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Jazz Articles about Jan Johansson
Francesco Martinelli: European Jazz - Tales of Etruscan Vases, Arias And Resistance
by Ian Patterson
Few have attempted to tackle the history of European jazz in any meaningful way. That's hardly surprising given the size of the task. How do you address the jazz history of over forty countries in a succinct and logical manner? How do you manage to throw light on all the major personalities at the expense of many lesser known musicans and still retain a balanced narrative? What weight should you give to the geo-political and socio-economic circumstances peculiar ...
read moreJan Johansson: In Hamburg with Georg Riedel
by Ian Patterson
Jan JohanssonIn Hamburg with Georg RiedelACT Music2011 The small number of posthumous releases in the 42 years since the death of Swedish jazz pianist/composer Jan Johansson at the age of 37 remains something of a mystery. Johansson--who pianist Esbjorn Svensson described as being a very, very big influence--has also been an inspiration for pianists Bobo Stenson, Tord Gustavsen, Andreas Ulvo and Jan Lungdren, and Swedish jazz-electronic duo, Koop. Composers/arrangers Bob Brookmeyer and ...
read moreJan Johansson with Georg Riedel: in Hamburg
by Bruce Lindsay
Scandinavian jazz? It started with the Esbjorn Svensson Trio, didn't it? Well, no. It goes back many years further. As in Hamburg demonstrates emphatically, two early stars of Swedish jazz, pianist Jan Johansson and bassist Georg Riedel, could cut it with the best of the '60s jazz world, as instrumentalists and as composers. This beautiful album, put together with Riedel's cooperation, consists of recordings made by Johansson and Riedel between 1965-68--as a duo and in partnership with various big bands, ...
read moreJan Johansson: From Small Acorns...
by Ian Patterson
Upon hearing the news and in a state of disbelief, Randi Hultin the legendary Norwegian jazz journalist rang pianist Reinhold Svensson who confirmed the worst: Yes. Swedish jazz has just died."1 Reinhold's reaction to the death in a car accident of fellow pianist Jan Johansson whilst melodramatic reflected Jan Johansson's importance in the contemporary Swedish jazz scene and the esteem in which he was held by his peers. November 9, 1968 was indeed a black day for Swedish music.
read moreJan Johansson: Piano / Musik Genom Fyra Sekler
by Chris Mosey
In 1962, the year the Beatles cut their first record and the Rolling Stones made their debut at London's Marquee Club, a bearded, balding jazz pianist with sad, brooding eyes walked into a recording studio in Stockholm to make an EP of four Swedish folk songs. By 1964 he had recorded eight more, enough for an LP. This was titled Jazz pa Svenska (Jazz in Swedish) . At the height of the rock revolution, with interest in jazz otherwise plummetting, ...
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