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 The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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.

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The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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

Phontrattarne: Grand Show preview

Phontrattarne is one of Uppsalas best big bands. On Saturday they held a concert at Stora Torget in Uppsala and gave a preview of what they will perform at their Grand Show at Reginateatern between 10th and 17th of May.



The shows are usually great fun for any swing music lover, this band know how to entertain and have a lot of good singers.



They showed new number based on the song "The Charleston". A fun choreography with all the charleston moves and of course a lot of cute dancers.



Phontrattarnes Grand Show is a must see. Make sure to see it in May. The photos are taken by me and may not be used elsewhere without my permission.

Are you planning on see Grand Show at Reginateatern? Tell me.

Skrapan Big Band feat. Ulf Johansson Werre

Every now and then I go through my picture archive to find jazz photos from previous events, this is one example. In January the Uppsala Winter Swing jazz festival was held and I was there taking photos all day.

One of the first concerts of the jazz festival was Skrapan Big Band featuring Ulf Johansson Werre. Skrapan Big Band is a band with high school students studying music at Lundellska skolan (aka Skrapan) in Uppsala. Ulf Johansson Werre is one of Swedens best jazz musicians and plays both trombone and piano excellently. Once upon a time he also went to school there.



Behind Ulf Johansson Werre you can see Johanna Grim on trombone who is also a member of The Silver Sextett which played at Youth Jazz Contest. At the festival Ulf J. Werre also played with John Högman International Group featuring Rémi Toulon.

Below is all the singers in the band. I don't have all their names in the correct order so if you can tell me who is who, I would appreciate that.



Skrapan Big Band didn't just play all jazz tunes but other styles of music as well. Many people think of big band music as only jazz when in fact it just means that you have a lot of musicians in the band. Is there a definition of big band music?

There is a lot of pictures from Uppsala Winter Swing but I won't publish them all at once so stay tuned.

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

Did you see Skrapan Big Band and Ulf Johansson Werre at Uppsala Winter Swing? What did you think of them? Tell me.

Youth Jazz Contest in Uppsala

In november last year Uppsala Jazz Club held a contest for young jazz musicians: Youth Jazz Contest.

The musicians were overall very talented. They played modern jazz styles and while I can appreciate that on an intellectual level it doesn't grab me as much as swing does. How do you encourage young muscians to start playing swing?

The winners of the competition was a group called Nkiru with members (left to right): Andreas Larsson (drums), Niklas Fernqvist (bass), Jakob Gustavsson (saxophone) and Alexander Zethson (piano).



Stina Hellberg played a unusual instrument in a jazz environment: a harp, but it really worked. In her trio were also Linus Fredin (bass), Wille Alin (drums) and Alexander Iberer (cello).

Silver Sextett

This band plays a lot of songs by Horace Silver.

From left to right: Christoffer Aldin (saxophone), Johanna Grim (trombone), Henrik Grim (trumpet) samt Per Björkling (bass) Also in the band but not in this picture were Joel Sandberg (drums) and Henrik Boseaus (piano).

Johanna won the jurys bonus price.



All pictures are taken by me and may not be used elsewhere without my permission.