Eight Pieces

Personnel: Thomas Jäderlund (saxophone); David Wilczewski, Thomas Gustafson (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Staffan Svensson (trumpet); Bobo Stenson (piano); Harald Svensson (keyboards); Audun Kleive (drums).
Audio Mixers: Åke Linton; Harald Svensson; Anders Jormin.
Liner Note Author: Anders Jormin.
Recording information: Studio Bohus, Kungalv, Sweden (03/22/1988-03/23/1988).
Arranger: Anders Jormin.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Swedish government's National Council for Cultural Affairs financed many noteworthy jazz projects. One such project came in early 1987, when the Council commissioned Anders Jormin to write a musical suite that would be performed at the Gothenburg Jazz Festival. The following year, Jormin and eight other musicians entered a studio in Kungalv, Sweden and recorded most of the music from that suite (although a few solo pieces were omitted). The resulting album was Eight Pieces, which Dragon released on LP in the late 1980s and reissued on CD in 1998. Drawing on post-bop, avant-garde, fusion and even crossover, Jormin's suite is unpredictable. Eight Pieces ranges from "Ostia Antiqua" (a mysterious tune that wouldn't have been out of place on Miles Davis' Tutu) and the eerie "Alla Gator Leder Bort" to the dissonant outside offering "Em." While "Em" is the sort of thing an AACM explorer would embrace, "Burkina" is an affable, perky song that one could envision David Sanborn recording. Jormin clearly appreciates a variety of jazz, and that open-mindedness serves him well on this diverse yet cohesive offering. ~ Alex Henderson