Swede Georgia Broon
LIKE the bizarre Finnish passion for tango, "Swedish jazz" doesn't sound quite right. Surely the Scandinavians are too buttoned-up to swing? Apparently not. Indeed there are few stronger jazz scenes in Europe and few stronger players. Their problem, and our problem of perception, is that until recently the Swedes have been largely restricted to playing their own (albeit impressive) networks of clubs and selling a few records from home labels Dragon and Caprice to aficionados.
That changes, as far as Scotland is concerned, at this year's Starbucks Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, which started on Friday.
Jazz roots run deep and long in Sweden, as a 10-volume CD survey on Caprice shows. Names such as Harry Arnold, Arne Domnerus, Bengt Hallberg, Putte Wickman and Monica Zetterlund have international standing, while in baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin, who died in 1976, the country can boast a player of real stylistic significance, who took the cool approach of Miles Davis and Gerry Mulligan and crafted it into a highly expressive style that took account of Swedish folk roots rather than merely copying American models.
Contemporary players such as saxophonist Fredrik Nordstrom, who appears at Henry's Cellar Bar tomorrow, are these days more likely to cite US influences - Charlie Parker, Archie Shepp, Eric Dolphy, Keith Jarrett - but less because they reject the influence of compatriots, than out of a desire to work on an ever-wider canvas. Says Nordstrom: "It's important to play outside Sweden, not just so that people can hear what we do, but also because working with different musicians is the only way to develop, discover new things."
Nordstrom also names Björk and Elvis Costello, a sign that even so-called standards jazz has to uncover new sources. Tenor saxophonist Borje Fredriksson, one of the first Scandinavians to explore the dense, harmonically rich approach of John Coltrane, is another of his creative forebears.
Linda Pettersson, one of Sweden's most versatile jazz singers with a knack for turning lyrics into stories, will also appear in Edinburgh as part of the Jazz from Sweden component of this year's festival. She has carved a niche for herself by combining her love of classic artists such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Toots Thielemans while wowing audiences with her adaptations of songs from such varied artists as Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell. Pettersson will perform with Ewan Svensson, one of the country's best guitar players and composers.
Close your eyes at Fasching, Stockholm's leading jazz club, and you might be in New York or Chicago. Swedish players, such as Nordstrom or the leading avant-gardist Mats Gustafsson, play with as much abandon as the most extravagant Americans. Nordstrom grew up in the relatively remote town of Sandviken, attended technical school and only started a formal musical training after he had begun to play seriously. He was lucky his home town had a flourishing big band.
This is where the Swedes have sailed out. Regional development of jazz and the funds available for it would make the average British player or promoter green with envy. Backstage at last week's 22nd Stockholm Jazz Festival, I met Bengt Strokirk, who oversees jazz with the country's leading music organisation, Rikskonsert. "The Department of Culture gives about 400,000 krona [£30,000] to jazz each year," he says. "That's matched by the same amount from the local authorities. Much of that figure goes to the Swedish Jazz Federation who pay it out in grants to musicians. In addition, there are special state grants to senior musicians such as [saxophonist] Bernt Rosengren, [pianist] Lars Sjosten and [bassist] Palle Danielsson."
Strokirk says a brisk export drive is the way forward. "We have about 75 clubs round the country, so there are lots of opportunities, but you have to be young and energetic to make a living on that circuit. So they must look abroad to the festival circuits."
Strokirk is reticent on the question of what defines Swedish jazz. "Except for jazz influenced by folk - Lars Gullin and people in that tradition - it's difficult to define. We are not like Norway, which has given its jazz a strong trademark."
The Scottish connection was cemented in recent visits by Tommy Smith, himself no mean battler for funds and recognition. His career trajectory - precocious talent, training at Berklee College in the US, a (brief) contract with Blue Note and then the self-reliance of his own imprint Spartacus - is one which impresses every young Swedish player.
In return, Sweden offers a well-founded, well-resourced jazz scene a short hop from Prestwick airport, so the benefits of this year's Jazz Festival encounters are likely to be reciprocal.
Among the most exciting collaborations on is a group led by Scottish tenor saxophonist Konrad Wisniewski, who has risen through the ranks from Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra, to the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra to become a name to watch as he grows in solo stature. For those lucky enough to catch him in the company of Claire Martin and Todd Gordon at the Queen's Hall in February this year, it will be hard to resist a second helping. He will be playing this week with a Swedish rhythm section anchored by pianist Daniel Karlsson, whose Pan-Pan is the Swedish album of the year and likely to appear in more than a few "best of" polls among British writers as well.
Karlsson has transformed influences from Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock into his own rhythmic style and is excited at the prospect of being unleashed on Scotland alongside his fellow countrymen. "Yeah, Scotland is so close and there are so many great players there - Tommy Smith, Brian Kellock - who are in the same position as us, really well known at home, but not yet able to play on a world stage. That is what we all want, I think, that anchor of a home base with the chance to travel and explore."
It is probably too soon to write headlines along the lines of "The Swedes are Coming!" but it seems some of the most stimulating sounds in Edinburgh this August will have a Scandinavian accent. A new Nordic alliance beckons.
http://www.scotsman.com/?id=1705162005
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