Happy Jazz - Gunhild Carling & Danish Jazz All Stars

Speaking of jazz that makes you happy: Tomorrow night, Friday Nov 13th there will be a concert at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress called Happy jazz with Gunhild Carling Big Band together with the band Danish Jazz All Stars.

"Plays the happy music of Papa Bue, Louis Armstrong, Eddie Condon, Wild Bill Davison "

More information about the concert.

What do you think of Gunhild Carling? 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The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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.

Jan Slottenäs Storband: In the Glenn Miller Mood

Tonight the Jan Slottenäs Storband performs at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress with the show "In the Glenn Miller Mood".

The band plays the arrangements just like Glenn Miller did. The concert starts at 19.30. The tickets costs 365 kr.

If you like Glenn Miller, this is the concert to attend tonight. I hope they play more swing than sweet music.

Did you visit the concert? What did you think of it? 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.

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.

Youth Jazz Contest 2007

Tonight it's time for Youth Jazz Contest 2007 in Uppsala at Reginateatern where young jazz musicians compete. You might spot the jazz stars of tomorrow there. The concert/competition is FREE.

The event starts at 19 o'clock and is arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club. The winner gets to play at either Katalin or Uppsala Konsert & Kongress in the spring.

In the photo you can see Johanna Grim and Henrik Grim who competed in last years Youth Jazz Contest. The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license it.

Are you going to the Youth Jazz Contest? 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.

Jazz at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress 2007

The new concert house in Uppsala is now properly inaugurated and there are concerts there almost every evening. Here is the jazz concerts that will happen at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress this fall:

Sun Oct 14 2007 18.00
South African piano player Abdullah Ibrahim plays solo. He mixes traditional African music with Amercian jazz.

Thu Oct 25 2007 19.30
Norrbotten Big Band & Rigmor Gustafsson
Newly composed music by Norrbotten Big Band together with jazz singer Rigmor Gustafsson

Sat Nov 10 2007 19.00
Ulf Johansson Werre Big Band Explosion
The Great Jazz Party is the name of Ulf Johansson Werre's annual big concert in Uppsala with 17 handpicked jazz musicians in the band "Ulf Johansson Werre Big Band Explosion". Guest artists are blues artist Louise Hoffsten and the vocal group Vocation.

Thu Nov 29 2007 19.30
Trio X & Dan Laurin
Flute player Dan Laurin meets Trio X, a jazz trio from Uppsala. They play music from all kinds of genres: jazz, folk music, medieval music.

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

Are you going to some of these concerts at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? Which ones? Tell me.

Trio X at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress: Photos

Today the jazz group Trio X had a lunch concert at Uppsala konsert & kongress. They played mostly their own compositions. I had a good time.



Trio X consists of Lennart Simonsson (piano), Per V Johansson (bass) and Joakim Ekberg (drums).





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

Did you hear Trio X at Uppsala konsert & kongress? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Crescent City Jazz at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress Opening

Crescent City Jazz was another nice surprise at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress yesterday. They play New Orleans Jazz, both standards and their own tunes in that style. I first saw Crescent City Jazz in March at a concert at Stabbygården.

Since a company called Nymansbolagen used to make bicycles called Cresent, the band will play tomorrow at a party arranged by a organisation consisting of people who used to work there.



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

Did you see Cresent City Jazz at the opening of Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What did you think of them? Tell me.

Silver Sextett at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress Opening

The Silver Sextett is a group of young jazz musicans that I first wrote about in connection with Youth Jazz Contest. Yesterday they performed at the opening of Uppsalas new concert hall: Uppsala Konsert & Kongress.

It's estimated that more than 10000 people in Uppsala took the chance to see what the new building was like.


The Silver Sextett played, among other songs, Night in Tunisia and It Don't Mean A Thing. It sounded very good.

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

Did you hear the Silver Sextett yesterday at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What do you think of them? Tell me.

TriAngel at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress Opening

TriAngel played soft vocal jazz but with a modern edgy touch. You can hear more what they sounded like on singer Anna-Karin Westerlunds Myspace page. The group also consists of Hampus Nordgren (bass) and Marko Savela (guitar).




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

Did you see TriAngel at the opening of Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What did you think of them? Tell me.

Uppsala Konsert & Kongress open the doors

In March I blogged about the new concert house in Uppsala: Uppsala Konsert & Kongress. Today the building is finished and at noon the general public will have a first chance to take a look at it from the inside. You will have a spectacular view over the city from the 6th floor.

There will be a lot of different kinds of music played there, including jazz and big bands, more about that later.

Have you visited Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What's your first impression? Tell me.

Uppsala Konsert & Kongress presentation

Yesterday I attended a presentation of the new consert and congress hall in Uppsala: Uppsala Konsert & Kongress, also known as Musikens hus (House of Music). The meeting was arranged by Musikens Hus vänner (Friends of House of Music).



The building of a new concert and congress hall has been debated a long time but now the building is soon completed. In a couple of months time they are ready to move in and it will be inaugurated September 1st.



Magnus Bäckström (CEO), Cecilia Jordan (Congress project manager) and Göran Persson (CMO) presented what is happening right now and what will happen once the building is inaugurated.

All people from Uppsala Konsert & Kongress radiated with enthusiasm and passion for the house and they seemed to have a great time working together. This will become a great creative meeting spot in Uppsala. Although there are some concerns,

I would dare to say that this is the best thing that has happened in Uppsala in over a decade. I'm excited and can't wait till it's finished.

As part of the evening Musikens hus vänner awarded two young musicians with a scolarship. One of them was trumpeter Henrik Grim (also seen at Youth Jazz Contest as a member of the Silver Sextett). Henrik Grim played a classical piece and then the jazz standard Autumn Leaves.

The scholarships was handed over by the chairman of Musikens hus vänner: Ola Carlsson. Unfortunately I didn't catch the name of the flute player that also got awarded, please tell me her name.




The photos are taken by me and may not be used elsewhere without my permission.

What do you think of Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? Tell me.