as Swedish folk songs and waltzes, the Brazilian Baiao, Afican pygmy music and of course, contemporary Jazz. The themes are bright and lyrical, and marked ...

Ulf Ad: Reflections

by Jack Bowers
May 1, 2002

Sparkling, straight–ahead contemporary Jazz by a quartet of swinging Swedes who could easily hold their own with most such groups on this side of the pond. Trumpeter Ulf Adåker, now in his late 50s, is best–known (in Sweden) as leader or co–leader of the fusion group EGBA, for whom he also served as composer / arranger, as a mainstay of the Swedish Radio Jazz Group and as a teacher at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He brings all ...

John Klemmer: Making Love

by Dave Hughes
February 1, 1999

In a way, tenor saxophonist John Klemmer was twenty years ahead of his time. Klemmer was popular and prolific from the mid-seventies through the early eighties with a series of sensual, syrupy albums that were perfect for mellowing out or making out. They made the perfect aural backdrop for candlelight dinners, bubble baths, or snuggling by the fire. The "smooth jazz" format was made for material such as this. (Prior to his 1975 breakout album,Touch, Klemmer was into ...