Right now there's a lot of Jazz Moods circulating in my living room. The sounds from various vinyl LPs on the grammophone's heard.
A couple of weeks ago I had some opportunities to see 'n' hear the majestic reeds man Mats Gustafsson in various constellations: The Thing & Otomo Yoshihide, FTJ (with Joachim Nordwall) and Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentett + 1.
At the first concert I bought the all new 11" piece of plastic "Jazz på Svenska" by Swedish Ass. a quintett featuring Mats, playing their tribute to Swedish jazz giants of the 50's and 60's, Lasse Werner and Lars Gullin, bringing their classic jazz into new territories.
Inspired by that album I just had to check whatever there was to be found by the two guys. Lasse Werner's still on my wants-list, but for Lars Gullin I found a great compilation from his famous 1951 - 1954 era,
"Danny's Dream - Lars Gullin 1951 - 1954 - The Legendary Years", a two disc set released in mid-70's by the Metronome label. Maybe not too common to hear jazz from these years on my player, but this album is just as good as I thought it should be.
I've always had some favour of British jazz from late 60's and ten years on, mostly focusing on artists from the Canterbury Scene, especially Soft Machine and artists related to them, but also people like Keith Tippett, Mike Gibbs and so on. Tippett's Centipede double disc album "Septober Energy" has always been an outstanding one for me. When checking up more of what there was to find in Tippett's catalogue including bigger bands I jumped into his 1977 project Keith Tippett's Ark and the double disc album "Frames - Music for an Imaginary Film". The band consists of 22 persons, some of them know from the Centipede Gargantua effort, others from the British jazz nad free form scene of late 60's and 70's. The 80 minutes suite in four parts is a complex piece of music, varies from strict composition to open and free improvisations, and with Julie Tippett's voice here and there, like a well-tasting spice mix this album becomes one of Tippett's best ever.
When having a little chat with Mats G during one of the concerts we talked a bit about Tippett and his music. I told him I've seen the rare "Frames" album at Harald Hult's excellent record store Andra Jazz in Stockholm, but the price was scary, 1200 kronor (about 165$). Mats consider Andra Jazz being the best and kindest record store ever, but "yes, Harald is a bit expensive...". Next time I was there the album was gone, I didn't even have to bother about the price anymore (instead I bought, yes, Swedish Ass). A couple of weeks later I bought it through the sales service at Discogs for 500 kronor (about 70$) and when it arrived I just realised what I've already heard - the album is magnificent. Ogun Records, of course.
It has been re-released on CD, but right now, who cares? Recommended!
O'
