1. Arstiderna (The Seasons)
2. Host (Autumn)
3. Coda
4. Johan Petter I
5. Johan Petter II
6. Johan Petter III
7. Wolfgang on my Mind - Andante sostenuto
8. Andante
9. Menuetto
10. Andante con moto
11. Presto
Tracks 1-6
Arne Domnerus - Alto sax
Claes Rosendahl, Lennart Aberg - Tenor saxes
Erik Nilsson - Baritone sax
Bertil Lovgren, Bosse Broberg, Jan Allan -
Trumpets
Runo Ericksson - Bass trombone
Rune Gustafsson - Guitar
Jan Johansson - Piano
Gerog Riedel - Bass
Egil Johansen - Drums
Tracks 7-11
Johan Alenius, Krister Andersson - Alto saxes
Lennart Aberg - Soprano sax, tenor sax
Erik Nilsson - Baritone sax
Lars Lindgren, Jan Allan - Trumpets
Nils Landgren - Trombone
Hakan Nyquist - Cor
Pal Svenre - Keyboards
Bobo Stenson - Piano
Lars Danielsson - Bass
Anders Kjellberg - Drums
Bengt Stark - Percussion
Seeing the references to
Mozart and The Seasons among the tracks,
I thought at first that this album was going
to be an attempt to fuse classical music with
jazz. There have been many such attempts -
some of them successful (e.g. George Gershwin's
Rhapsody in Blue) but many have failed
- notably the essays in "Third Stream" music
in the late fifties and sixties. Jazz and
the classics often fail to blend because one
or other becomes dominant or because the genres
are essentially different. Jazz usually stresses
improvisation and rhythmic flexibility, which
are lacking from most classical pieces.
Certainly Swedish bassist/composer
Georg Riedel uses some aspects of classical
tradition alongside jazz but these seem to
be a natural part of his vocabulary rather
than an attempt at grafting one style onto
another. Admittedly the classically-oriented
sections don't sound very jazzy - as at the
start of Wolfgang on My Mind, which
is actually a five-piece suite starting from
the four-note theme of the last part of Mozart's
"Jupiter" Symphony. Yet this piece seems to
have little connection with Mozart, being
more reminiscent of the multi-textured arrangements
of Gil Evans, although the presence of a sturdy
trombone conjures up echoes of Carla Bley.
These pieces were written
for the Swedish Radio Jazz Group, which was
formed in 1967 but (according to the sleeve-note)
"faded away" in the 1990s. Tracks 1 and 2
were recorded in 1967; tracks 3 and 4 in 1968;
and tracks 7 to 11 in 1991 - but there is
a consistency in Riedel's approach, which
is very eclectic and beyond categorisation
(which makes life difficult for a reviewer!).
However, the music is all fascinating: using
a band of first-class musicians to present
a wide-ranging mix of moods and styles. It
moves from the accessibly tuneful to the freely
anarchic, but it will appeal to jazz lovers
who like adventurous works - that is, people
who appreciate such jazz composers as Charles
Mingus, Gil Evans and Mike Gibbs.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Phono
Suecia PSCD 176
