Stockholm Jazz Festival

Peter Steen-Christensen
Posted September 24, 2012 in Arts, Music

Stockholm’s Jazz Festival has climbed into a new snazzy costume. They’ve moved indoors, during a different time of year and will be playing multiple venues all across town. Lena Åberg-Frisk at the classic jazz venue Fasching is happy with the lineup they have assembled and says it mirrors what they set out to do.

What are the pros and cons of the new jazz festival concept as you see it?
Due to this new model we have the possibility to tailor the setting for each and every item on the programme. We can present every artist in a setting best suited to their expression. At the same time we have the means of offering comfort and service at a whole new level.

Skeppsholmen was a wonderful place to be, but there are several things competing for your attention there; now, the focus is solely on the musical experience, and I suppose everyone can decide for themselves if they see that as a pro or a con.

We’re obviously moving indoors to escape the disloyal Swedish summer that can be equally wonderful as it can be terrible. And there are also several players involved in the festival now, which brings a totally new energy to the festival.

Describe the program.
The festival has previously been criticized for being too multifaceted. Now you, as a visitor, can create your own festival program and omit anything you don’t like. We have tried to make the festival mirror our picture of jazz, which happens to be very broad. The target audience is also very large, from all ages and walks of life, which is something that is reflected in the program. There’s 16-year old Adam Kanyama rubbing shoulders with legends such as George Duke and Stanley Clarke and we can mix the classic mainstream jazz with the newest forms of expression.

What’s your personal highlight during the festival?
The Sunday lineup. At the Concert Hall we can listen to Cecilia Persson who brings another of my favourites in Per “Texas” Johansson, then there’s Hiromi, the Japanese pianist who is coming with her trio and her complex but very approachable music. There’s Martin Hederos from Soundtrack of Our Lives who has gathered the elite among both Swedish pop and jazz to play Lennart Hellsing’s music, and Martin’s arrangements are genial. Finally the festival comes to an end at Berns where Ludvig Berghe and Nina Ramsby have a release party for their new album.

It all reflects what we set out to do. Pop meets jazz, new versus old with acts from the whole world.

Festival highlights

Gregory Porter

The must-see performance of the festival. Jazz-slash-soul vocal sensation Gregory Porter makes his maiden performance in Scandoland during the Stockholm Jazz Fest.

While his 2010 Grammy-nominated debut album Water swiftly established him as a voice and an artist to be reckoned with, and, the politically-infused 1960 What? quickly became his signature song, this is the year that Gregory Porter has bowled all and sundry over.

The irresistible jazz waltz Be Good (Lion’s Song) substantiates that the question is not if he’s the next great jazz singer, but whether or not he’ll cross over into the mainstream.
Porter’s path to stardom was earlier blocked by a football scholarship where he lined up as an outside linebacker for San Diego State Aztecs. But a shoulder injury put a halt to his sports career, and small jazz clubs in downtown San Diego soon gave way to greater stages, to the delight of the jazz and soul communities.

His baritone voice, equally apt in caressing as in confronting, is already unmistakable here at Totally Towers where his performance at the Stockholm Jazz festival is eagerly anticipated.

Tony Allen


There are drumming legends and then there is Tony Allen. In the words of Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: “He’s one of the most important drummers of all time. The unique beat he gave to the world is one of the greatest rhythms and beats that the world has ever been gifted with. For eternity, it will be a beat that will blow people’s mind.”

The former Fela Kuti drummer and mastermind of the Afrobeat, has put collaborations with people such as Damon Albarn aside to bring his Black Series to Stockholm Jazz Festival. Bring dancing shoes.

Hiromi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKGwIjqdm3A
With Oscar Peterson as a great inspiration, a spellbinding and extremely well-nurtured talent, and a penchant for entertaining the crowd, this young Japanese virtuoso aims to sweep Stockholm’s music-lovers off their feet.

Combining her musical proficiency with showmanship and with a trio that also consist people who has played with such a diverse set of names such as Paul Simon, Steely Dan and Judas Priest, her set should definitely be one of the acts most worth seeing during the festival.

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