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TOLVAN BIG BAND Code Red Prophone Records PCD091

1. Code Red
2. Cats and Dogs
3. The Other Day
4. Going Bananas
5. Subconscious C
6. Antelope Dance
7. Ups and Downs

Helge Albin: alto saxophone, flute, musical director; Inge Petersson: tenor saxophone; Ulf Holmström: alto saxophone, alto flute; Cennet Jönsson: soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet; Bernt Sjunnesson: baritone saxophone, flute; Anders G. Gustafsson: trumpet, flugelhorn; Christer Gustafsson: trumpet, flugelhorn; Roy Wall: trumpet, flugelhorn; Fredrik Davidsson: trumpet, flugelhorn; Peter Asplund: trumpet, flugelhorn; Vincent Nilsson: trombone; Olle Tull: trombone; Ola Åkerman: trombone; Ola Nordqvist: trombone; Björn Hängsel: trombone; Jacob Karlzon: piano; Patrik Albin: bass; Lennart Gruvstedt: drums.

 

Helge Albin is the artistic leader of the Tolvan Big Band that hails from southern Sweden around the town of Malmo. Helge plays alto sax and flute as well as being a composer and arranger. This is a sensational Big Band, very modern in its output and delivery. Code Red, a Helge Albin composition, features Jacob Karlzon on piano and Peter Asplund on trumpet. Cats and Dogs, a composition of one of the band’s saxophone players Cennet Jonsson, has solos from Vincent Nilsson on trombone and Helge Albin on alto. The Other Day by the same composer has solos by Jacob Karlzon, the composer on soprano and Lennart Gruvstedt on drums. 

All of the soloists on these tracks are brilliant musicians and the standard to which the band plays is amazing, but whether I would want to sit through two hours of this at a concert, I don’t know! It is all very frenetic and full of energy, but I wonder where the audience is for it. 

Going Bananas is another composition from the leader, this time there are solos from Patrick Albin (bass), Fredrik Davidsson (trumpet) and Vincent Nilsson and Ola Akerman (trombones). Subconscious C features Cennet Jonsson on bass clarinet. Antelope Dance features Peter Asplund on flugel and Inge Petersson on tenor saxophone. Ups and Downs has a solo from Jacob Karlzon on piano. 

This music must be great to play, if you have the ability of these remarkable musicians, but it is less fun to listen to and I don’t suppose I will ever hear anyone walking down the street whistling any of this! 

Don Mather

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