Lasse Törnqvist All Stars

The autumn season of Uppsala Jazz Club ended on Dec 5th when Lasse Törnqvist All Stars visited Pub 19 in Uppsala. They played a lot of good mainstream jazz.



The group consists of Lasse Törnqvist (cornet), Erik Persson (stand-in for Klas Lindquist), (alt.sax); Dicken Hedrenius (trombone), Erik Söderlind (guitar), Patrik Boman (bass), Jesper Kviberg (drums).



The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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 Lasse Törnqvist All Stars? Please comment.

Dj Björn at Cats Corner

There are just a couple of weeks left of indoor dancing at Cats' Corner. Yesterday DJ Björn made his dj debut at Cats Corner. Great music all evening and lots of nice people to dance with. I even squeezed in a little bit of foxtrot and blues between all the lindy and balboa.

I've been busy at Cats' Corner this season and have been djing four five times. Now it's nice to have a little break.

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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 last nights' Cats' Corner? Please comment.

Cats' Corner: Season Premiere

Tonight the regular weekly dancing at Cats' Corner starts again. "At last!" I think many people exclaims because the pause over Christmas and New Year is the longest pause during the whole year.

Tonight the swing dj is Simon Ternsjö. I'll be djing next week.

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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 Cats' Corner? Please comment.

Snowball Dance Camp - Stockholm

Just before New Years Eve I went to dance at the Snowball Dance Camp in Stocholm. The camp is about one week but I was just there for one night, so I had to choose carefully which night to visit.



I choose this night because of the bands that were playing: Jennie Löbel And the Swing Kings and the Gordon Webster sextet. I've danced to Jennie and her band ever since I started dancing. I first saw Gordon Webster this summer at Herräng Dance Camp. I remember him in a 3AM jam in the pub when the set had stopped but the audience kept on clapping, wanting more. Gordon went back to the piano and improvised a song using the clapping audience as a huge rhythm section.

That's why I wanted to see them.



The ballroom was huge and there were people everywhere, in fact I don't think I ever have seen so many swing dancers at one time. I heard somewhere that the ballroom allows for 600-700 people to be there at one time. Lots and lots of people to dance with. It's fun to be part of such a crowd, but it also makes it difficult if you want to find a certain person you want to dance with.

If you follow the Swedish custom to dance two songs with a person you can dance 10 dances in one hour which meant 80 dances through the night if you danced non stop.



If the middle of the night there were a performance by The Harlem Hot Shots. Great stuff as always. I liked their 1920's number best.

The bands traded sets and they played 3 sets each. How about that!

In the end of the night the fatigue and the fact that my shoes are pretty new and not really worn in yet made my dance less good than it normally is (I hope).

Overall, a very nice night. Afterwards, I reflected on how easy it is to take events like this for granted and how much work it must have taken put it together. I know, because I've arranged half a dozen camps myself and more dance nights than I can remember.

If you meet the organizers be sure to thank them.

The next big event will be here in Uppsala in the and of January: The Uppsala Winter Camp. See you there.



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 Snowball? Please comment.

Missisippi Seven at Uppsala Jazz Club

Last Sunday the trad jazz band Missisippi Seven had a concert at Pub 19 in Uppsala. The concert was arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club.



From a listeners point of view: This is music that really makes you happy. Good musicians. Nuff said.

Well, almost. What also makes you smile is that talk inbetween the songs by drummer Bertil Ekman. He seems to have a infinite supply of entertaining useless facts.



From a dancers point of view: Missisippi Seven plays trad jazz in a moderate tempo that you could easily do lindy to. The tempo is a little slow for balboa but they could probably throw in a couple of faster tunes if you asked them.

They played two of my favorite songs: "Diga Diga Doo" (also the name of the their new album where my photos is on the album cover) and "Blues My Sweetie Naugthy Gives To Me".

Here's my own useless but entertaining fact: mostly you hear "Blues My Sweetie Naugthy Gives To Me" played instrumently by for instance Sidney Bechet but there is actually lyrics to the song which list all the kinds of blues that you can get.

One of the kinds of blues is "The blues you get from women, when you see them going swimming, and you doesn't have a bathing suit yourself".



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 Missisippi Seven? Please comment.

Outdoor dancing season is over

The outdoor dancing season is over in Uppsala, on Tuesday we had the last dance by the river with some barbeque. You could notice that the autumn is here because it got dark much earlier.

We always get an audience who look at us dancing when the big boats passes by on the river.

A big thank you goes to the persons who made it happen: Simon, Mirjam, Emil, Lilian and Johan (and possibly others that I forgot, in that case please let me know).

They have made it possible to dance lindy hop and balboa during the summer. I think it's fantastic that right after our weekly dance Cats Corner ended for the spring season, the outdoors dancing started so that we now have social dancing every week all year around.



The outdoor dancing got the attention of the local newspaper and they published a full page interview with Anna. Anna is a enthusiastic dancer who does a lot of work for dance scene in Uppsala. Her efforts really makes a difference. Thank you Anna!



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 the outdoor dancing by the river? Please comment.

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.

Outdoors summer dancing in Uppsala

Tuesdays are dancing days in Uppsala during the summer. If you go down to the park by the river, you'll find lindy hoppers and balboa dancers all over the place from 18 o'clock and until we run out of batteries for the boombox or run out of dancers, whichever happens first.

Many people bring food and drinks and have a picnic while they rest for a while. Many other (not yet dancing) people pass by on the walking paths beside and stay for a while and look. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce your friends to the dance.



Nobody has yet fallen into the river by accident but last Tuesday one guy jumped into river all by himself.

The event has expanded to Mondays when tap dancer try their rhythms on the quayside.

The event seems to be getting some attention since earlier this week the local radio station phoned me and wanted to get in contact with some dancers.

There are also other outside dances in Uppsala, if you dance tango, go to Smultron at Svartbäcksgatan on Tuesdays between 19 and 23 and if dance Swedish Bugg, go to the river between Skolgatan and Eddaspången on Thursdays after 18.

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 the outside dancing by the river in Uppsala? Have you been there yet? Please comment.

Happy Birthday Duke! - Concert and show April 29th

Happy Birthday Duke! is a concert and show that you really should see. It's a concert that celebrates Duke Ellingtons 110th birthday. The concert features no less than three bands and orchestras: Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra, SweDukes and the Middlesex group.

But wait there's more. Way more. You will also see the swing dance troupe MessAround perform together with the bands. The will show off all kinds of swing dances: Lindy hop, balboa, shag, charleston and tap.

The concert takes place next Wednesday, April 29th, at Univeritetsaulan, at 19.30.
Tickets cost 130 kr (90 kr for students). If you got a UNT-card: 100 kr (70 kr for students). Buy tickets via UNT Biljett (018-478 10 70) or at Ticnet.

Invite all your friends to Happy Birthday Duke! on Facebook.

If you were at Cats Corner yesterday, you got a sneek peak of MessAround doing the charleston number Uppsala Stomp. The number was tight and had lots of energy.



Uppsala University Jazz Orchestra (UUJO) has got a new member: Claes Brodda on saxophone. The photo above is from Saturday when he played together with Jennie Löbel and the Swing Kings at Swingkattens dance at Grand. I look forward to hear more of him. (I'll post more about the Saturday night dance later).

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.

Will you attend "Happy Birthday Duke!"? Please comment.

Trinity at Uppsala Jazz Club: Photos

The jazz group Trinity played yesterday at Pub Nitton in Uppsala at a concert arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club.

The band consists of Ali Djeridi (drums), Andreas Hellkvist (Hammond) and Amanda Sedgwick (saxophone) who this time replaced Karl Olandersson (trumpet).



They played groovy jazz from the 1960's. It becomes especially groovy when Andreas Hellkvist attackes the key of his Hammond organ.



My favorite song of the concert was The Preacher by Horace Silver. Very groovy indeed.


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 Trinity? Please comment.

Lars Erstrand has passed away

One of Uppsala's and Swedens best jazz musicians, vibraphone player Lars Erstrand, passed away today at the age of 72.

I liked his concerts with Swedish Swing Society and Lars Erstrand Four and I will always remember his warmth, his joy and his humour that he gave to us in the audience. Rest in peace.

Do you have any memories of Lars Erstrand that you would like to share? Please comment.

Cats' Corner at Gotlands nation

I hope I didn't scare you with the photo above. Sometimes when I'm out taking photos unexpected things like these pop up in front of my lens. Booo! ;)

Yesterday I visited our (almost) weekly dance Cats' Corner. This season we don't have just one but several locations for the dance. This time it was held at Gotlands nation. It was there very first time we had the dance there, so there was some things to figure out how they worked.

Another debut for the night: Agnes Hjelm debuted as a swing dj and I think she played very well. She played both old classics as well as some neo swing.



One especially nice thing about Gotlands nation as a swing venue is that there are some space where people really can sit down and talk while they are not dancing. Oftentimes it's just "dance, dance, dance!" and you never get a chance to chat with people.

One other thing you could do when you're not dancing is to read the old magazines that we have bought. All the magazines are from the 1940s-1950s and it's fun to read what they thought was important to write about then. It's also entertaining to read the advertisements.



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 Cats Corner at Gotlands nation? 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.

Herrang All Stars / Folkets Hus Fem: Photos

I have now recovered from attending the Uppsala Winter Camp, it was a fun experience and in my opinion the best dance camp in Uppsala so far.

One of the things that made this year special was what happend Saturday night. In addition to the big band on the main stage, some of the instructors had decided to put together a band or more exactly to reunite a band from Herräng Dance Camp.

The band is called the Herrang All Stars / Folkets Hus Fem and consists of Peter Loggins (Washboard-Suitcase-Pots and Pans), Mia Goldsmith (vocals and kazoo), Todd Yannacone (guitar), Niklas Eriksson (clarinet) and Christoffer Alehed (trombone). Guest artist this night was Orvar Turegård on piano.



The played songs like: I Found a New Baby, After You've Gone, Aint she sweet (with Sean Hall singing and playing his Uke), Dinah, I Found a new baby, Lady Be Good , Saint Louis Blues. All these songs were recorded and you can listen to the Herrang All Stars / Folkets Hus Fem songs here.



Having one more band made it an awesome experience to walk around Grand and having music played everywhere you went.

Thank you guys for playing. Your performance made the camp very special.



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 Herrang All Stars / Folkets Hus Fem? Please comment.

Kulturoasen: Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers

Today there is a concert with Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers at Kulturoasen in Håga just outside of Uppsala. The concert starts at 14 and is free of charge.

Kulturoasen is run by Kent Wennman who also arranges the summer concerts in Parksnäckan.

The photo above is from Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers' concert in Parksnäckan last summer. This is the photo that the band uses on their posters.

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 Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers? 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.

Release party: Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers: Turn it up

Last Saturday the rhythm & blues band Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers had a release party at Katalin to celebrate their new cd Turn It Up.

They played songs from the album, great jump blues as always. What I really like is the fact that the band has written some new songs.

You can buy Turn It Up from their label: Heptown Records.



I only had time to see their first set since I had to hurry back to prepare for the swing night and the vintage fashion show at Grand.

I also didn't have time to pick up the actual cd, a pity since I was really curious about what the booklet inside looked like. I photographed the pictures that is inside, the photos where taken when Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers played at Parksnäckan in June.



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 Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers new cd, Turn it up? Please comment.

Photography: Vintage fashion and swing dancing

Last Saturday was packed with events, there was weekend dance workshops, Swingkatten had a fika where people in the the organization introduced themselves and presented what they are doing. Swingkatten is doing so many things these days that it's hard to keep track of it all.

However, the main event was the swing dance later on that evening. On stage we had Hasse Ling and His Syncopators of Swing. They are a great small band that knows what the dancers want. They've played at several of our dances.



In the first band break there was a vintage fashion show with clothes from a shop called Dreamers Vintage in Uppsala. The shoes were from Jigwalk. Marielle Hjalmarsson was the fabulous and charming MC of the event.

I was asked to photograph the fashion show and also to take some portraits afterwards. In order to to able to take the photos I want and to get the quality of the photos as good as I want them to be, I invested in a new flash accessory. Hopefully you will see the difference. I'm still on the mission to become a world class photographer.

You can see a large collection of vintage fashion photos from the night here. Note the arrow below on that page which takes you to more photos with swing dancing as well as the performances that took place in the second band break.

The performers were first a group of tap dancers from Swingkatten, then came Emelie and Rebecka Decavita from the show group MessAround and last but not least The Midnight Rounders, a show dance group from Stockholm (first picture).



As if photographing and doing light design for the fashion show wasn't enough, I also djed the late night shift. It went pretty well and it was fun to see a jam circle erupt. Benny Goodman did it again.

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 swing dance at Grand? Please comment.