Results for "Sweden"

Article: Album Review

Jari Haapalainen Trio: Fusion Machine

Read "Fusion Machine" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 3, 2017

Short sharp shocks, describes the music of Fusion Machine. The twenty-eight minutes of sound is Jari Haapalainen's knuckle sandwich of a recording. Actually it's thirteen jabs, hooks, and uppercuts; let's call them the track list. The disc contains no composition longer than two minutes-fifty, the shortest, “Flykten Från Djursholm" (Escape From Djursholm), is just 1:34.

Article: Live Review

Stockholm Jazz Festival 2016

by John Ephland
November 14, 2016

Stockholm Jazz Festival Stockholm, Sweden October 7-16, 2016 This year's autumnal Stockholm Jazz Festival continued their tilt toward world and improvisational music in the context of a jazz festival. That said, there was an ample supply of shows to go see and hear where “jazz" was preeminent. Programming world ...

Article: Album Review

Norrbotten Big Band featuring Georg 'Jojje' Wadenius: Jojje Wadenius (70)

Read "Jojje Wadenius (70)" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
November 9, 2016

The province of Norrbotten is the furthest north you can go in Sweden. It is a place of granite mountains, their summits capped with snow most of the year and circled by golden eagles. In the valleys the Sami people, wearing colourful folk costumes, herd reindeer and drink coffee laced with salt from wooden cups.

Article: Album Review

Lars Jansson: Satori

by Chris Mosey
November 1, 2016

Satori means “sudden enlightenment" in the Japanese Buddhist discipline known as Zen. It's something you might be wise not to claim you had experienced for fear of the head priest fetching you a whack across the shoulders with his wooden staff while shouting something deep and meaningful such as “The pine tree in the courtyard!"

Article: Album Review

Ellen Andersson Quartet: I'll Be Seeing You

Read "I'll Be Seeing You" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
October 24, 2016

Swedish vocalist Ellen Andersson sings in a strangely forced way, trying to imitate Billie Holiday but sounding more like someone in dire need of a laxative. This is most apparent on “You've Changed," which Holiday recorded on her 1958 Columbia album Lady In Satin when past her prime. In 2013 ...

Article: Live Review

13th Annual Uppsala International Guitar Festival

by John Ephland
October 23, 2016

Uppsala Konsert & Kongress 13th Annual Uppsala International Guitar Festival Uppsala, Sweden October 6-9, 2016 It all takes place in one building. A huge one, centrally located in downtown Uppsala, Sweden. It's the Konsert & Kongress, and it's home to a seemingly endless array of cultural and social events. And, as ...

Article: Album Review

Martin Küchen, Johan Berthling, Steve Noble: Night in Europe

Read "Night in Europe" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
September 16, 2016

Dopo quasi cinquant'anni di pratiche e di forti testimonianze registrate, l'improvvisazione in Europa sembra avere codificato lessici e grammatiche, sia che si tratti di percorsi che si riallacciano più naturalmente alla sperimentazione del campo della composizione musicale Novecentesca, sia che -come accade nel caso del disco in questione -il modello New Thing di matrice più schiettamente ...

Article: Album Review

Iro Haarla: Ante Lucem for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Quintet

Read "Ante Lucem for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Quintet" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
September 3, 2016

Finnish pianist/harpist/composer Iro Haarla devoted the early part of her career to the music of her then-husband, the late drummer/composer Edward Vesala. On her own she has released two quintet albums on ECM: Northbound (2005) and Vespers (2010). That quintet (with a couple of personnel substitutions) is integrated into an extended composition with symphony orchestra on ...

Article: Album Review

Nacka Forum: We Are The World

Read "We Are The World" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
August 27, 2016

Doom and gloom begone, now for some serious fun. Nacka Forum is back with their fifth recording. The Swedish/Danish quartet cherry picks the biography of jazz for the juiciest and sweetest music, combining systems and methodologies from Ornette Coleman to Sun Ra to create a high-spirited concoction of jazz entertainment. Spinning We Are The ...

Article: Album Review

Torbjörn Zetterberg & Den Stora Frågan: Om Liv & Dd

Read "Om Liv & Dd" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
August 24, 2016

Torbjörn Zetterberg è un forte bassista svedese attivo da tempo attraversando post-bop e musica più ricercata, come questa di Om Liv & Död, eseguita da un ensemble internazionale che rafforza la collaborazione del leader con la notevole trombettista portoghese Susana Santos Silva e il nostro Alberto Pinton da anni figura di spicco della scena scandinava.