Yesterday I posted on composer, arranger and pianist Nils Lindberg's 1963 album Trisection, a superb but almost unknown orchestral jazz recording. I also provided a bit of background on Sweden's 100-year love affair with jazz. Today, a conversation with Nils on Sax Appeal (1960) and Trisection (1963)—two of his early jazz albums recorded in Stockholm:

JazzWax: What was your major influence when writing and arranging Sax Appeal?
Nils Lindberg: The songs I wrote for Sax Appeal were inspired by the feeling in Swedish folk tunes. For example, the tune Curbits was built on the chords of just such a song. My arrangements, however, were inspired by Woody Herman´s recording of Four Brothers. I liked the records made by Herman´s Third Herd very much.


JW: Did you listen to jazz radio in Sweden when you were young?
NL: Oh, yes. I first heard American jazz after 1945 when the American Forces Radio started broadcasting from Germany. Many Swedish jazz musicians also listened to the network. During World War  II, no U.S. jazz records had reached Sweden, so when the war was over we were very grateful and excited to listen on the radio and buy and listen to American jazz records. 

JW: Which American records and arrangers most influenced you leading up to Trisection?
NL: Gil Evans and his [Birth of the Cool] recordings with Miles Davis.


JW: Where did you write the music for Trisection?
NL: After working very hard as a pianist in dance bands in Stockholm, I went up north in 1961 to Dalarna, Sweden, where my parents’ home is located and where I was brought up. Dalarna has a beautiful landscape and a strong folklore tradition. I composed the music there during the summer of that year.


JW: Did you have a strong sense of what you wanted to write?
NL: I had no vision whatsoever of what Trisection should be or sound like. I just wrote this suite as I felt it. Of course, the traditional fiddlers in Dalarna and my interest in jazz were strong inspirations. [Pictured above: Dalarna, Sweden]


JW: Given your exceptional command of the jazz orchestra, why did you not travel to the U.S. to work, the way musicians like Lalo Schifrin and Michel Legrand did, in the movies and TV?
NL: I had a family and three sons, so I had to work here in Sweden. I also had no opportunity to go to the U.S. No one asked. Through vocalist Alice Babs, Duke Ellington had listened to my music and asked me to write for his band. He also recorded my Far Away Star with Alice Babs.  [Pictured above: Dalarna, Sweden]


JW: Duke Ellington toured Scandinavia quite a bit.
NL: During Duke´s Scandinavian tour in 1973, I played piano on all concerts with his band. After the tour he asked me to work with him in U.S. But he died
some months after his offer, so who knows what might have happened. Since then, I have played many concerts in U.S., mainly on colleges and universities.

JazzWax tracks: As mentioned yesterday, you'll find three Nils Lindberg albums—Sax Appeal, Trisection and Symphony #1 and Jazz From Studio A—on a single download called Nils Lindberg: Essential Swedish Jazz Masters. You'll just have to rearrange the tracks a bit, as outlined in yesterday's post.

JazzWax clip: Here's Curbits from Nils Lindberg's Sax Appeal...

 

Curbits

 

Today I'm going to tell you about one of the finest jazz albums recorded in the early '60s—an album that is likely unfamiliar to you but will surely become one of your favorites. The album is Trisection by Swedish composer, arranger and pianist Nils Lindberg. (Tomorrow I'll have an interview with Nils from Stockholm about the music.)

Sweden has a long jazz history and remains one of the oldest and most prolific jazz centers outside of the U.S. The country's relationship with jazz dates back to 1913, when its first jazz recordings were made in Stockholm, four years before our own in 1917. The song recorded was Alexander's Ragtime Band, by the Pinets Orchestra.

Over the years, American jazz musicians have traveled there. The first to record in Stockholm was Louis Armstrong, with his Hot Harlem Band, during a concert in October 1933. Benny Carter was in Stockholm next in 1936, Kenny Clarke in 1938 and Duke Ellington in 1939. Bebop made its way to Sweden in 1947 with Chubby Jackson, and Dizzy Gillespie was there in 1948. James Moody recorded there with his Swedish Crowns in 1949, a session that included I'm in the Mood for Love.

Swedish jazz musicians like baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin are revered by American fans who know their work. One of the finest is Nils Lindberg, 79 [pictured], who studied classical composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and is known today as a composer of jazz and classical, including a style that combines jazz, Swedish folk music and classical music.

His first jazz album was Sax Appeal (1960), backed by his Swedish Modern Jazz Group. His music and arranging owes a great deal to Woody Herman's reed-centric "Four Brothers" sound. Nils' band featured Rolf Billberg (as) Harry Backlund, Allan Lundstrom (ts) Lars Gullin (bar) Nils Lindberg (p) Sture Nordin (b) and Conny Svensson (d). It's a superb swinging recording with gorgeous sax writing and piano playing by Nils.

In December 1962, Nils recorded a magnificent album called Trisection, including American expatriate trumpeter Idrees Sulieman. What makes this 1963 release so special is its Birth of the Cool feel and Gil Evans influences, served up by beautiful, gentle reeds. The band includes Idrees Sulieman, Jan Allan (tp) Sven-Olof Walldoff (b-tp) Eje Thelin (tb) Olle Holmqvist (tu) Rolf Billberg (as) Bertil Lofdahl, Harry Backlund (ts) Erik Nilsson (bar) Nils Lindberg (p) Sture Nordin (b) and Sture Kallin (d).

Rather than continue to rave about this music, I should let you hear the first movement. Here's Trisection I (tomorrow I'll post a track from Sax Appeal)...

 

Trisection 1

 

JazzWax tracks: You'll find three Nils Lindberg albums—including Trisection Suite—on a single download called Nils Lindberg: Essential Swedish Jazz Masters. You'll just have to rearrange the tracks a bit:

Sax Appeal—Curbits, Play for Love, Birdland, Brand New, Blues for Bill and Zodiac.

Trisection—Trisection I, Trisection II, Trisection III, Daydreaming, Ars Gratia Artis and Joker.

The rest is from Symphony No. 1 & Jazz From Studio A—with Benny Bailey (tp) Ake Persson (tb) Rolf Billberg (as) Bjarne Nerem (ts) Nils Lindberg (p,ldr) Georg Riedel (b) Egil Johansen (d).

You'll also find Sax Appeal and Trisection on a Swedish CD here. And a new CD release of Sax Appeal is available at eBay, with four previously unreleased tracks.

A special JazzWax thanks to Todd Selbert, who used Trisection in a blindfold test when I was over at his apartment a few weeks ago—and made me guess for over a half hour without success. 

Bonus clip: Here's Lars Gullin, Nils Lindberg (interviewed and in concert) and alto saxophonist Rolf Billberg from a documentary on Gullin broadcast on Swedish television...