{"id":8520,"date":"2017-08-03T02:20:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-03T09:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=8520"},"modified":"2017-08-03T02:22:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-03T09:22:30","slug":"ystad-jazz-festival-the-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2017\/08\/ystad-jazz-festival-the-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Ystad Jazz Festival: The Opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The 2017 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival launched with a tribute to Monica Zetterlund (1937-2005). The singer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legacy in her homeland seems to steadily expand, and the attendance reflected her continued presence in Sweden\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cultural life. The concert, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Monica Z\u00e2\u20ac\u201dForever and Ever,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d attracted 1,500 listeners to the Ystad Arena. Recently opened, the imposing athletic and cultural center was funded by the taxpayers of this town of 29,000, which has a medieval history and a modern community spirit. We see the arena here in one of its more customary functions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The concert brought together the veteran Swedish popular singers Svante Thuresson and Tommy K\u00c3\u00b6rberg, along with Hannah Svensson, one of a new generation\"\" of jazz artists influenced by Zetterlund. They were accompanied by a big band led by Carl Bagge, whose late father Lasse worked frequently with Zetterlund as her pianist. Jan Lundgren (pictured), the Ystad festival\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s artistic director who helped found this festival, also appeared on piano.<\/p>\n

Thuresson, now in his 80s, opened with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Skylark.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He projected phrasing,\"\" tonality, personality and musicianship rare in singers of any age. His performance of the song surrounded an alto saxophone solo by H\u00c3\u00a2kan Brostr\u00c3\u00b6m, who reinforced my impression from previous visits to Sweden that his lyricism, passion and inventiveness make him one of the most interesting alto players alive.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tommy K\u00c3\u00b6rberg, another singer of a certain age who is enormously popular in Sweden, brought to the stage expansiveness and enthusiasm that in some songs had an esthetic more appropriate to a Las Vegas lounge than a jazz concert. Nonetheless, in Leonard Bernstein\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some Other Time\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he created intimacy that was matched by Carl Bagge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piano solo. K\u00c3\u00b6rberg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s final numbers of the evening were Bill Haley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rock Around The Clock,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d presented with rock-era vigor, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s To Life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the Artie Butler-Phyllis Mornay song given prominence by Shirley Horn. Carl Bagge\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrangement incorporated the five members of the woodwind section playing flutes en masse. It was a resplendent effect.<\/p>\n

Hannah Svensson sang \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What a Little Moonlight Can Do\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at a fast tempo that she mastered with no apparent effort. Her singing had swing, confidence and control\"\" of intonation that showed significant artistic growth in the years since I first heard her in Ystad. The Swedish harmonicist Filip Jers joined Ms. Svensson for a romp through Toots Thielemans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bluesette.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d With his customary sensitivity of keyboard touch and stimulating uses of chords Jan Lundgren gave solo piano versions of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Walking My Baby Back Home,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from the Nat Cole songbook, and a respectful treatment Bobby Timmons\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s modern jazz classic \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dat Dere.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ms. Svensson.<\/p>\n

The popular actor, comedian and drummer Janne \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Loffe\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Carlsson came onstage as a surprise guest. He spoke amusingly and at length about his relationship with \"\"Monica Zetterlund. Carlsson was introduced as having been her husband, although there seems to be no documentary evidence to support that. Promising to be brief, he amused the audience by producing from his jacket a roll of paper. He made it seem that he intended to use it as notes for a speech. The notes turned out to be a scroll that was all but endless. It \u00e2\u20ac\u0153accidentally\u00e2\u20ac\u009d unrolled down to his shoe tops. He was not brief. He frequently reduced the audience to uproarious laughter with anecdotes and nonsense delivered with skilled timing that kept the crowd laughing.<\/p>\n

Following intermission, Theresson returned in a slow version of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sweet Georgia Brown,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a 1925 popular song usually taken fast\u00e2\u20ac\u201doften too fast. The lyric is so familiar that most of the older members of the audience could no doubt have sung along. Theresson made of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sweet Georgia\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a ballad laden with meaning.<\/p>\n

As the four-hour concert neared its end, Hannah Svensson and Jan Lundgren collaborated on a traditional Swedish song, “Jag vet en dejlig rosa.””\u00a0 Filip Jers joined Lundgren on”Sl\u00c3\u00a4ngpolska (after Jacob Bruun<\/em>).” Piano and harmonica blended in a collaboration that had the sadness of much traditional Swedish music while emphasizing the satisfactions of creative teamwork when a jazz performance goes well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(All photos but the arena, Zetterlund and Carlsson by Markus F\u00c3\u00a4gersten of the Ystad festival). Thanks to Markus for his usual fine work.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2017 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival launched with a tribute to Monica Zetterlund (1937-2005). The singer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legacy in her homeland seems to steadily expand, and the attendance reflected her continued presence in Sweden\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cultural life. The concert, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Monica Z\u00e2\u20ac\u201dForever and Ever,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d attracted 1,500 listeners to the Ystad Arena. Recently opened, the imposing athletic and cultural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8520","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}