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Oddjob: Folk
by Karl Ackermann
Having been commissioned by Swedish Radio in the early 1960s, Jazz på Svenska (Jazz in Swedish) (Megafon Records, 1964) became--and remains--the best-selling jazz recording in that country. The spare interpretations of early Swedish folk tunes was rendered by pianist Jan Johansson and bassist Georg Riedel. More than fifty years later, that country's quintet, Oddjob, mines those historical records once more on Folk. Not widely recognized in the US, Oddjob's personnel are not without ties to well-known western artists. ...
read moreOddjob: Folk
by Dan McClenaghan
In the mood for a snifter of schnapps, a kick back in the easy chair and a night soaking in some Swedish folk songs, tunes centered, for the most part, around the tradition of herding and goat calling? Aside from the schnapps part, that may seem like a lame idea, but the very progressive Swedish jazz/rock group, Oddjob, dug deep into their homeland's recorded archives and took away the inspiration that resulted in this marvelous and uniquely modern recording, Folk. ...
read moreDon Cherry: Live in Stockholm
by Florence Wetzel
Trumpeter and world-music pioneer Don Cherry had a very special relationship with Sweden, a place he called home for twenty years. And Sweden had a special relationship with Cherry: the country and its musicians recognized the master in their midst, and in 1972 the state-subsidized record company Caprice put out the double album Organic Music Society (which they reissued in 2012). Now with Live in Stockholm, Caprice has gone into its vaults and pulled out three stunning long-form songs from ...
read moreBernt Rosengren Big Band: Bernt Rosengren Big Band with Horace Parlan piano, Doug Raney guitar
by Dan Bilawsky
Swedish saxophonist Bernt Rosengren had already made his mark in various small group settings by the time he turned his attention to building a big band in the mid '70s. His tenor had captured the attention of many an ear in director Roman Polanski's Knife In The Water (Zespol, 1962), and his work with trumpeter Thad Jones, pianist George Russell, and trumpeter Don Cherry gave him a certain cachet within the European and American jazz scenes, but Rosengren's restless spirit ...
read moreDon Cherry: Organic Music Society
by Glenn Astarita
Reissued in analog splendor on vinyl, from the original 1972 release, free jazz trumpeter and saxophonist Ornette Coleman sideman Don Cherry renders an early world-music vibe, recorded in Sweden. These days, inferences to organic" allude to the green movement which has become quite trendy in scope; however, in the hippie culture, organic was often the buzzword for drugs and was frequently cited within the psychedelic vernacular. Here, Cherry and his large ensemble intertwine the east-meets-west vibe for a set that ...
read moreOrganic Music Society
by John Eyles
By the early 1970s, trumpeter Don Cherry had moved a long way--geographically and musically--from the music that had earned him a reputation as one of free jazz's great innovators. Resident in Sweden, he had embarked on a pioneering exploration of world fusion music, incorporating a range of influences, notably African, Native-American, Indian and Middle Eastern. During this period, he still retained some links with his roots; in 1971 he was part of the ensemble that recorded Science Fiction with saxophonist ...
read moreFredrik Ljungkvist & Yun Kan 5: Badaling
by Eyal Hareuveni
Fredrik Ljungkvist & Yun Kan 5 Badaling Caprice Records 2007
Badaling is the sophomore release of the excellent Swedish quintet Yun Kan 5. The group is led by saxophonist/clarinetist Fredrik Ljungkvist, better known as one of the key composers in the Swedish/Norwegian quintet Atomic, and for his association with saxophonist Ken Vandermark in various incarnations of Vandermark's Territory Bands.
The quintet also features Jon Fält, the drummer with the Bobo Stenson Trio, tuba player ...
read moreWatch Out! Swedish Jazz Volume 10, 1965-1969
by Jack Bowers
Various Artists Watch Out! Svensk Jazzhistoria Vol. 10 - Swedish Jazz 1965-69 (4 CD Box) Caprice Records 2006
The late '60s were a time of transition for Swedish Jazz, as they were in the US and elsewhere, with John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman and other trailblazers taking the music into new and uncharted waters, echoing perhaps the chaotic social and cultural upheavals that were reshaping society at the time. ...
read morePer Henrik Wallin: One Knife is Enough
by Matthew Wuethrich
The record has transformed our experience of music from a physical one to a conceptual one. In the comfort of our living room or car, we more often get only the aural nature of music, rather than the intimately visceral impact of watching a performer’s physical exertion. Swedish pianist Per Henrik Wallin, and the challenge he has overcome, reminds us that music is still a process, a dialogue between the body and the instrument.
One Knife is ...
read moreMagnus Lindgren Quartet: The Game
by Matthew Wuethrich
With its third recording, The Game, the Magnus Lindgren Quartet has made a jazz album for the everyman. The album’s nine cuts offer something for everyone, a pastiche of styles sure to please fans of jazz’s more traditional forms. The group takes on soul jazz with “Sofia kom hem,” lay out on the advanced hard bop of “Blue Star,” experiment with the exotica of “Ethnomore,” and interpret two standards, “Softly As in a Morning Sunrise” and “Caravan.” This traditionalism is ...
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