GROWING MUSIC WITH DON by Bengt Berger

When I first planned my overview of Don Cherry's Swedish albums more than a year ago (which was then delayed for several reasons), I thought it needed some more depth than I could possibly give it myself. I figured I needed an eyewitness report from someone close to Cherry during his Swedish years, or better yet: someone who actually played with him. I couldn't possibly think of anyone better than drummer par excellence Bengt "Beche" Berger. He happily agreed to do it, and I sent him a set of questions. I thought it would be a simple little Q & A – he indeed generously answered all my questions, but in the shape of what very well can be called an essay on his years with Don Cherry, with many and valuable peeks into the creative process. (I only translated it.) A massive THANK YOU to Bengt Berger who graciously took the time to provide us with this!

Don Cherry iwith Bitter Funeral Beer Band in 1982

I had of course heard Ornette's quartet already, but the first time I saw Don live was with Sonny Rollins's quartet at the Stockholm Concert House in January 1964. A house next door was on fire, so there was smoke in the hall and they did a fantastic gig. I still listen to the tape I made of the radio broadcast every now and then. [Jazz presenter] Olle Helander aired just about every show at the Concert House. It was a fantastic concert, Don didn't play a lot, mostly tossed in a phrase here and there och joined in with the free handling of themes. Rollins played continuously and was marvellous. Henry Grimes on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. Listen to the show! Don later told me that after the concert, Moki told him to come and look at her paintings in the next room but there she turned out the light, and that's how they met.

Next I heard Don's European quintet with J.F. Jenny-Clarke, Aldo Romani, Gato Barbieri and Karl Berger at the Golden Circle [a legendary jazz venue in Stockholm] a few years later. Moki was up front in the audience. That too was fantastic but for some reason, I only saw them one night. I wonder why – when Charles Lloyd's first quartet with Keith [Jarrett], Jack [DeJohnette] and Cecil McBee played at the Circle I saw them every night for two weeks.

At Embassy at Sturegatan [in Stockholm] I heard the trio with Johnny Dyani and Okay Temiz. When Don played a little phrase on a wooden block and sang ”kukorokoko” and paused, I responded from the audience. But it might have been after we met in Uppsala, because Okay had his ordinary drum kit there and that was before he got his giant darbuka drum kit. 

Don and Beche in The Dome 1971

I had started playing with Arbete & Fritid and we had one of our earliest gigs at Norrlands Nation in Uppsala. We shared the bill with Don Cherry who was there with Bernt Rosengren's quartet with Tommy Koverhult and Leif Wennerström. Tommy Koverhult was in the back room before the gig and changed springs and pads on his sax, and when Don heard I play the tabla he told me to sit in with them. I was just back from India, but for some purist reason, I never used them in Arbete & Fritid. And finding tablas in Uppsala on such short notice was impossible, so I never sat in with them that night. But both bands played some fine music that night.

We often played in Stockholm around that time, and it sometimes happened that you could hear Don play along in the middle of a song. He sneaked up on stage behind us, played along for a while and then disappeared. It happened several times with Arbete & Fritid but also when I played with for instance Handgjort, maybe at Gärdet.

But then came The Dome at the Museum of Modern Art. The Cherry family lived in an old bunkhouse next to The Dome, and they spent whole days in The Dome. Moki sewed and painted and Don played with those who came there, and a lot of people did. When I was there, he told me to bring the tablas so I did and we played there every day after that. Moki played the tanpura and Don sang, played the trumpet, flute, a little gamelan or whatever was at hand. A grand piano and Okay's drums were there too, so we used these a lot too.

Don and Beche in The Dome 1971

I can't remember exactly when they bought the schoolhouse in Tågarp, but it must have been around the time when they had just moved there that he asked me to come along. We drove down there, Don, me and Gittan [Jönsson] that would become my girlfriend a few years later. She did a very nice little painting on a log of wood showing how we filled up gas late in the evening on our way down. I think it's still there.

Always when in Tågarp, I stayed in a little room in the attic, it was very cozy. An old schoolhouse is a very harmonious building with its square classrooms at each end and the teacher's residence in-between. They fired up a stove in each schoolroom, one was Moki's atelier and the other was the music room where we also ate and socialized.

Don, Eagle-Eye and the old schoolhouse in Tågarp

Moki had painted the piano in beautiful bright colours and next to it was [Don's son] ”Eagle-Eye's drum kit”. When it was us only, we played piano and drums, lots of Ornette themes that Don played over and over again while I played along in full blast. It NEVER happened that he told me what to play. I always played exactly what I wanted (and I've tried doing so ever since). I could try to catch the melody and learn it, play along with it, but I could also play against it and around it. At first he would play the same thematic turnover forever, and then he played some kind of rhythmic harmonic accompaniment based upon it. My understanding of Ornette's harmolodics is that you construct a chord over an optional number of notes of the melody, and how many notes you choose defines how large the chord will be. You decide for yourself when you create a new chord from a different chunk of the melody. The chords will be different for each melodic section. Anyway, that's how I perceive it. It would have been interesting hearing Ornette himself play over a piano comp like that. Oh, by the way, sometimes Don could give me a sign that he wanted me to play a fast comp on the cymbal, it added brilliance. He gave a cymbal comp sign with his hand. But that was the only instruction he ever gave me.

Or we could play tablas, wooden blocks or some other smaller percussion instruments, and flutes, trumpet, vocals or whatever. Then we were in some kind of Asian territory. Tibetan music also figured. I showed him ragas, scales, and we made up melodies/songs/ways of playing together. Later on they could show up during concerts or at workshops. Don loved to learn and when I gave him his first tabla lessons, I was taught a huge lesson myself. I gave him the first lesson, and then we sat playing together but not like doing the homework – we played music! We could play it over and over again but not as an excercise in order to go on to something new after that – this was the actual creating of music! I had never understood that before, and only occasionally experienced it later.

Beche, Don, Eagle-Eye and Christer Bothén in 1974

My second great piece of learning was the way we treated ”the reportoire” in concert. Case in point: We had a gig at [jazz club] ArtDur, later Nefertiti, in Gothenburg. Bernt Rosengren and I came down from Stockholm, Don from Tågarp, while Christer Bothén already lived in Gothenburg. Don't think we had ever played with that line-up before. We get there, unpack our instruments and start rehearsing on stage. Don plays just like he does when it's just me and him in Tågarp. He picks up a theme and plays it round and round while the others try to learn the tune. All of a sudden he changes to a different theme or a different instrument. Perhaps he sits down at his harmonium. I switch to mridangam, Christer to a donsu'nguni, Bernt maybe to a taragot, and something new takes shape. So it changes; in the middle of a solo Don might switch to a completely different song and you just have to follow along. Either you know the theme, or you try to learn it while playing. All of the time we're making music fully focused. After having kept going for an hour or two, they let the audience in and we keep going without a break or without starting over. After another hour, we might stop or take a break only to start in a while again.

This method of not necessarily playing a song from beginning to end but to change it altogether when you feel like it is something I have tried to practice with all bands I've played with, but with the difference I want everyone in the band to have that same possibility. I think it probably worked best with Berger Knutsson Spering, maybe three people are realistically the best, but it of course depends on who you're playing with. In our case we also allowed ourselves to pick up a song in any tempo or in any style at all, but also refuse to change if someone didn't want to. It can go far but it can also go to hell and that's of course exciting.

* * * 

The photos are taken by unknown photographers and come from countryandeastern.se, all used by kind permission of Bengt Berger.

DON CHERRY – The Swedish albums 1967-1977

It's really quite strange that it took me 13 years of progg blogging before Don Cherry got his own post here. He's emblematic to what I think is the true spirit of the blog, a place where all kinds of music meet as long as it has a mind of its own. And perhaps that's why I overlooked his inclusion for so long: he's so huge and obvious that maybe I thought he was here already. Well, he actually is if only in small portions as he appears on albums by Bengt Berger and Bitter Funeral Beer Band.

Born in Oklahoma City in 1936 with music running in the family, he made his mark on jazz already in the late 1950s when teaming up with Ornette Coleman for a long series of albums including milestone releases ”The Shape Of Jazz To Come” and ”Free Jazz”. He also performed with John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, George Russell, Albert Ayler, Charlie Haden – he passed gracefully through jazz history and jazz history passed smoothly through him and his trumpet. He even played percussion on Allen Ginsburg's album of William Blake interpretations, collaborated with Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki and Terry Riley, and co-wrote the score for Alejandro Jodorowsky's surrealist movie ”The Holy Mountain”. There's also a famous 1976 recording of Lou Reed live at The Roxy in Los Angeles with Don Cherry sitting in. He often did that – I know several Swedish musicians of different kinds who can tell stories of how they suddenly heard a beautiful sound on stage and when they turned around, there was Don Cherry with his pocket trumpet joining in, uninvited but welcome.

He spent time in Europe in general and Scandinavia in particular. There are for instance a set of great recordings from the Montmartre jazz club in Copenhagen 1966 released on ESP Disk in the late 00s. But it's his recordings with Swedish musicians that stand out from his European years. Cherry's playing was usually great no matter who he performed with, but it was here in Sweden he really found a home both musically and physically. He moved permanently to Sweden in the late 60s, bought a defunct schoolhouse i Tågarp in the beautiful Österlen region of the southern county of Skåne with his wife Monica ”Moki” Cherry. Moki was a textile designer; her works were as colourful and striking as her husband's music and graced several of Don's album covers. They had several children involved in music, with Eagle-Eye Cherry being the best known. Don's stepdaughter Neneh Cherry has also had an interesting and multifaceted career in music.

The house in Tågarp became something of a centre for friends and musicians, and the place where Don Cherry's Organic Music Society shaped and developed, a concept that to all intents and purposes was the forerunner to what would later be known as 'world music', only freer and more open.

Outpourings of Don Cherry's Swedish years weren't that many to begin with, but there's been an upsurge of archival recordings from this period, especially after Cherry's untimely death at 58 in 1995. I have included every album recorded in Sweden and/or with Swedish musicians between 1967 and 1977, except for those where only Moki Cherry appears usually on tamboura. That's not to dismiss her efforts but because I consider her and Don a unit. Also, it shouldn't surprise anyone that I consider Maffy Falay and Okay Temiz Swedish musicians too even though they techncially were Turks. There are also recordings featuring Swedes prior to 1967, such as ”Psycology” [sic!] with domestic free jazz pioneer Bengt ”Frippe” Nordström and released on his own Bird Notes label in 1963 (an album that interestingly enough also features drummer Bosse Skoglund on one track). A George Russell live document from Beethoven Hall in Stuttgart 1965 has both Don Cherry and Bertil Lövgren on trumpets, but that too is excluded due to the early date.

Movement Incorporated (Anagram, 2005; rec. 1967)
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Don Cherry used to hold workshops and music classes at ABF, the labour movement's education centre, and this disc was recorded at one of their locales in July 1967. Old friend from years back Frippe Nordström appears along with Leif Wennerström and Okay Temiz on drums, Maffy Falay on trumpet and flute, Tommy Koverhult on tenor sax and Bernt Rosengren on tenor sax and flute, plus American trombonist Brian Trentham. I'm not sure how official this release actually is. Anagram had a few interesting discs out (including a great one by Gilbert Holmström). The sound quality is nevertheles a good mono recording and once it gathers momeutum, the recording is an excellent example of spontaneous collective composing. ”Suite 3” and ”Surprise Surprise” particularly point to the future with their clear Oriental/Arabic influence. Not easy to find these days – I suppose it only had a small run and the label is now definct, but it's well worth looking for.

 

Brotherhood Suite (Flash Music, 1997; rec. 1968-1971)

released as Don Cherry with Bernt Rosengren Group

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Recorded at various Stockholm locations during the course of four years with roughly the same group as on ”Movement Incorporated”, this is one of my favourite Don Cherry releases. Not only am I a fan of Bernt Rosengren in general, but him in combination with Cherry is usually explosive matter. The sound quality varies due to the different sources, but it's a varied and vivid selection. Some continues along the lines of ”Movement Incorporated” with free jamming while other tracks are composed and focused. If you don't mind the fidelity fluctuations (nothing sounds bad) and the stylistic span, this is a wonderful compilation of an excellent composite of musicians.

 

Live In Stockholm (Caprice, 2013; rec. 1968/1971)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Much like a latecoming expansion pack to the Flash Music disc above, these recordings originate from 1968 and 1971, with the half-hour long ”Another Dome Session” being recorded the same night as ”In A Geodetic Dome” on ”Brotherhood Suite”. The remainder of this release is dedicated to the two-part ”ABF Suite” with the second portion being based on Turkish folk melodies brought in by Maffy Falay. Again a collaboration between Cherry and Rosengren's group, but it's a bit different than the two albums above. Here you can sense the direction in which the trumpeter was heading in the future, getting closer to a more dissolved, genre bending style, the musical crossroad of the entire world. As a study of his development it's certainly rewarding, but it doesn't quite have the same impact as other Rosengren/Cherry documents.

 

The Summer House Sessions (Blank Forms Editions, 2021; rec. 1968)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

This is an absolutely fantastic album that perfectly melds Cherry's free jazz power with his search for a universal expression! It was recorded in the summer home of Göran Freese, sound engineer and musician (appearing on, for instance, G.L.Unit's ”Orangutang”), and mixes members from the ”Live In Stockholm” band with musicians from his international ensemble New York Total Music Company. The idea was to have them jam and rehearse freely without any intention of making an album, but thankfully the tapes rolled and the recordings were finally presented to the world in 2021. The undemanding setting made for some stunning performances that rank among the finest ever from Cherry and his cohort. The music flows freely between traditions, and Turkish hand drummer Bülent Ateş really adds an extra dimension. Essential!

 

Eternal Rhythm (MPS, 1969; rec. 1968)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Another international grouping comprising American, German, Norweigan and French musicians, plus Swedes Bernt Rosengren and Eje Thelin, recorded live at the Berlin Jazz Festival in November 1968. It's a long suite notable for utilizing a large number of flutes and an array of Gamelan percussion. A giant step in Cherry's career, and the first album to properly predict the 'organic music' concept. With names like Albert Mangelsdorff and Sonny Sharrock it's clear from the start that the music is grounded in free jazz, but when adding the unusual (for jazz) timbres of the metal instruments, it becomes something else, something wider in scope and emotion. The thing is that is doesn't sound at all contrived suggesting that Don Cherry had a very clear idea worked out in his head what he wanted to achieve by using them. AllMusic's Brian Olewnick called ”Eternal Rhythm” ”required listening” and I am the first to agree.

 

Live Ankara (Sonet, 1978; rec.1969)

Instrumental

International relevance: **

Having already acquainted Maffy Falay and Okay Temiz, Don Cherry was no stranger to Turkish music, and in late 1969 he got to play at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara with Temiz, saxophonist Irfan Sümer and bassist Selçuk Sun. Despite relying heavily on Turkish traditional material, it's a fairly straightforward set revealing strong traces of Cherry's past with Ornette Coleman (especially with two Ornette compositions in the set). It's not very exciting, and the dull sound also hampers the experience a bit.

 

Music For A Turkish Theatre (Caz Plak, 2024; rec. 1970)

released as Don Cherry/Okay Temiz

Instrumental, wordless vocals

International relevance: **

Another Turkish recording, this time with an interesting backstory. The music was commissioned for a play written by James Baldwin who was living in Turkey off and on between 1961 and 1971 having fled racism and homophobia in the U.S., and produced by theatre owner Engin Cezzar. Dealing with gay relationships in an Istanbul prison, the play was controversial and banned by the Turkish government in after 30,000 people had already seen in it in two months. The music has its moments, but it's by no means essential. It's value lies mainly in the story behind it. Released physically on vinyl only, it came with four different covers, all in limited editions and now sold out.

 

Blue Lake (BYG, 1974; rec. 1971)

Instrumental, wordless vocals, other languages

International relevance: **'

A trio date from Paris, 1971 with Cherry, Temiz and bassist Johnny Dyani. I don't like it at all. First of all, I don't think Temiz and Dyani is a good team (see thisreview), and second of all I don't like Don Cherry's vocals and there's a lot of that on ”Blue Lake”. The playing is messy and sometimes simply directionless, it just goes on forever without getting anywhere. The album was originally released only in Japan 1974 but has for no good reason been reissued several times since.

 

Orient (BYG, 1973; rec. 1971)

Instrumental, wordless vocals, other languages

International relevance: ***

A sister album to ”Blue Lake” released the year before, with half of the double album having more tracks from the same Cherry/Dyani/Temiz date, meaning they also sound about the same. The two albums were reissued together on CD in 2003.

 

Organic Music Society (Caprice, 1973; rec. 1971-1972)

Instrumental, English vocals, other languages, wordless vocals

International relevance: ***

The album that most of all epitomizes Don Cherry's 'organic music' theories. It's intriguing and annoying, messy and flourishing, intense and flaccid all at once. There are field recordings and studio takes, focused performances and half-baked ideas in a raffle of sound and it's sometimes hard to make sense of it. That is the album's weakness but also its strength, and what you think of it probably very much depends on your current mood. I personally would have preferred the double album slimmed down to a single disc, keeping side 2 and 3 (despite Cherry's vocals) and perhaps keep the rather captivating ”North Brazilian Ceremonial Hymn” as an opening track. It would have narrowed the scope of the organic music idiom and by that missed the point, but it would have made a more cohesive album.

A nice list of performers though: Tommy Koverhult, Christer Bothén, dynamic duo Temiz & Falay, and – most importantly – Bengt Berger. Engineered by Göran Freese, the summer house owner who initiated the majestic 1968 recordings.

 

Organic Music Theatre: Festival de Jazz de Chateauvallon 1972 

 (Blank Forms Editions, 2021, rec. 1972)

released as Don Cherry's New Researches featuring Nana Vasconcelos
Instrumental, English vocals, other languages, wordless vocals
International relevance: ***

The organic music brought to the stage for the very first time. With Christer Bothén and various tag along friends from Sweden plus Brazilian percussionist and berimbau player Nana Vasconcelos performing as Don Cherry's New Researches in the Southern France. Much more focused than ”Organic Music Society” although Cherry's vocals are still a major snag.

 

Eternal Now (Sonet, 1974)

Instrumental, other languages

International relevance: ***

With the organic music concept being worked on for a couple of years, the essence of it had finally crystallized on 1974's ”Eternal Now”. A mellow and spiritually gripping album that stands head and shoulders above any previous attempts in the style. Maybe because not every Tom, Dick and Harry creaks and clangs and babble their way into the music – with a personnel of only five including Cherry himself, they can move in the same direction without any distraction from unnecessary outsiders. Especially as they're such a tight unit to begin with, with Cherry, Berger, Bothén and Rosengren at the core with Agneta Arnström only adding Tibetan bells to one track and ngoni (a West African string instrument) to another. ”Eternal Now” (a beautiful title!) oozes with midnight magic, it's like incense for the ears and enlightenment for the soul. Without a doubt one of Cherry's best 70s albums and one of Moki's best album cover works to boot.

 

Modern Art (Mellotronen, 2014; rec. 1977)

Instrumental, other languages

International relevance: ***

A live recording from The Museum Of Modern Art in Stockholm in early 1977. Per Tjernberg from Archimedes Badkar finally makes an appearance on a Don Cherry album – it seems just so appropriate. More unexpectedly, so does Jojje Wadenius who sounds a bit lost to begin with when on electric guitar but blends in better once he switches to the acoustic. (He returns to the electric towards the end and seem a bit more comfortable then.) It's a set heavy on Indian influences so it's surprising not seeing Bengt Berger here. I think he might have been a great staibilizer, because although the performance is rather pleasant, it's a bit trying and uncertain.

However, like I said earlier, Berger's and Cherry's collaboration continued later with Cherry being a vital part of the excellent Bitter Funeral Beer Band. A collaboration that extended beyond the time frame of the Swedish Progg Blog.

There are of course numerous of other Cherry albums without any Swedish connections, some of them less good but some of them among the best jazz music ever put to disc. Don Cherry was a true master, and as a Swede I feel honoured that he chose to live here for so long and also produce some of the finest music of his career while doing so. He was not only a real visionary, he was also a true genius.

Movement Incorporated no links found
Brotherhood Suite full album
Live In Stockholm full album playlsit 
The Summer House Sessions full album playlist       
Eternal Rhythm full album playlist   
Live Ankara full album  
Music For A Turkish Theatre full album playlist (Bandcamp)
Orient / Blue Lake full album playlist
Organic Music Society full album playlist  
Organic Music Theatre full album playlist (Bandcamp) 
Eternal Now full album
Modern Art full album playlist     

There's also an hour-long Don Cherry documentary called "Det är inte min musik" (="it's not my music") made  by Swedish Televison in 1978 that gives some further insight into his life in Sweden. You can watch it here. 

OPPOSITE CORNER / PALLE DANIELSSON -6- – Club Jazz 5 (SR, 1971)

 

 Instrumental

International relevance: ***

The ”Club Jazz” series was a series of nine volumes of jazz recordings made for Swedish Radio between 1970 and 1974, a bit like a jazz equivalent of the three ”Tonkraft” double LPs released in the early 80s. The albums were usually split between two artists, one per side, and not all couplings made sense. There's for instance one album with Arbete & Fritid on one side and trad jazzers Kustbandet on the other. ”Club Jazz 5” has a better match, with a very early Opposite Corner recording and one by a rare sixpiece line-up led by bassist Palle Danielsson.

This session with Opposite Corner is five years earlier than their proper debut album ”Jazz i Sverige '76” and a bit different. It's not full on free jazz wild but they let loose a bit more here than they did later on. And it's much better! The Arabic scales in opening track ”Ayazin” is very tasteful, and Gunnar Lindgren delivers some fine tenor sax soloing in ”Blacklouti Strikes Back”. Last track from them is ”Tibetanskt urindop” and is probably as close Opposite Corner ever got to Arbete & Fritid. A very good session, well worth hearing even if you're not into their later work.

Turn the record over and you find four tracks from Palle Danielsson's band. This is where it gets really interesting. Featured here is an all star cast of Lennart Åberg, Bobo Stenson, Jon Christensen, Bengt Berger and Roland Keijser along with Danielsson himself! A highly vivid session with Berger in particular going bonkers on the drums – it's among the most ferocious drumming I've heard from him, and it's interesting to note that this was recorded in the same year as Fickteatern's ”Allt växer till det hejdas” which also has some mad Berger playing. But the ensemble effort is great all through, and I really wish there were more recordings from this particular lot.

So with two unique and splendid sessions, this is one for the ages.

Full album

BERNT ROSENGREN – Notes From Underground (Harvest, 1974)

 

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Tenorist Bernt Rosengren is one of the major Swedish jazz musicians, and if you're at all into Swedish jazz, you neither should nor could pass him by. He played with so many, both domestically and internationally, from Sevda to Krzysztof Komeda, from Nature to Don Cherry, from later era Eldkvarn to George Russell. Not to mention his great albums as a leader of which ”Notes From Underground” stands out as his major opus. Yes, it is a jazz album, but it's so sprawling and free-spirited, spanning so many expressions that you soon just forget about genres and simply think of it as music delivered with an amazing joy of playing. And just look at the line-up: Maffy Falay, Okay Temiz, Salih Baysal, Gunnar Bergsten, Bengt Berger, Tommy Koverhult, Torbjörn Hultcrantz, Bobo Stenson, Björn Alke, Leif Wennerström, Bertil Strandberg and of course Bernt Rosengren himself. With such a heavy lot you just know that this can't go wrong. And of course it doesn't.

There's the bluesy lyricism of the short version of ”Markitta Blues”, there's the Pharoah Sanders permeated spirituality of ”Iana Has Been Surprised In The Night”, there's the 'free bop' of ”Gerda” and ”Splash”, there's ”Some Changes V” – almost a miniature throwback to Rosengren's participation with G.L. Unit. Not to mention the Turkish portions from the holy trinity of Falay/Temiz/Baysal that breaks through like sudden dreams from another world once on each of the two discs. ”Notes From Underground” is a double album, but never one to feel overstretched and presumptuous – itself an achievement. The whole album is so well composed, so sensitively balanced that it almost surprises you when it's already over.

I sometimes use the word 'monolithic' and I'm going to use it once again. This album is monolithic. And once you've got it, don't stop there – go on to 1971's splendid ”Fly Me To The Sun” and the two volumes of ”Live In Stockholm” recorded in 1974 and 1975 respectively – volume 1 is particularly powerful. And the continue.

Full album playlist minus first track
"Theme From Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 12" (first track)

BITTER FUNERAL BEER BAND WITH DON CHERRY & K. SRIDHAR – Live In Frankfurt 82 (Country & Eastern, 2007)

Instrumental, other languages
International relevance: ***

Recorded the same year as Bengt Berger's ”Bitter Funeral Beer” with basically the same people: only Kjell Westling is missing while Björn Hellström on bass clarinet and flute, and sarod player K. Sridhar are added. It's an all-star line-up with too many names to mention, but the individual efforts aren't as important anyway as the pan-continental collective outcome.

This live recording made by Frankfurter radio at the annual jazz festival at the Alte Oper in 1982 is more ragged and unkempt than the studio album. More on the edge, if you will. The nervous energy runs through the entire set, and comes through even in the slow ”Bitter Funeral Beer” which is given a particularly bluesy, mournful rendition.

While I really like the studio album, this recording is a more vivid document of the band. Even if you know you're in the safe hands of masterful musicians, they conjure up a loose spirit that keeps the music uncertain to the right degree. You never quite know exactly what will happen at what moment. It's a generally thrilling perfomance that grows in strength until the 25 minute jubilant ending (not counting the short afterthought "Gahu") with ”Funeral Dance”.

 

The album was later reissued on vinyl (minus "Gahu") in Italy with a different cover (as seen above).

Full album playlist

Also check out the TV broadcast of the show here!

BENGT BERGER & KJELL WESTLING – Spelar (Ett Minne För Livet, 1977)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Ett Minne För Livet was a label founded by a musicians' collective of Archimedes Badkar, Vargavinter, Spjärnsvallet and Iskra. They released only a handful of albums including this duo live recording by the great Bengt Berger and Kjell Westling. The album is an OK free jazz effort but it would have benefitted from shorter performances, maybe two improvisations on each LP side instead of just one. While they manage to keep the momentum going, it's hard even for them to come up with fresh perspectives on ideas when they're stretched out to around eighteen minutes. ”Till hafs” is better than "Ad Libido" in that regard, more dynamic, but the entire album suffers a bit from being repetitious.

The album has been rereleased with a new cover on Berger's excellent Country & Eastern label as "Live in Stockholm 77".

Full album playlist

RENA RAMA – The 1970's albums

Rena Rama were founded in 1971 by drummer Bengt Berger, bassist Palle Danielsson and pianist Bobo Stenson. Soon after, saxophonist Lennart Åberg joined. The newly formed band did a session for Swedish television, and toured in Germany in 1972. The following year they received Rikskonserter's yearly Jazz i Sverige (”jazz in Sweden”) award, and as a result they released their first album ”Jazz i Sverige '73”. Rena Rama was influenced by Indian and African music and their initial music may be described as a kind of 'world jazz'.

Jazz i Sverige '73 (Caprice, 1973)

Instrumental

International relevance: **

Everything is right about ”Jazz i Sverige '73”, the intentions, the musicians, their skills, their outlook on music, but somehow the album just don't take off. It sounds like a collection of great ideas they never manage to quite set into motion. The music often sounds forced, as if Rena Rama try hard to push it forward to where they want it, to a point where it takes on a life of its own, but it never really happens. ”Jazz i Sverige '73” is a rare example of a Bengt Berger driven album that doesn't fulfill its potential.

Landscapes (Japo, 1977)

Instrumental

International relevance: **

In 1975, Bengt Berger left the band and was replaced by American born drummer Leroy Lowe who had played with trombonist Eje Thelin prior to Rena Rama. He has a lighter touch on ”Landscapes” than Berger had on ”Jazz i Sverige '73” which makes for a smoother running albeit less 'ethnic' sounding music where Palle Danielsson in particular seems to be more at ease – his elevated ”Rumanian Folk Song” is the best moment on here. ”Landscapes” reaches further than Rena Rama's debut but still isn't quite there. 

 
Inside-Outside (Caprice, 1979)
Instrumental
International relevance: **

In 1979 Rena Rama was back with Caprice for an album that moves between the obvious traditional influences of the first album and the more straight ahead jazz of ”Landscapes”. It's all well played but not too inspiring.

Rena Rama existed for a long time still with a couple of line-up changes, and released a few more albums. A 1975 live recording with Leroy Lowe on drums was released in 1983, simply entitled ”Live”.

Rena Rama full album playlist

From Landscapes:

"Romanian Folk Song"

"Royal Song from Dahomey"
From Inside-Outside:

På hal is 

Lisas piano 

Banguana Song 

Inside-Outside

SPJÄRNSVALLET – Spjärnsvallet (MNW, 1976)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

Ranked #19 on the blog's Top 25

Why this isn't considered a stone cold classic is beyond me, a power meeting with saxophonist Christer Bothén, drummer Bengt Berger, bassist Nikke Ström and everythingist Kjell Westling. Breeding eruptive free jazz with reflective and ethnically coloured music, ”Spjärnsvallet” sounds like a blend of Archimedes Badkar, early Arbete & Fritid and Berger & Westling's ”Spelar”. The playing is intuitive but structured and tight like a sailor's knot, the music is forceful yet lyrical, violent yet serene. Whoever keeps this album from being properly reissued will have a rough time on judgement day.

Thankfully, there's another album to satisfy at least some of the desperate need for a reiusse. ”Again & Again” (Country & Eastern, 2014) is a mix of outtakes from the original sessions and newly recorded tracks and believe me, those recordings are absolutely excellent and essential stuff.

The original Spjärnsvallet broke up shortly after the debut album was released. Bengt Berger took off for Ghana. After his return, Spjärnsvallet reunited (sans Nikke Ström, plus Sigge Krantz) for an album with Bella Ciao/Låt & Trall singer Fred Lane entitled ”Till soluppgång och till lycka” (Krokben, 1982).

Full album playlist

G.L. UNIT – Orangutang! (Odeon, 1969)

Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Ranked #15 on the blog's Top 25

First of all, I'm not even going to start mentioning names of those heard on this album because everybody's on it. The album's a veritable who's who of the top players of the Swedish jazz scene at the time; a true big band effort but of course it's not classic big band jazz with a band leader constantly smiling at the audience, tux dressed players and decorated music stands in front of them. No.

This makes John Coltrane's ”Ascension” sound like a hummable little ditty.

This is TNT.

”Orangutang!” is the most powerful Swedish 70's free jazz album, great on an international level, up there with Alan Silva, Globe Unity Orchestra, François Tusques and the lot. Great jazz hurts, and no other Swedish album hurts as good as this one does. But just like any good free jazz album, it has a sense of elevated beauty, a serene lyricism, an intense burning light with your mind being its focal point. And it's dynamic, effortlessly moving from full blast detonations to jittery reflection. Of course it's not easy listening, it's not at all the perfect aural backdrop to a nice barbecue in the garden but it's got the spark to set your soul ablaze.

I save words like 'masterpiece' for albums like this.

Full album

VARIOUS ARTISTS - 3 FEMINIST ALBUMS

It's no wonder that the feminist movement gained momentum in the politically charged 70's. The fight for social equality between men and women connected well with the struggle for working class liberation. It paved way for #1 feminist band Röda Bönor, and later Andra Bullar, but prior to that, several feminist projects had already received attention.

SÅNGER OM KVINNOR (MNW, 1971)

International relevance: *

Swedish vocals

The first album entirely devoted to the topic of feminisim was ”Sånger om kvinnor” in 1971 with its origins in a stage play called ”Tjejsnack” written by Suzanne Osten and Margareta Garpe for Stockholms Stadsteater (Stockholm City Theatre). MNW wanted to release an album with the music used in the play, but as there wasn't enough material for a full LP, additional songs were written specifically for the release.

Much appreciated upon its release ”Sånger om kvinnor” was also questioned. While the lyrics were written by women, the music was composed by Gunnar Edander (formerly active in independent theatre group Fickteatern), and the backing musicians were an all male cast of Bengt Berger, Urban Yman, Kjell Westling, Roland Keijser, Tord Bengtsson, Leif Nylén and others. Ironically enough, it's the musical backing that impresses the most, with several fine efforts from the musicians involved. The album sports a massive lot of singers including the aforementioned Suzanne Osten and Margareta Garpe, but also Ulla Sjöblom, Lise-Lotte Nilsson, Lena Söderblom, Louise Waldén, author Sonja Åkesson and the excellent Marie Selander. Not all of them are as good singers as Selander. Also, the music is annoyingly silly and yippee jolly from time to time, but it has a couple of good moments – ”Innerst inne är du en riktig kvinna, Louise”, and Leif Nylén's excellent ”Törnrosa” (sung by Marie Selander). ”Vi måste höja våra röster” became an instant classic feminist anthem.

TJEJCLOWN - MED LIVMODER I STRÄNGARNA (MNW, 1974)

Swedish vocals, spoken word

International relevance: *

 

In response to ”Sånger om kvinnor”, ”Tjejclown” was made with only women writing and performing the songs, some of them spilling over from ”Sånger om kvinnor”, but also including such well-known names as Anita Livstrand, Turid, Hélène Bohman (of Stenblomma) and Lena Ekman. Obviously of greater symbolic value than ”Sånger om kvinnor”, but if you don't want to listen to political symbols just for the sake of it, it's a bad and largely amateurish album. There's not one track here of the same stature as ”Innerst inne är du en riktig kvinna, Louise” and ”Törnrosa”, but ”Flugsvampens visa” is passable.

JÖSSES FLICKOR - BEFRIELSEN ÄR NÄRA (YTF, 1975)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

”Jösses flickor – befrielsen är nära” was originally highly successful musical/play premiered at Stockholms Stadsteater in 1974, depicting the evolution of the women's liberation movement (three years before ”Tältprojektet” did a similar thing with the working rights movement). Again the music was written by Gunnar Edander, meaning it was a little more carved out than ”Tjejclown”. Unfortunately, he borrowed so much from the pamphlet progg style so fashionable among the communist crowd at the time that the best thing I can say about the album is that the songs at least are short...

To sum it up, all this is (mostly) bad music for a good cause. For more enduring, digestible and entertaining feminist progg, please turn to Röda Bönor.

 

Sånger om kvinnor full album playlist

Tjejclown full album playlist

Jösses flickor - befrielsen är nära full album playlist

BENGT BERGER – Bitter Funeral Beer (ECM, 1982)

Instrumental

International relevance: ***

It's impossible to imagine the 1970's music movement/progg/jazz scene without Bengt Berger, the drummer and percussionist who has added his magic touch to more albums than anyone can count (possibly including himself). He plays as if he has the whole world by his drum sticks and well, in a way he does. I doubt there's anything from anywhere that he can't play, or at least learn to play just by listening in. Much like saxophonist Roland Keijser, his name is a hallmark of quality. If Berger's name's on an album, it's something worth listening to.

”Bitter Funeral Beer” is different insofar Berger's not actually the drummer here, the equally exceptional Bo Skoglund is. Berger plays the Ghanaian xylophone ko-gyil, an instrument he first used on Archimedes Badkar/Afro 70's ”Bado Kidogo” from 1978. The music on ”Bitter Funeral Beer”, recorded in 1981, is based on actual Ghanaian funeral music and sounds like a natural extension of what Archimedes Badkar did. Several ex-Archimedes members also appear, such as Christer Bothén, Sigge Krantz, Tommy Adolfsson, and Jörgen Adolfsson. Plus Thomas Mera Gartz, Anita Livstrand, and the formidable Don Cherry who was living in Sweden at the time. The music is vibrating with beautiful vitality, it's a marvellous album, quite possibly the best on the ECM label post their most interesting early 70's period. This album is truly the work of masters.

There are several albums released as Bitter Funeral Beer Band. From 1987, there's the fabulous ”Praise Drumming” on Dragon (reissued on CD in 2017). In recent years, Bengt Berger has put out some Bitter Funeral Beer Band live recordings from the 80's on his Country & Eastern imprint. ”Live in Frankfurt 82” features several pieces from the ”Bitter Funeral Beer” album but very different in sound and mood with help from Indian sarod player Krishnamurti Sridhar. Also of interest in ”Live in Nürnberg 84”, a fine sounding concert originally recorded by Bavarian radio. Everything by Bitter Funeral Beer Band is essential listening, especially to fans of Archimedes Badkar and Bolon Bata.

Bitter Funeral Beer
Blekete
Chetu

Tongsi

Darafo/Funeral Dance (Dar Kpee) 

THOMAS MERA GARTZ – Sånger (Silence, 1976)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

 

As with Thomas Tidholm, Thomas Mera Gartz was much better when he was in charge of his own album and not only a part of Träd, Gräs Och Stenar. Only two Träd, Gräs Och Stenar members appear prominently on ”Sånger”, guitarist Jakob Sjöholm and bassist Torbjörn Abelli. Instead, Gartz wisely opted for a set of musicians with a good instrumental grasp; Bo Skoglund, Roland Keijser, Bengt Berger, Anita Livstrand and Nikke Ström to name most of the participants.

Gartz may not have been the world's greatest singer, but ”Sånger's” intimacy, melancholy and the musicians' interplay are so much more important to the outcome. The entire album has a tender delicacy to it, it's both fragile and frail, heartfelt and sincere, with an openendedness inviting the listener to come closer and closer until you can't help embracing the music. The stellar cast of performers helps immensely of course. They listen with in the songs and within themselves, enter musical openings, bring elusive spiritual overtones to the songs, move the music and their fellow players forward. Gartz leads but ”Sånger” is a collective effort, an example of what might happen if vision and skills meet.

Full album playlist

FICKTEATERN – Allt växer till det hejdas (MNW, 1971)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: *

Fickteatern was an early independent theatre group, founded in 1967 by former Narren members, including Suzanne Osten who directed a total of 23 Fickteatern plays until 1971 when they called it a day. They performed all over Sweden, and wanting to reach audiences not regular theatre goers, they appeared in jails, libraries, schools and in the streets.

Gunnar Edander wrote the music, and Fickteatern released two albums during their three year lifetime. Their first LP appeared in 1968, ”Människor i stan”, and ”Allt växer till det hejdas” in 1971.

While ”Allt växer till det hejdas” has some of the typical theatre group album characteristics, it's a bit quirkier than most, partly because of the highly welcome addition of musicians Bengt Berger, Roland Keijser and Kjell Westling. First track ”Vi valde inte våldet” is a minor classic featuring a particularly energetic Berger. Something about the track makes me think of ”Montgomery Chapel” by U.S. Xian band The Search Party. That track alone puts ”Allt växer till det hejdas” a cut above most albums I've heard originating from the theatrical circuits of the 70's, but ”Vem bombar i Kambodja”, ”Revolution” and the short title track are OK too.

The vastly prolific Gunnar Edander later composed music for feminist projects ”Sånger om kvinnor”, ”Kärleksföreställningen” and ”Jösses flickor – befrielsenär nära”. Suzanne Osten kept working with theatre, and has written a number of books and directed several movies.

Full album playlist

MARIE SELANDER – Från den svenska vildmarken (MNW, 1973)

Swedish vocals

International relevance: ***

Marie Selander is a prominent singer who participated in too many projects to mention in detail, but she turned to music after meeting John Lennon in a taxi in the 60's, then forming the band that would turn into Nursery Rhymes, the first all-female Swedish pop group.

”Från den svenska vildmarken” was Selander's first solo album featuring a brilliant group of backing musicians: Bengt Berger, Urban Yman, Nikke Ström, Palle Danielsson, Torkel Rasmusson and Kjell Westling. The songs were mostly written by Rasmusson, Westling, Leif Nylén and Selander herself, fusing folk, jazz and. Sometimes the album almost sounds like a coarse Pentangle with their brains on fire. It's a genuinely inspired (and inspiring) effort, with excellent playing (listen, for instance, to Bengt Berger letting it loose on opening track ”På lilla värtan”!) and Selander's gritty and wonderful vocals on top.

The lyrics are blatantly political but the highly spirited performances are so good it's easy to look beyond the propagandizing words. ”Från den svenska vildmarken” is one of those albums that somehow has bypassed the interest of collectors, possibly because of the nature of the lyrics, why it still can be found cheap. So there's no excuse for not getting this awesome album!

Full album playlist

SKÄGGMANSLAGET – Pjål, gnäll & ämmel (Sonet, 1970) / Snus, mus och brännvin (Sonet, 1971)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals, other languages

International relevance: **/ **

Skäggmanslaget was one of the best known folk music groups, partly due to their involvement with Contact, playing on their best known track ”Hon kom över mon”. They also worked with accordionist Leif ”Pepparn” Pettersson on his 1973 album ”Nää, nu jäsicken!” and others, and they released a number of albums of their own. They were serious about what they did, but had a more easygoing approach than, for instance, Norrlåtar.

”Pjål, gnäll & ämmel” was their first album and nicely demonstrates their abilities. Apart from core members Peter Logård, Thore Härdelin and Wilhelm Grindsäter, Kjell Westling joins in a couple of tracks, as do noted singer Marie Selander. Contact makes an appearance here, backing Skäggmanslaget on the excellent closing track ”Gråtlåten” – what a pity they never made a full album together!

”Snus, mus och brännvin” followed suit in 1971, again with a guest appearances from Kjell Westling along with Bengt Berger, Urban Yman and nyckelharpa player Ceylon Wallin. It's an even more self-assured album than its predecessor. A fun take on famous Swedish tune ”Trettondedagsmarschen” almost sounds like a cheerful Arbete & Fritid recording features tablas, as does ”Polska efter Nils Hägg” which rounds off the album in a nice way. 

 

Pjål, gnäll & ämmel full album playlist

Snus, mus och brännvin full album playlist

A CHILDREN'S PROGG SPECIAL

This post is different to other posts here as it contains no album reviews. Many – most – progg albums made for children have no international relevance because they often feature too many spoken word bits, and the music usually isn't very fun to listen to as an adult. Therefore there's really no point in posting links to the albums. (A brilliant exception would of course Jojje Wadenius' ”Goda' goda'” be, basically a Made In Sweden album with fine lyrics by children's author Barbro Lindgren, but that album deserves a post of its own.)

Still this is a very important Swedish Progg Blog feature, as children's culture was taken very seriously in those days and it's necessary to consider it in order to understand the progg movement from a wider perspective. Many artists were involved in kid's television, theatre, music, literature etc, always with an intent just as serious as when they were creating for grown-ups. Children were taken as seriously as anyone else.

One reason was of course political – it was considered important to teach kids what the society is like and present to them a socialist solution to economic problems and eradicate the inequality of social classes. It's a popular opinion today that children's television in the 70's was politically indoctrinating, and upon looking back at, for instance, Nationalteatern's highly successful double album ”Kåldolmar och kalsipper” (”cabbage rolls and underpants” – no, I don't know what that's supposed to mean, and neither did Nationalteatern), and TV series such as ”Huset Silfvercronas gåta”, (”the mystery of the house of Silfvercrona), ”Ville & Valle & Viktor” and ”Kapten Zoom” (”Captain Zoom”) (both with Anders Linder as lead actor), you have to agree it has a definite left-wing bent. 

However, I've never met one single person who took damage from watching those or any other 70's children TV series... with the possible exception of Staffan Westerberg's very disturbing ”Vilse i pannkakan” (”lost in the pancake”), already mentioned in my Thomas Wiehe runthrough. I dare say that everyone I know that grew up during the progg era has become caring people with a keen sense of justice and solidarity. So maybe the socialist aspect wasn't that hurtful after all...

Sometimes an album corresponding to a certain TV series was released, some of these albums are now moderately sought-after in good condition. (Children aren't known for taking care of records too well, so most copies that turn up are pretty mangled.)

Regardless of what one thinks of the political views expressed and transfered to the young generation of the day, the socialist stance was that education is an all important thing. Insufficient education is disastrous to society in the long run (which is indeed true – the world as we know it today should explain why). The Social Democratic Party of Sweden invested a lot of money in ABF, the Workers' Educational Association, but basic knowledge had to start with the children. 

There were several 70's TV shows without an obvious political agenda making great use of the pedagogical possibilites of television. The most notable example is mid-70's ”Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter” (”five ants are more than four elephants”), with music by jazz illuminary Bengt Ernryd and featuring actors Magnus Härenstam, Brasse Brännström and Eva Rameaus, the latter also active in Musikteatergruppen Oktober (an independent theatre group performing several plays for children) and Tältprojektet. ”Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter” is acknowledged as one of the best shows ever made for children, and rightly so. In a fashion similar to the famed U.S. show ”Sesame Street”, it taught young kids to read and write in a very entertaining way and showing young and old alike that learning things doesn't have to come from just dull books with boring black and white photographs.

Eva Ramaeus was far from the only progg personality to get involved with children's television. Carl Johan de Geer of Blå Tåget co-wrote ”Tårtan” (”the cake”) with Håkan Alexandersson, and featuring Blå Tåget's Mats G. Bengtsson as actor. ”Tårtan” was an incredibly funny and anarchic fourteen part 1972 series about three unemployed sailors opening a bakery shop where absolutely everything goes wrong. Still a splendid watch today! The following year, the Swedish broadcasting company aired ”Mumlan” (hard to translate, but something like ”the mumbler” will do), a very entertaining show hosted by much loved actor Gösta Ekman and actress Lena Söderblom in which musicians such as Kjell Westling and Bengt Berger appeared.

There was a large number of children's books published during this period too. Some of them aren't very different to 'ordinary' kids literature, while others took the pedagogical approach maybe a little too far, with sterile documentary photos of mum's giving birth and the gynecologist having a look, and titles like ”Chairman Mao Is Your Uncle”, ”A Fun Day at the Kolkhoz”, ”Say Hello to the Soviet Farmer Building a Factory All by Himself”. OK, so maybe I made up those titles myself, but they could have been for real. (Swedish readers who want to investigate children's progg books further are advised to check out Kalle Lind's ”Proggiga barnböcker”. He's got a somewhat condescending narrative style but the book is informative and sometimes very amusing amd clearsighted. Swedes who'd like to delve deeper into children's television may also want to check out Göran Everdahl's ”Kom nu'rå! Barnprogrammen vi minns – eller helst vill glömma”.)

I realize that most of what's been mentioned here is of little interest to non-Swedish readers, but like I said initially, all of this (and a lot more) was a very important progg element and influential to kids growing up in during the era. Bringing it up in a post of its own will hopefully shed some further light on how multifaceted progg in fact was.