Anna-Frida
Singer Anna-Frida Abrahamsson was born in Lund, Sweden in 1980 and grew up around Europe, including Belgium and France. Her college career kept her traveling to the United States, resulting in a degree in Linguistics at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In Portland, Oregon, she started the group Nordic Jazz, bringing the distinct style of Scandinavian jazz to the Pacific Northwest. A coast-to-coast move and five years in Boston, Massachusetts culminated in the Swedish-American jazz album Gentle Old River together with some of the most active and talented musicians on the scene.
During the past fifteen years, she has appeared in jazz clubs around the USA and performed at the international Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival in 2011. She plays the alto saxophone, the alto recorder, and the acoustic guitar, and her style is marked by the folk tones of a Swedish childhood and the gospel and jazz sounds of an American early adulthood. Anna-Frida is accompanied by some of Boston's top jazz performers. John Funkhouser on piano
Greg Loughman on bass Mike Connors on drums Pat Hatrack Gallagher on harmonica Roberto Cassan on accordion Mark Poniatowski on bass Kjell-Åke Persson trumpet, flugelhorn, Ingemar Torstensson piano, Per Ekman bass, Pelle "Trazan"Jonasson drums.
Biography follows in Swedish: Some Band! består av fem musiker från nordöstra Skåne, Kjell-Åke Persson/trumpet och flygelhorn, Berndt Sjögren/saxofon och flöjt, Per Ekman/kontrabas, Pelle Jonasson/trummor, och Ingemar Torstensson/piano. Some Band! är husband på kulturhuset Aoseum i Åhus och bjuder in professionella gästsolister från Sverige och utomlands i en konsertserie som kallas för "Jazz & Gäst". Både Kjell-Åke och Berndt har varit ledare för XL Big Band, ett av Sveriges bästa storband, som gjort ett 10-tal CD-skivor och som spelade på Ystads jazzfestival med Peter Asplund förra året. Kjell-Åke är fortfarande kvar i XLBB och är där framträdande solist. Han ledde bland annat "Samband" under 70- och 80-talen, föregångare till Some Band!, och blev Kristianstads jazzfestivals "Local Hero" förra året. Berndt startade för något år sedan ett annat storband, Blekinge Big Band och blev Kristianstads kommuns kulturpristagare 2006. Alla är välmeriterade och eftersökta musiker som gjort flera CD-inspelningar. |
NORDIC JAZZ pairs the finest rhythm players in Portland with the beautiful vocal stylings of Anna-Frida Abrahamsson. With a sweet and sultry mix of Swedish folk songs and lovely ballads, Nordic Jazz is easy on the ears and is never brash in their approach. A rich blend of traditional vocal jazz standards round out the quartets sound, but does not rely heavily on re-vamped show tunes for long. At the heart of Nordic Jazz is a penchant for the simple and sublime folk melodies of Sweden. This balanced quartet offers a unique range of instrumental talents from a very special piano trio: Greg Van Wormer – Bass, Michael Kora – Drums, and Ted Clifford – Piano. The interplay between the trio cushions the wonderful phrasing by Anna-Frida and propels a quiet intensity seldom heard since the Bill Evans Trio courted Monica Zetterlund in 1966.
Background info | |
File Size: | 694 kb |
File Type: | rtf |