The Swede Sound of Jazz

It was an old friends' party and it was only the two of us who read the Downbeat and the Mojo. The rest are faithful subscribers of Metal Hammer and Classic Rock; therefore, it was not a likely situation that would make the horns a winner against the axes. Us two have no problem acknowledging Swedish Metal bears a brighter shine; it's the axe-mongers who keep asking (and fails to comprehend) about the Swede-ness of our preference, the Jazz.

This time, I was determined to put an end to this infinitely stretching scrutiny, but time rolled by; this time, without the annoying questions. Not that I was against this calm, but the situation resembled somewhat my air rifle; been used many times for target practice but never on putting up a defense. My alcohol-induced-self connected to the sub-conscious; I simply enjoy reminiscing this way the experience of hearing Rhythm and Swing (a compilation of Swedish Jazz between the era 1937 and 1939) for the first time. That one's my favorite among the 10-Cd set; thank you, Caprice!

That was the late-'80s, if I'm not wrong. It's a live recording of John McLaughlin's Shakti that turned me to Jazz; else, I was just one of the leather 'n rivets, long-haired young adults patting his own back upon learning to play the opening riffs of Smoke on the water. However, the only difference was I used to hang out with slightly elderly guys as well; one of them was pally with an Indian who came from the southern part of the country. It was he, who gave me the taste of Indo-Jazz for the first time. "Well, if jazz sounds that good with Indian mixes, it must be better unadulterated".

I must admit that the paradigm shift (Hell, I'm still in love with that number; it has so much common with prog-jazz) was a steep one, but my jazz collection grew. It was in the course of this process I came across Egba and realized that Sweden has an answer to Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins and the like; trumpeter Ulf Adåker and saxophonist Ulf Andersson just proved it with a mix of their horns and the then-contemporary electronic sounds. It was a different sound all right, but the difference is to be felt, not understood.

This made me delve deeper into finding the inherent charm of the Swedish Jazz sound as it was in its heydays in Sweden. This was the time when baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin weaved together folkloristic tunes (the chief ingredient of Swedish Jazz) in romantic styles, rather than going for making a typical expression on the specific qualities that characterize jazz. Instead, his efforts succeeded in giving jazz a Swedish facet. If we really need to put that feel in words, it must be something like sparse lyrical qualities combined in typical Nordic melancholic tunes, that pianists like Jan Johansson made popular during the '60s and been used by every generation of Jazz musicians from Sweden, including those who surfaced in the World Music era.

But then again, if we are to write theories, then Swedish jazz scores above the rest because of its historical backgrounds, which forces itself, unknowingly, onto the character of traditional jazz. Today's Swedish jazz dazzles with a tremendous breadth and a greater variety, in which, you shall find Ragtime dancing hand-in-hand with New Orleans jazz, Swing and Bop, without being fettered by boundaries that bar experimentation and satisfy the conservative mindset.