Åke Persson - New Sounds From Sweden

Åke Persson Swedish All Stars

New Sounds From Sweden

Featuring Arne Domnérus

On a cold and foggy February midnight 1975, ace trombonist Åke Persson put his Germany-registred old Volvo Amazon in first gear and drove slowly down a snowy knoll adjoining a walking path in front of the US Embassy in Stockholm. The Amazon soon reached the icy bayside Edge - but, amazingly, refused to let the onrushing waters turn out the fully lit headlights.

Hours later, a man walking his dog along the same path sees the strange, almost fluorescing lights from under wáter. For a brief second, he wonders what a team of divers mights do out there, in teh darkness of the small hours. Then, he notices rubber tracks in the snow, and a trombone case by a pocket size telephone book sitting on a stone pillar. On arrival, police decides that the unknown Amazon driver is someone by the name of Persson, Åke, home address Blumenthalstrasse, West Berlín.

By 1975, Åke was considered the tombone player in all of European jazz. *Hans Fridlund*

Born in Hässleholm, Sweden, on February 25, 1932, Åke Persson, known as "the Comet" (or "Kometen"), was a fine trombonist with an appealing tone who worked steadily in Europe during his prime years and occasionally guested with American jazzmen who were on tour. Among Persson's associations through the years were Simon Brehm (1951-1954), Arne Domnérus, Hacke Björksten, Harry Arnold's Swedish Radio Band (1956-1961), Quincy Jones' big band (playing for the ill-fated Free and Easy show), Lars Gullin, the RIAS Big Band (1961-1975), and the Kenny Clarke & Francy Boland Big Band (1963-1971). Additionally, Persson had opportunities to play with George Wallington, Roy Haynes, Benny Bailey, Count Basie (1962), Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie, among many others.

Persson, considered one of the top European bop trombonists of the 1950s and '60s, led four numbers apiece during sessions for Metronome in 1953, Philips in 1957, EmArcy from 1956-1957, and Metronome again in 1959: 16 selections in all.

Persson drowned in the Djurgården canal in central Stockholm in February 1975; he had driven his car into the canal either accidentally or deliberately.

Side 1

1 - Jumping With Queen Anne

(Blomquist, Svensson)

2 - Pops

(Blomquist, Svensson)

3 - Walking Feet

(G. Svensson)

4 - Subway

(Blomquist, Svensson)

Side 2

5 - Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

(S. Romberg, O. Hammerstein II)

6 - It Might As Well Be Spring

(R. Rodgers, O. Hammerstein II) 

7 - Hershey Bar

(Johnny Mandel)

8 - My Blue Heaven

(W. Donaldson, G. A. Whiting)

#1 to #4:

Åke Persson (trombone); Arnold Johansson (valve trombone [#1, #2]);

Rolf Blomquist [#1, #2], Carl-Henrik Norin [#3, #4] (tenor saxes);

Ernie Englund (trumpet [#3, #4]); Gunnar Svensson (piano);

Yngve Åkerberg (bass); Jack Norén [#1, #2], Alan Dawson [#3, #4] (drums)

Recorded at Radiotjänst (Karlaplansstudion) in Stockholm, Sweden,

February 19 (#1, #2) and November 6 (#3, #4) 1953

#5 to #8:

Åke Persson (trombone), Arne Domnérus (alto sax),

Bengt Hallberg (piano), Gunnar Johnson (bass), Jack Norén (drums).

Recorded at Radiotjänst (Karlaplansstudion), Stockholm, Sweden, September 14, 1953

Lars Gullin Quartet, Quintet, Sextet, Octet and Orchestra

Lars Gullin

Baritone Sax

Lars Gullin, the Swedish saxman, was reckoned as one of the greatest baritone saxophone soloists of his time. His personal playing, composing and arranging style was somewhat reminiscent of Gerry Mulligan's, but he was also heavily influenced by Lee Konitz' alto playing. He played with all the greats when they visited Scandinavia, and was ranked high in Down Beat's polls during the fifties.

This man and his music, 1950's bebop oriented, well crafted and arranged jazz with a tinge of Swedish folklore, deserves a lot of attention! This album is a great first look into his work, heart-and-ear-pleasing music by a true romantic! Check this one out! *amazon.com*

An amazing American release from this legendary baritone saxophonist – one of a few Swedish sessions that Lars issued here in the US at the time! The album's a perfect introduction to Gullin's groundbreaking work – that blend of soul, swing, and modernism that easily made him one of the best talents on his instrument in the postwar years – an overseas player to rival gians like Pepper Adams or Serge Chaloff here in the US! The work is some of Lars' best from the decade – and the tracks feature his modernist baritone in different groupings with top Swedish jazzmen of the time – including Rune Ofwerman on piano, Arne Domnerus on alto, Rolf Blomquist on tenor, Ake Persson on trombone, and George Riedel on bass. The tracks are all longish (most are over 5 minutes), with a strong swing, and introspective solos by Gulling that are some of his strongest of the time – and titles include "Perntz", "Fedja", "All Of Me", and "So What".  *dustygroove.com*

1 - Summertime

(George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward)

2 - Fedja

(Lars Gullin)

3 - A Foggy Day

(George and Ira Gershwin)

4 - Perntz

(Lars Gullin)

5 - All Of Me

(Seymour Simons, Gerald Marks)

6 - Mean To Me

(Roy Turk, Fred E. Ahlert)

7 - So What

(Gerry Mulligan)

#2 and #4: Lars Gullin Octet

Georg Vernon (trombone); Arne Domnérus (alto sax, clarinet); Carl-Henrik Norin (tenor sax); Lars Gullin, Rune Falk (baritone saxes) ; Rune Ofwerman (piano); George Riedel (bass); Bert Dahlander (drums).

Stockholm, Sweden, April 23, 1956.

#5: Lars Gullin Quartet

Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Rune Ofwerman (piano), Bengt Carlsson (bass), Bert Dahlander (drums).

Stockholm, Sweden, April 24, 1956.

#7: Lars Gullin Quintet

Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Åke Persson (trombone), Rune Ofwerman (piano), George Riedel (bass), Bert Dahlander (drums).

Stockholm, Sweden, April 25, 1956.

#1 and #3: Lars Gullin With Gösta Theselius And His Orchestra

Jan Allan, Weine Renliden, Nisse Skoog, Bengt-Arne Wallin (trumpets); Gordon Ohlsson, Åke Persson, Georg Vernon (trombones); Arne Domnérus (alto sax); Rolf Blomquist, Carl-Henrik Norin (tenor saxes); Rune Falk, Lars Gullin (baritone saxes); Rune Ofwerman (piano); George Riedel (bass); Bert Dahlander (drums). Gösta Theselius (arranger).

Stockholm, Sweden, April 25, 1956.

#6: Lars Gullin Sextet

Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Åke Persson (trombone); Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Rune Ofwerman (piano), George Riedel (bass), Bert Dahlander (drums).

Stockholm, Sweden, April 26, 1956.

Harry Arnolds And His Orchestra - The Jazztone Mystery Band

Arnold was among the finest big-band arrangers and tenor saxophonists in Sweden during the 1950s and '60s. From 1956 to 1965, Arnold led the Swedish Radio Studio Orchestra that featured many of the country's leading Swedish jazz musicians. They recorded quite a few albums, including their first, The Jazztone Mystery Band. It's easily one of the finest big band recordings of 1957. 

*Marc Myers*

An overlooked and now obscure figure in jazz, Harry Arnold led an incredibly tight, talented, and swinging big band in the 1950s. Arnold knocked American critics on their collective ears with what was to become known as The Jazztone Mystery Orchestra named after the record label they were first signed with in the U.S.

Harry Arnold studied clarinet in 1937 and 1938 and started arranging without the benefit of formal study in 1938. He claimed to have learned the technique of arranging through analyzing the works of everyone from Ravel to Basie. Arnold led his own band in Malmo from 1942 to 1949. He then went to Stockholm as a tenor man and arranger with Thor Ehrling's band taking his own outfit back to play weekends in Malmo from 1952 to 1954. In 1956 he organized a 17 piece group to play weekly radio broadcasts (except during the summer) in 1956.

The music of Harry Arnold And His Swedish Radio Studio Orchestra hit the states in the late 1950's. Author George Simon recounted Claes Dahlgren, Sweden's Jazz ambassador, walking into Simon's office and in a very modest and disarming manner leaving some tapes of the band on Simon's desk with a polite, "give a listen if you have the time". Simon and his colleagues were so knocked out by the tapes they played them to others to get second opinions afraid their ears were deceiving them.

Harry Arnold and his big band was subsequently signed to Jazztone. Simon said of the band, "it's brilliant ensembles, it's abundance of exciting modern soloists, it's biting, swinging beat, and it's superb polish – all these things really thrilled us". A few other quotes made by famous jazzmen, upon first hearing the band, having only been told it was the Jazztone "Mystery" Band include; arranger Ernie Wilkins: "This band would be a gasser to write for! What musicianship!" Bandleader Elliot Lawrence: "The band sounds like a modern swinging Tommy Dorsey". Don Cerulli, New York editor of Down Beat magazine: "Actually the band is Elliot Lawrence". Willis Canover from the Voice Of America network: "This is a hell of a swinging band". *swingmusic.net*

Side 1

1 - I Found A New Baby

(Williams, Palmer)

2 - Six-Ten

(Gösta Theselius)

3 - Our Love Is Here To Stay

(G. and I. Gershwin)

4 - This Can't Be Love

(Rodgers, Hart)

5 - This Is Harry

(Harry Arnold)

6 - Crazy Rhythm

(Meyer, Kahn)

Side 2

7 - Blue Lou

(Sampson, Mills)

8 - Little White Lies

(Walter Donaldson)

9 - Cuban Trombones

(Harry Arnold)

10 - Now It Can Be Told

(Irvin Berlin)

11 - Sunday

(Herbert, LeBaron)

12 - Jersey Bounce

(Johnson, Wright)

#1, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #12:

Bengt-Arne Wallin, Sixten Eriksson, Weine Renliden (trumpets); Arnold Johansson (trumpet, valve trombone); Andreas Skjöld, George Vernon, Gordon Olsson, Åke Persson (trombones); Arne Domnérus, Rolf Lindell (alto saxes); Bjarne Nerem, Carl-Henrik Norin (tenor saxes); Lennart Jansson (baritone sax); Bengt Hallberg (piano); Bengt Högberg (guitar); Simon Brehm (bass); Egil Johansson (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, February 2, 1957.

#2, #4, #9, #10, #11:

Bengt-Arne Wallin, Sixten Eriksson, Weine Renliden (trumpets); Arnold Johansson (trumpet, valve trombone); Andreas Skjöld, George Vernon, Gordon Olsson, Åke Persson (trombones); Arne Domnérus, Rolf Lindell (alto saxes); Bjarne Nerem, Carl-Henrik Norin (tenor saxes); Lennart Jansson (baritone sax); Gösta Theselius (piano); Bengt Högberg (guitar); Simon Brehm (bass); Egil Johansson (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, March 6, 1957.

Leonard Feather's Swingin' Swedes - New Sounds From Sweden Vol.1

Almost all recordings in Sweden in the 1950s were issued on EPs, the little 7" 45rpm album. The leading record label was Metronome, which released about 500 albums during the decade, most of them jazz records.

In the 1950s Sweden was kind of the center of European jazz. Lots of gifted musicians had plenty of venues to play, and could make their living on jazz. Jazz was still the young people´s music, and there were huge and interested audiences. There were radio programs, special jazz magazines and also jazz features and reviews in weekly magazines and daily newspapers. And there were an abundance of jazz records.

Many Americans visited the country, played in concerts and clubs and made recordings with the domestic stars. The best Swedish musicians became wellknown over the jazz world.

First time Swedish jazz draw public attention abroad was at the jazz festival in Paris in 1949. A Swedish group with Arne Domnérus and Putte Wickman among others, made great success in several concerts and became one of the French public's favorites, despite competition from stars such as Charle Parker and Miles Davis.

The success led to magazine features and radio programs in both Europe and the United States. In USA, Leonard Feather started playing Swedish jazz records in his program "Jazz at its best", and other stations followed. Records from Metronome reviewed in the American jazz press.

Leonard Feather arranged recordings in Stockhom in 1951 with the young Swedish modernists. They were issued the same year in USA on this 10" LP (Prestige 119). In Sweden the recordings were issued on Cupol 78s. *birkajazz.se*

The eight performances on this record are the product of a trip made to Sweden to investigate the glowing reports I had heard about that country's modern jazz. 

Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge and many other visitors to Stockholm came home raving about the musicians presented here. 

All but one of the Swingin’ Swedes, by the way, were voted No. 1 on their respective instruments in the first national poll conducted by the Swedish jazz magazine ESTRAD.

Four of the numbers are played by a seven-piece band. This group gets a bigger and cleaner sound than most groups of its kind, thanks to the musicians' fine ensemble interpretation of four arrangements written by the brilliant Gösta Theselius, who won the ESTRAD award as top arranger.

Maybe these eight numbers will give you a pretty clear picture of why more and more people are agreeing that outside the U.S., Sweden is producing the best modern jazz to be heard anywhere. As they would say at Birdland: man, it's a crazy country! *Leonard Feather (liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - The Daring Young Swedes (On The Flying Trapeze)

(arr. Gösta Theselius)

2 - Moonlight Saving Time

(Kahal, Richman)

3 - Swedish Butterfly

(GöstaTheselius)

4 - Meet Me Tonight In Birdland

(Williams)

Side 2

5 - Rain On The Roof

(Ann Ronell)

6 - A Handful Of Stars

(Lawrence, Shapiro)

7 - The Swedish Music This Side Of Heaven

(Feather)

8 - September Serenade

(Dizzy Gillespie)

#2, #5:

Putte Wickman (clarinet), Reinhold Svensson (piano), Rolf Berg (guitar), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Norén (drums).

#1, #6:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Reinhold Svensson (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Norén (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, June 28, 1951.

#3:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Carl-Henrik Norin (tenor sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Norén (drums).

#4:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Toots Thielemans (harmonica), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Norén (drums).

#7:

Åke Persson (trombone), Carl-Henrik Norin (tenor sax), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Norén (drums).

#8:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Åke Persson (trombone), Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Norén (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, July 4, 1951.