Jazz in the Botanical Garden: Ulf Johansson Werre

Tomorrow night, Monday Aug 3rd, there will be a jazz concert at the Botanical garden in Uppsala, at Orangeriet, with a jazz trio led by Ulf Johansson Werre (trombone and piano). Together with him are Erik Ojala (bass) and Robin Englund (guitar). They will play both Swedish as well as international love songs.

Two years ago Ulf Johansson Werre did a large scale concert in the Botanical garden called Botan Brass. & Fireworks with the Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra in which Robin Englund plays the guitar. Erik Ojala plays in several jazz bands in Uppsala.

The jazz concert is a part of Konstsommar i Uppsala. The concert starts at 19 and the ticket costs 120 kr (100 kr with UNT-card).

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license it.

What do you think of the musicians in the band? Please comment.

Blue Monday: Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra

This afternoon a new concert series will start in Uppsala: Blue Monday at Universitetsaulan.

First out in this attempt by Uppsala University to make mondays more fun is Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra which will play big band classics. The concert starts at 16.45 and lasts an hour. The concert is free of charge. Go there and listen!

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license it.

What do you think of Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra? Please comment.

Ulf Johansson Werre at Grand: Photos

The band for the Friday night dance at Uppsala Winter Camp was Ulf Johansson Werre Swing Orchestra. Ulf Johansson Werre had put together this band with some other professional jazz musicans: Tommy Johnsson (bass), Claes Askelöf (guitar) and Calle Rasmusson (drums).



The great thing about professional musicians such as them is that they often add more "texture" to the music, which the dancers can pick up and play with. If they overdo it, it becomes more "jazzy" than swinging, but as long as you have a good rhythm section you can't go wrong. I think the band had a really good swinging sound all through the night.





In the end of the first set Ulf Johansson Werre looked down at the dance floor where he saw Ida Widberg who also sings in The Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra where Ulf is the musical director.

He invited her onto the stage and she sang All Of Me (if I remember correctly).

Later on there was another guest appearance when Christoffer Alehed joined the band with his trombone for two songs.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license them.

What do you think of Ulf Johansson Werre Swing Orchestra? Please comment.

Uppsala Winter Camp coming up

Today the Uppsala Winter Camp, Swingkattens annual swing dance camp, starts. The first 4 years I was heavily involved in organizing the camp. Nowadays I "just" participate in doing practical things during the camp such as setting up sound and light equipment for classes, rigging for live bands, run the light for Saturday night stage show and dj.

I'll dj tonight at Drabanten between 22-23, Friday 01-02 (the late late shift) and on the Sunday tea dance between 16-17.

I'm looking forward to see the band tomorrow, The Ulf Johansson Werre Swing Quartet, I think they'll rock, eh I mean swing.

Will you attend the Uppsala Winter Camp? Please comment.

Jazz photography: Swinging Christmas with Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra.

Here are some photographs from the jazz concert Swinging Christmas with Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra.

The photo above shows the beautiful vocalist Ida Widberg.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license them.

Were you at the concert? What do you think of the photos? Please comment.

Swinging Christmas: Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra

The Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra has a concert tonight called Swinging Christmas.

The jazz concert features Bengt Feldreich and the Lucia of Uppsala: Anette Bodén.

The concert is in Missionskyrkan and starts at 19.00. Tickets cost 130 kr (90 kr for students).

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license it.

What do you think of Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra? Please comment.

Jazz photography: The Great Jazz Party

Last Saturday I attended the concert The Great Jazz Party. The concert hall was almost sold out. It was a really good concert, how could it not be that way with some of Swedens best jazz musicians in the band. I'm especially thinking of Klas Lindquist, Klas Toresson, Karl Olandersson and Andreas Pettersson and of course the maestro himself: Ulf Johansson Werre.



Two vocalist were featured in the concert: Roger Pontare and Vivian Buczek. Roger Pontare is known for his songs with a strong ethnic influence from northern Sweden (which you might have guessed by his clothes in the picture above) but he has also recorded an album with Frank Sinatra songs.

Vivian Buczek comes from the other end of Sweden, from the town Malmö, in the very south of Sweden. I've heard her before when she sang with Claes Crona Trio at Katalin last year.

Both singers sang excellent.



At the concert they played a song that I heard a couple of times but never known what it's called, now I got it: Filthy McNasty written by Horace Silver. (Hear a clip of Filthy McNasty at Youtube).

If you want to see more of my photos from the jazz concert, take a look here: The Great Jazz Party at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress 2008.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

What do you think of Great Jazz Party? Please comment.

Great Jazz Party: Roger Pontare + Vivian Buczek

Tonight it's time again for The Great Jazz Party at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress. Ulf Johansson Werre has assembled a big band with professional jazz musicians. The concert features the singers Roger Pontare and Vivian Buczek.

Th concert starts at 19.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Will you attend The Great Jazz Party? Please comment.

Time Is Essential: UUJO + Frode Kjekstad concert

Tomorrow Friday Oct 31st, Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra (UUJO) will give a concert, "Time is Essential", at the University Hall. The concert will feature the Norwegian guitar player Frode Kjekstad. The orchestra is led by Ulf Johansson Werre.

The concert in the University Hall starts at 19.00. The tickets costs 130 kr (90 kr for students. If you got a UNT card and books at the UNT office (018-470 10 70) the tickets costs 100 kr (70 kr for students).

The photo above is from their Big Band Bouquet concert this spring.

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license it.

What do you think of the Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra? Please comment.

Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra: Exam concert photos

On May 29th Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra held its exam concert at Katedralskolan. There are two versions of the big band, a permanent big band and this version consisting of students that took the two semester course in big band music. I'm so proud that our univeersity can offer a course like that, ain't cool?

One part of the course is that the students make their own arrangments. I heard new arrangements of songs like "Some of these days" and "I can't give you anything but love". Band leader Ulf Johansson Werre had arranged many other of the songs: "Lullaby of Birdland", "Don't get around much anymore".


I don't know, but it could have been a first: Ulf's son Oscar Johansson Werre (age 12) played drums with the band.

I like that they played a version of "In the Mood" with Swedish lyrics and another arrangement by Gunnar Svensson called "Inte mod" (translates into "Not brave").

What do you think of the Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra? Please comment.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra: Concert photos from Big Band Bouquet

Yesterday Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra gave a concert called Big Band Bouquet at Universitetsaulan (The University Hall). The location is just magnificent with lots of golden ornaments.

The theme for the concert was Frank Sinatra songs but they also played a lot of other swinging jazz standards by jazz composers such as as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey.


The concert started with the song Cute in a Count Basie arrangement. Talking about Cute, you should really see the hilarious video clip with Jerry Lewis miming to Cute from the film Cinderfella. The band leader, Ulf Johansson Werre, played a solo version of I Get A Kick Out Of You.

Afterwards I had the chance to hang out with the band, what a nice bunch of people!

The next chance to see and hear the Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra will be in month or so when they do a Benny Goodman themed concert. I think you will enjoy that because the band is really swingin'. Keep an eye on this blog for further announcements.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license my jazz photos.

Did you visit the concert with Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Big Band Bouquet by Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra

Tonight Thursday April 17th Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra will give a concert called Big Band Bouquet.

Big Band Bouquet celebrates the memory of Frank Sinatra who passed away 10 years ago. Besides playing some of the hits by Frank Sinatra, they will play big band classics by jazz legends as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Lars Gullin.



The Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra is led by one of my favorite jazz musicians: Ulf Johansson Werre.

The concert starts at 19.00 at Universitetsaulan (The University Hall). Tickets can be bought in the lobby from 18.00 and they cost 130 kr (90 kr if you're a student).

The pictures are taken by me at the orchestra's concert in December: Swingin' Christmas.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Have you heard Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra before? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Hacke Björksten 3G: Photos

Last Saturday the spring season of Uppsala Jazz Club's concert series started with a bang when Hacke Björksten 3G took the stage at Katalin and all that jazz.

"3G" is short for the 3 generations of jazz musicians in the band. Hacke Björksten, the band leader and saxophone player, is the oldest man in the band. He knows how to talk jive and the introduction of the songs is often done with great humour.



Karl Olandersson on the other hand is the youngest musician and he's a really talented trumpet player. I've heard him play in several bands and it's always great to hear him.



Ulf Johansson Werre on piano had a very busy day. When the concert ended he had about 40 minutes to get to his next gig together with Toots Thielemans at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress. Luckily it's only 200 meters between the places. If you've been following this blog you know that Ulf is one of my favorite jazz musicians.



In the first set they played the songs: Three Generations, All Time Blues, I Hear Music, Autumn In New York, On The Alamo.

In the second set they played Free Kick, Polska från Gemåla (a fusion between Swedish folk music and jazz in the style of the late piano player Jan Johansson), Someone To Watch Over Me, Horse Power, Scrapple From The Apple.

Several of these songs are available on Hacke Björksten's cd.

Above you see a picture of Arne Wilhelmsson, the bass player and below a photo of the drummer Mattias Puttonen.



They ended the concert with a really swinging version of Duke Ellington's Things Ain't What They Used To Be.

Things may not be be like the swing era anymore, but this is pretty darn close! Catch the band if you have the chance.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Were you at the concert with Hacke Björksten 3G? What did you think of them? Tell me.

Toots Thielemans at Winter Jazz: Photos

You know an artist is popular when he gets standing ovations by just entering the stage. That's what happend yesterday when Toots Thielemans arrived on stage in the second set of the Winter Jazz concert at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress.

The audience loved him and he loved them back. Of course he played the song that he is most known for in Sweden: Bluesette. He seemed to be in a good form although he is 86 years old. He first visited Sweden 50 years ago.

The whole set he was backed up by the Claes Crona trio with Claes Crona on piano, Petur Island Östlund on drums and Jörgen Smeby on bass. They are a fantastic jazz trio. I last saw them last spring at a concert at Katalin together with singer Vivian Buczek, who also sang with them this evening.



A large part of the Swedens very best jazz musicians played in the first set. What a treat! The MC was Uppsala's own Ulf Johansson Werre (piano and trombone).

My favorite part of the first set was the two songs featuring the singer Viktoria Tolstoy and trumpet player Peter Asplund. There was a good chemistry between them and I really liked their versions of Round Midnight and It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing).



At the jazz concert there were also two guitarists: Andreas Öberg and Ulf Wakenius. Ulf Wakenius played over ten years with Oscar Peterson. A friend that I met at the concert said about Ulf: "It's not possible for a human to play the guitar that fast, but he does it anyway!".



In summary: It was a very good night. If you read Swedish, you can read what Upsala Nya Tidning, the local newspaper, wrote about the concert.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Were you at the concert with Toots Thielemans? What did you think of it? Tell me.

Hacke Björksten 3G at Katalin tomorrow

There is a lot of things happening tomorrow. One of the things are the first jazz concert arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club for this spring.

On stage is Hacke Björksten 3G. 3G refers to that it is three generations of jazz musicians in the band.

The band consists of Hacke Björksten (saxophone), Karl Olandersson (trumpet), Ulf Johansson Werre (piano), Arne Wilhelmsson (bass) and Mattias Puttonen (drums).

I've heard all of these jazz musicians before (except the band leader) and they are great. I think that this concert will swing much. I don't know exactly what style they will play but I hope it's very danceable.

The concert starts at 14 and is located at Katalin. Note: If you're under 25 you'll get in for free. What about that!



The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Will you go to the concert tomorrow? Tell me.

Toots Thielemans at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress

What a concert there will be tomorrow at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress! The fantastic harmonica player Toots Thielemans is coming to town and he is backed up by the elite of Swedish jazz musicians.

The musicians are Ulf Johansson Werre, Claes Crona, Vivian Buczek, Jörgen Smeby, Petur Island Östlund, Viktoria Tolstoy, Ulf Wakenius, Peter Asplund and Andreas Öberg.

If you have the opportunity you should really attend the concert that starts at 17. The tickets cost 325 kr.

Here is a video clip of Toots Thielemans playing Bye Bye Blackbird.

The photo above is taken by Jos L. Knaepen.



What do you think of Toots Thielemans? Tell me.

Uppsala Jazz Club: Spring Program 2008

Uppsala Jazz Club has released the concert program (pdf) for the spring. A lot of good concerts are coming up:

Saturday February 16th
Hacke Björkstens 3G (Three Generations)

Hacke Björksten, saxophone
Karl Olandersson, trumpet
Ulf Johansson Werre, piano
Arne Wilhelmsson, bass
Mathias Puttonen, drums

Saturday February 23rd
Johan Christoffersson 4

The winners of Youth Jazz Contest 2007
Johan Christoffersson, saxophone
Filip Ekestubbe, piano
Petter Olofsson, bass
Sebastian Ågren, drums


Saturday March 8th
Lars Erstrand Four

Lars Erstrand, vibraphone
Bertil Fernqvist, guitar
Arne Wilhelmsson, bass
Björn Sjödin, drums

Saturday April 5th
Emily McEwan and Kjell Fernström kvartett

Kjell Fernström, piano
Ola Botzén, drums
Per Nilsson, bass
Claes Askelöf, guitar

Saturday April 19th
Gerschwin on Guitar

Andreas Pettersson, guitar
Daniel Tilling, piano
Martin Sjöstedt, bass
Daniel Fredriksson, drums

Which concerts are most interesting to you? Tell me.

Swinging Christmas with Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra

Tomorrow (Tuesday) you can hear Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra at Missionskyrkan in Uppsala when they perform their show: Swinging Christmas.

Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra will perform swinging arrangements of American Christmas songs. They will also play the songs composed by band leader Ulf Johansson Werre.

The band will feature the great clarinet player Antti Sarpila. Antti Sarpila is the best clarinet player I know.

Where: Missionskyrkan, St. Olofsgatan, Uppsala. When: Tuesday Dec 18th at 19:30. Cost: 120 kr (80 kr for students).

The photo is taken by me at a concert with Swedish Swing Society and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license it.

Are you going to the concert with swingin' Christmas songs performed by Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra (UUJO)? Tell me.

Big Band Explosion & Louise Hoffsten & Vocation

The name of the concert says it all: Great Jazz Party. What else could you call a evening with top notch jazz musicians in an 17 piece band. Band leader Ulf Johansson Werre has put together a superb orchestra. Providing the base for swinging madly is the rhythm section with Ulf Johansson Werre himself on piano, Andreas Pettersson on guitar, Tommy Johnson on bass and Mats Engström on drums. Mats had also arranged many of the songs they played.

There were many great solos, I particularly liked the solos by Karl Olandersson and Ulf Andersson. I liked the song "I found a new baby" which was played by a small group consisting of Ulf Johansson Werre, Mats Engström and Klas Toresson (saxophone).




It was great to hear singer Louise Hoffsten, who can both sing in smooth and a raw style. An old favorite song sung by her was "Seduction of Sweet Louise" and she also sang a really good song from her coming album: "Så speciell" (So special).

Last but not least there was a vocal group called Vocation. I really liked their version of "It dont mean a thing (if it ain't got that swing)"

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Where you at the concert with Ulf Johansson Werre Big Band Explosion at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What did you think of the evening? Tell me.

Great Jazz Party at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress

One of the largest jazz concerts of the autumn here in Uppsala will take place on Saturday Nov 10th, it's properly named Great Jazz Party.

Great Jazz Party is the work of Ulf Johansson Werre where he handpicks the greatest jazz musicians in Sweden to form an 17 piece orchestra called "Ulf Johansson Werre Big Band Explosion".

This is the 7th year that Great Jazz Party is performed, earlier years there have been a theme to the concert but now there is no theme which gives Ulf Johansson Werre more artistic freedom for the concert.



Big Band Explosion consists of:

• Saxophone/clarinet/flute:
  Johan Hörlén, Klas Lindquist, Klas Toresson, Ulf Andersson, Erik Nilsson
• Trumpet/flugelhorn:
  Jan Kohlin, Karl Olandersson, Stig Persson, Svante Halldin
• Trombone:
  Olle Holmquist, Karin Hammar, Mats Hermansson, Sven Larsson
• Guitar : Andreas Pettersson
• Bass: Tommy Johnson
• Drums: Mats Engström
• Piano/trombone: Ulf Johansson Werre
  

Also performing together with the band is the excellent blues singer Louise Hoffsten (who is also a great harmonica player) and the vocal group Vocation.



I hear that the concert is sold out, but if you're lucky you might find a ticket.

The photos are taken by me (with the exception of the photo of Louise Hoffsten) and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Are you going to Great Jazz Party at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What are your expectations? Tell me.