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The West Coast Jazz Sounds of Jan Johansson (1931 – 1968)

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A sad anniversary.

It was 50 years ago today that the great Swedish jazz pianist, composer and arranger, Jan Johansson, died in a car crash on his way to a gig in Jönköping.

His magnificent Jazz på Svenska, (just him and bassist Georg Riedel reworking Swedish folk songs), is the best-selling Swedish jazz record of all time. And quite rightly so.

I just discovered that he is buried in Skogskyrkogården which is 10 minutes walk away for me. Maybe I will go down and pay him and Greta Garbo my respects later today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLl2ajfN03Q&t=1099sVideo can’t be loaded: Jan Johanson – Västkustjazz 1961 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLl2ajfN03Q&t=1099s)

For the bon viveurs among you…

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Knowing that the contributors to this site have a burning culinary interest, I felt it only right to share this ad for Ching’s Szechuan Chutney.

It reminds me of DuCool’s tales of eating in the curry houses of Rusholme.

Vindaloo, Tindaloo, Xindaloo… and after that came the dishes which would only be served to those with a doctor’s certificate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEBLMJeVNVU

Are Scottish trainspotters always “getting off at Haymarket”?

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In front of Stockholm’s rather grand Konserthus is Haymarket Square. During the sunnier months it is the location for a colourful fruit, veg and flowers market. The season is coming to an end , but on Saturday there were impressive displays of pumpkins and chanterelle mushrooms.

I mentioned this to a friend who lives in Edinburgh, and she commented that the Scottish capital also has a Haymarket. (Back in the days of horse travel, I suppose many cities did.)

Anyway, there is station there which gave rise to a popular slang expression. It’s the final one before Waverley, so if you get off there, you don’t go the whole way. “Getting off at Haymarket” therefore means to practice coitus interruptus.

A wonderful turn of phrase which I will endeavour to use.

Liverpudlians have their own version:”getting off at Edge Hill.”

Anybody else been delighted recently by discovering a new piece of colourful slang?

Slang expressions involving place names or geographical locations would be interesting to hear.

View post on imgur.com

Gimme gimme gimme a plan after midnight

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I had difficulty believing my eyes when I walked in on the SVT evening news yesterday evening and saw Prime Minister May doing a little dance to one of ABBA’s greatest hits. To say I cringed, does not do justice to my enormous embarrassment.

And to make matters worse, she took the wrong tune. With all the double-dealing, disloyalty and deviousness going on in the back alleys and dark bars of Birmingham, she would have been far better served by Magazine’s Shot by both sides or, perhaps even better, this magnificent floorfiller from the O Jays.

Unless of course, you have any other better ideas…..

The last thing we want to see is bopping politicians, but if Putin, Corbyn, Merkel, Boris etc are to hit the dancefloor, which particular bangers would serve them best?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6h1BV7FZqs

Le Tig! Cest chic!

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I’ve just read Tiggerlion’s joyously uplifting review of Nile Rodgers’s gig at Castlefield Bowl, Manchester. Sounds like it was a corker. And by a wonderfully serendipitous bit of timing, it occurred on the Tigster’s 60th birthday

Are we on the AW going to let that major event pass unnoticed? No, we are not!

I have never met Tigger and probably never will. Unless of course the Fasching Jazz Club in Stockholm puts on something a little exclusive. It may yet happen!

And Ducool and I will offer you a very warm welcome, if you decide to come over, Tigger.

But if I do get to meet him, I will be bloody surprised if we don’t get on very well. Few contributors on this site have been so wonderfully eclectic, supportive to new contributors and enthusiastic about the music they feel strongly about.

Tigger! I love you and want to have your kittens!

A big Tiggerlion birthday is worthy of a celebration. So please post something that he will enjoy or something that he introduced us/you to.

A tribe that does not celebrate its members who are Justified and Ancient, is not worth belonging to!

I will kick off » Continue Reading.

Musical moonlighting! Should composers diversify or are they simply Baching up the wrong tree?

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Composer, Kerry Andrew, is a lass with many different musical hats. At the weekend, Tiggerlion introduced us to her by posting a review of Keld, her fine new album as You are Wolf. This is Kerry as an avant-folk singer, with a repertoire comprising old songs and her own compositions. Tuneful, mysterious, evocative. Very moreish it is too.

I was fascinated to learn more about her.

Singer, radio DJ, journalist. novelist, composer: I was particularly interested to hear some of the stuff she had written for choirs. She works a lot with schoolkids, with some thrilling results.Those works must be great fun to sing. Just listen to her “Who we are” performed at the Royal Albert Hall. Invigorating!

A slight detour, but I can’t help but be reminded of David Bedford back in the early 70s. Primarily an avant-garde composer, he got called in to arrange some strings for Kevin Ayers and ended up playing in the band, The Whole World, alongside Lol Coxhill and Mike Oldfield. He went on to work more with both of them. Oldfield must have been a useful contact and Lol was a wonderful bloke. Bedford also did a lot of music for kids and » Continue Reading.

“Bedrocks” 2: Labelled with Love

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I really enjoyed that recent genre bedrock thread. So, here’s a sequel.

I’d like some suggestions for tracks that encapsulate the essence of your favourite record labels. All sizes, all musical genres welcome! Everything from vast multinationals to some geezer in Baton Rouge doing eccentric stuff in his bedroom.

Back in the day I was delighted when I discovered a label whose artists hit the spot for me: Island, Tamla Motown, Factory, Ze, Stiff, Stax, Blue Note, Two Tone, Chrysalis ….. And I continue to find new favourites today: Soul Jazz, Crammed Discs, ECM, Honest Jon’s, Luaka Bop, Asphalt Tango, Drag City, Rough Trade…….

For some of you, making a note of the label a new discovery is on is second nature. I usually don’t often notice, unless it’s drawn to my attention.

Do younger listeners, who may never even see the physical product, know or even care about which record label has released a track? The clever labels make very good use of You Tube and social media.

Talking of which, I just got a mail from Real World informing me that the excellent Spiro have a new album out. Excellent! Let’s kick off with them. A » Continue Reading.

Does your granny always tell you that the old songs are the best?

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God rest ye merry Afterword Gentlemen and Ladies! A very Merry Xmas to you all!

Yuletide is traditionally a time when you can overdo it a little. I’ve been working on a little Xmas playlist for our long drive down to Öland. You may find one or two of your favourite artists on it….

It features among others…

The Wurzles, Thomas Tallis, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, The Disappointment Choir, Bob Dylan, Big Big Train, Lord Nelson, Johnnie Allen, Wiley, Shonen Knife, Slade, Davitt Sigerson, Butterbeans and Susie, The Mermen, Caetano Veloso, Odd Nordstuga, Poly Styrene, Paul Simon, The Magnetic Fields, Jerry Garcia, The Lancashire Hotpots, The Ramones, Rajaton, John Fahey, Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler, Clarence Carter, Pentatonix, Ella Fitzgerald, Ivete Sangalo, The Waitresses, Kate Rusby, Machel Montano, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players, Sissel, Jo-el Sonnier, The Unthanks, John Kirkpatick, The Handsome Family, The Wombles, Sofia Karlsson, Half Man Half Biscuit, Bob Rivers, Maddie Prior, Lisa Ono, James Brown, Saint Etienne, Claudette et ti Pierre, Hello Saferide, Miles Davis, Aaron Neville, Steeleye Span, Chuck Berry, Run-D.M.C., Cesaria Evora, Bugge Wesseltoft, Harry Belafonte, The Tractors, Aimee Mann, Mabel Scott, Yellowman, John Prine, Wizzard, Mary Gauthier, Georg Wadenius, Maria Bethania, Coleman Hawkins, » Continue Reading.

A dollop of frosty, Nordic, pagan magic, oozing with starboys, gingerbread men and flaming blondes

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Those with a taste for sparse, restrained, melodic Nordic jazz, with a smidgeon of seasonal flavour, may enjoy the new release by Bröderna Johansson: Stilla Jul. (It’s on Spotify). Traditional Swedish Xmas favourites with just piano and double bass played by Anders and Jens Johansson, two metal musicians who are more commonly seen in the heavy company of the likes of AW favourite, Yngve Malmsteen. They are the sons of the late, very great jazz pianist, Jan Johansson, who died tragically young in a car crash in 1968. Their dad would have certainly enjoyed their new album where they breathe new life into his gentle legacy rather than indulging in high volume noodling.

It is Santa Lucia here today in Sweden and you can’t move for small children dressed as Lucias, elves, gingerbread men and starboys. What a very odd affair it is too. A strange mixture of pagan Midwinter celebration, beauty contest and Ku Klux Klan rally. I love it!

A Lucia procession is best experienced outdoors early in the morning in several inches of snow. I celebrated once indoors at the Finance Ministry: gourmet biccies and top notch glögg but I missed the shiver of frosty, Asgardian magic.

» Continue Reading.

Your favourite films from 2017? Neglected cinematic gems particularly welcome.

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I’d be very keen to hear about the new films that you enjoyed most during 2017. I’m particularly interested in the “smaller” films: the ones without a large advertising budget. But I am equally enthusiastic to hear about anything else that floated your cinematic boat.

I have an ulterior motive. I’ve become involved in the Film Club at our local cinema and tomorrow evening we are going to meet to decide the spring programme. So. your favourite film of the year might be turning up at a Stockholm, suburban cinema in the next few months…

Off the top of my head, my favourites of the year include Baby Driver, Sami Blood, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Aquarius, The Other Side of Hope, La pazza gioa, Patterson and Paddington.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zln78CcFkA

Leaves nothing to the imagination!

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As a self-proclaimed Pollyanna-in-Residence on this site, I’m putting on my best Mary Poppins bonnet for this thread. Today I am a nursery school teacher with a very enjoyable activity for you all. I want you all to cut and paste and then show your work to the rest of the class.

Anyone stumbling across the Afterword might find some of it a bit baffling. But that would be like listening to an episode of the Archers or watching an episode of The Wire in isolation. There are stories, jokes, conflicts, sagas that go back a long way. And bits and bobs that one knows about contributors that make their comments so much more interesting and so much more moving. The beauty of it all is that the more you read and the more you get to “know” the people here, the more enjoyable it becomes.

Every week I read stuff here that makes me intrigued, fascinated, amused, angry or perplexed. Comments and Youtube clips that make me want to listen to more, dance, rethink things, visit Australia, arrange a clandestine meeting with a transvestite Bolivian fortune teller…You all know how it is!

Here’s one of them. A small » Continue Reading.

Moose Music: toetapping birthday tunes for the shy retiring King of the Forest!

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It’s Moose the Mooche’s birthday!! Happy Birthday!

Whenever an AW thread gets floppy, limp and flaccid, we can always rely on his sparkling wit and repartee to ensure that it has a happy ending.

So now let’s brighten up his day with a few appropriately Moosey tracks.

I’ll kick off with some 1980s Estonian soul from Velly Joonas. I suspect you may be able to do better….

I was just talking to my colleague who had lost his mobile phone while cycling to work.

“The zip came undone and it just slipped out without me noticing.”

A line of defence that would never work in a court of law.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfwHuDCC7Xw&list=PLura_hWFeR3iS7FzEqwuxCbwEz1bUzNWW

Newsflash: ECM catalogue now available on Spotify

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A major change in policy for that magnificent Teutonic flagship of jazz, folk and ambient music.

In future their releases will be available on Spotify and other streaming services. I can understand their resistance but am glad they have changed their mind.

https://www.ecmrecords.com/news

To celebrate, here is a live track from the magnificent Anouar Brahem.

Which ECM artists will you now be giving a listen to?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zU5WU_d7fsM

Porto Alegre to Sao Paulo: a mixtape for an imaginary roadtrip

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That Garota from Ipanema casts a long shadow. The global success of Astrud Gilberto in the 60s has been a hard act for other Brazilian singers to follow. But now Sao Paulo singer, Céu, is starting to make quite a name for herself internationally thanks to some extent through a shrewd sponsorship deal with Starbucks. Do not let that put you off! She is no flunky of Big Coffee simply producing bossa lite as background music for latte lovers.

Last Friday I saw her live at the Fasching jazz club. It was sold out and every Brazilian in town seemed to be there. A wonderfully charismatic singer who mixes rock, reggae, Bossa nova and electronica into something that is very much her own. Charisma is her middle name.

After the gig I started to read a little more about Céu and her home city. When I did a grand tour of Brazil back in the 80s with the aid of a Varig airpass, I did not include Sao Paulo. A big industrial city: why waste time there? To be fair, I would feel sorry for anywhere competing with the sensual beauties of Rio. It must be like being Ingrid Bergman’s » Continue Reading.

Thunder gods need not apply

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Over on the Ragnarok thread, Saucecraft recently commented that films by Marvel Studios and their ilk get a disproportionate amount of attention on this site. So, here’s a thread to readdress the balance a little.

I’d like to hear about your favourite films from the past year or so which have not involved high-octane car chases, ginormous explosions or fast and furious chimpanzees, trying to guard the galaxy from a psychotic clown while wielding a large Viking hammer. And whose target audience is not 13 year olds.

Don’t get me wrong! I love movies like that. But let’s put the spotlight elsewhere for a change.

First though, a few thoughts about putting a new film on the map. Seemingly as much money is spent on the marketing of a blockbuster as on the actual making of the film. So what chance does a film with a more limited marketing budget have against these juggernauts?

A few things that might help:

A good review in The Guardian, NY Times, Le Monde, Sydsvenka Dagbladet etc

Winning a prize at a Film Festival. Some have an Audience Favourite where festival goers can vote.

A good score on IMDB. (Don’t forget anyone can » Continue Reading.

The future’s so bright that I have to wear 3D glasses

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On the Skavlan talkshow last Friday, as well as tinkling the ivories, Benny Andersson talked about his latest project: a live ABBA show with real dancers and musicians and the band as holograms.

An ABBAration that will be his Waterloo or an AbFab innovation in concert going?

ABBA have the financial resources and the know-how, the demand is doubtless there and Benny’s track record for perfectionism is impressive. I have few doubts that they will put on a fantastic show. And ever since the Tupac hologram at Coachella in 2012, interest in this new technology just grows and grows.

Soon we may even see artists who are still alive sending out holograms to tour on their behalf.

How many of you would be prepared to fork out a fairly large sum of money to see what is the musical equivalent of Madame Tussaud’s? And if so, who would you want to see and at what point in their career?

I hope I can resist the temptation. Rather than a perfectly polished hologram show I’d rather go and see an up-an-coming artist who might play a few bum notes. A live show is about spontaneity and the magic of the moment. » Continue Reading.

In praise of Saint Etienne. Your favourite paragons of modern pop perfection, please!

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It’s Saturday night. You are putting on your mascara, polishing your Doc Martens, dusting off your black beret, rolling a joint, ironing your Steely Dan T shirt, pouring yourself another glass of Bollinger’s, adjusting your toupee….

All you need is some sparkling, uplifting pop music to get you in the mood for the fun ahead. And who better to provide it than Saint Etienne? I saw them this week at Kägelbanan and was transported away by their career-spanning cavalcade of magnificent bittersweet pop. The new songs from new album Home Counties stood up very well against all my old favourites.

I’ve been going steady with Sarah Cracknell & Co for a while now. I first saw them in the mid-90s at the legendary Gino nightclub on Östermalm. It’s the venue where DuCool and I first started going to gigs together. It’s now a furniture showroom. But Saint Etienne are still going strong after 25 years. Quirky, sophisticated, adventurous, melodic and memorable.

Who are your favourite pop artists and which pop songs from the past 25 or so years hit the spot for you?

All hitmakers welcome even if their songs did not get the chart position they deserved. One hit » Continue Reading.

That Hairnet got me Horny and now I’m Bold as Brass!

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Martin Hairnet’s quest for brass bands in psychedelic music resulted in something of a brass band listening binge here in Kärrtorp. Where would popular music be without brass bands and horn sections?

It all started for me at Watford Town Hall: The Keef Hartley Big Band was a revelation. Their Sinning for you climaxes in a triumphant brass riff. I was hooked on horns.

Nuptials, wakes and er..birthdays: brass bands are perfect for any occasion. Bosnian and Serbian composer Goran Bregovic actually has a Wedding and Funeral Band.

I have so many favourite tracks where brass and horns provide that extra something that just makes the song.

A few other favourites… Some you will know, some not.

The bittersweet jazzy sound of EBTG’s Each and Every One. The simmering Rastafarian pride of Burning Spear’s Marcus Garvey. The ethereal flute and pounding riff of Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer. The Heimatdamisch’s hilarious Bavarian biergarden makeover of Highway to Hell. The self-confidence and swagger of Otis Redding’s Hard to Handle. The shimmering air of nostalgic melancholy that the Brighouse and Rastrick Band give the Unthanks’ King of Rome. The other-worldliness of Band Pres Llareggub Brass Band’s Cant a Mil. The frenetic, pumping energy » Continue Reading.

Hans Alfredson – 1931-2017: Locust bids farewell to a local hero

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I was a bit taken aback when I looked at the morning paper on Monday morning. The entire front page was taken up by a photo of Hans Alfredson who had died the previous day. I knew that he was an important figure but hadn’t expected this kind of reaction. All the TV schedules were changed too, to broadcast tributes. And yet outside of Sweden, I suspect there was scarcely a single obituary. Working in Swedish, he was primarily an enormous local hero but not for export.

Of course I knew of him. His partnership with Tage Danielsson dominated Swedish comedy for many years. A real Swedish renaissance man: actor, director, novelist and even at the end zoo director!

And many of those who worked with Hasse & Tage achieved international success. The magnificent jazz singer and actress, Monica Zetterlund, who sung with many of the jazz elite of her day, most memorably on Waltz for Debby that she recorded with Bill Evans. Lena Nyman, the star of the notoriously explicit I am curious (Yellow), who went on to act in Bergman’s Autumn Sonata and become a stalwart of the Swedish stage. And several more besides. Locust was a big » Continue Reading.

Nighthawks at the dentist’s

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American realist artist, Edward Hopper, got a couple of mentions on Mikethep’s Vermeer thread this week. To take just one example, Tom Waits’s live album Night Hawks at the Diner is named after his most famous painting.

This morning, as I sat down in the dentist’s chair, Ed suddenly made another appearance. The dentist always has the radio on in the surgery, and today there was an excellent programme on Hopper’s enormous influence, not least on the cinematic arts. While she worked on my teeth, I lay there and learnt more about Mr H.

Hopper was a keen cinema goer and he inspired many directors. The house in Psycho, many of the scenes in Siodmak’s The Killers, Boorman’s hard-as-nails gangster thriller Point Blank: all owe a great debt to his paintings.

Philip French wrote an excellent piece on this: see Comments.

Less predictably, that marvel of Swedish cinema, Roy Anderson, who was interviewed for the programme, was rapid to acknowledge his debt to Hopper:

“These paintings are condensed, purified—what isn’t necessary for the picture is subtracted—as in cartoons. I try to reach that level of concentration.”

Predictably, my question to you is: which other artists, photographers, comic book writers can » Continue Reading.

Is Tom of Finland the new Moomintroll?

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This year Finland celebrates 100 years of independence from Sweden and in honour of this, there is a three day festival of Finnish culture here in Stockholm. Lots of fine artists such as the marvelous Iiris Viljanen who you will remember made it onto Locust’s Best of 2016 list.

The big attraction for the younger audience however will be pop star Alma who is enormously popular over there on the other side of the Baltic. The song I’ve posted is very catchy. Watch out Signe! You have competition.

There will also be a performance of scenes from a new show about Tom of Finland. Famed for his gay erotica, it has now been suggested that he is now as famous as Finland’s other great export, Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll. One magazine picked up on this and produced an hilarious image of two podgy moomins cruising in leatherware.

My jazz neighbour tells me that Finland has some of the most exciting young jazz acts in Europe.

Aki Kaurismäki, Lordi, Maria Kalaniemi, Tove Jansson, Värttinä, Heavisaurus, Kimmo Pojhonen, Vasas Flora & Fauna: these are a few of my favourite Finns.

Have you any? Or do you draw a blank after Moominmamma, Sniff, » Continue Reading.

Smuk og dejlig! No Dane, no gain!

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A quick vox pop.

Sweden had Abba, Norway had A Ha and Finland has Lorde and more metal bands than any country in the world. But Denmark has a far lower profile. If I were to ask about your favourite Danish piece of music or musician, what would spring to mind? Lars Ulrich from Metallica, Sinne Eeg’s exquisite jazz vocals, Little Donkey Hitmakers Nina and Fredrik, Mew’s classy progrock, AW pin-up girl Agnes Obel, The theme tune from The Bridge, Aqua’s Barbie Girl, …. Or?

Denmark has been very much flavour of the week here in Kaisfatdadaville.

I recently returned from the Roskilde Festival where several Danish bands (none of which I’d never heard of) did some stupendous shows. And then there was the news that Afterworder @neverflown is relocating to Copenhagen. I promised to do a playlist of Danish favourites but first I would like to pick your brains.

Do any of you have any favourite Danish artists?

All genres welcome. Jazz, folk, electronica, pop….. ‘ And now a story that fascinated me.

You would think that singing in the notoriously incomprehensible Danish language would be a barrier to international success. Not always. I » Continue Reading.

It don’t mean a thing if the hero is Bing!

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Our book circle have just read Marghanita Laski’s fine 1949 novel Little Boy Lost. A dark, sombre, restrained book which I can warmly recommend.

An Englishman, Hilary Wainwright, returns to the chaos and ruins of Paris after WW2 in search of his lost son whose mother was murdered by the Gestapo. It’s an atmospheric portrait of post-war France: poverty, bereavement, black marketing and people trying to do the best they can in a very bad situation.

Wainwright is a successful avant-garde poet and not a very attractive character. He’s snobbish, judgemental, lecherous, terrified of emotional commitment and lacking in gratitude to all those who help him in his quest. His only redeeming feature is the kindness he shows to the orphan boy who he believes to be his son.

Hollywood bought the rights and made it into a film. To reach a broader audience they made the central character an American. Regretable, but not understandable. (It worked OK with John Cusack in High Fidelity). And then they did the casting. Who did they choose? That charming, affable crooner Bing Crosby. What’s worse, he keeps breaking into song.

Laski had kittens when she saw the film.

What next, » Continue Reading.