JSngry Posted October 11, 2005 Report Posted October 11, 2005 And he has really cool cover art on his albums. To be truthful, the cat's got more happening than most Americans right now. Definitely more spirit and life. Jonas Kullhammar! Quote
Big Wheel Posted October 11, 2005 Report Posted October 11, 2005 He used to post once in awhile on the BNBB way back in the day. I remember thinking the guy was quite the self-promoter, but the sound samples definitely differentiated him from the vast majority of people who just came along to spam the board. Quote
DukeCity Posted October 11, 2005 Report Posted October 11, 2005 I went to his website, and you're right about the cover art. None of the mp3 samples were up. Is there anywhere online I can find some clips? BTW: I like that he has PDFs of a bunch of his tunes. Quote
sidewinder Posted October 11, 2005 Report Posted October 11, 2005 He used to post once in awhile on the BNBB way back in the day. I remember thinking the guy was quite the self-promoter, but the sound samples definitely differentiated him from the vast majority of people who just came along to spam the board. ← Yes, I remember him posting quite regularly on the BNBB and indeed I bought a Dizzy Gillespie 'Perceptions' Verve Elite CD from him, which worked out really well. Plays tenor I think - I see his CDs on sale over here occasionally. Quote
JSngry Posted October 12, 2005 Author Report Posted October 12, 2005 He plays tenor. He plays it very well. And he plays it with attitude. For once, a young guy with chops and brains and soul ain't sounding like he's trying to be twice as old as he really is. CDs readily available from DG: http://www.dustygroove.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap...22&issearch=yes I like pretty much all of his stuff that I've heard, but the temporarily-out-of-stock Kullrusk side, which sounds like an Eddie Harris-on-Varitone-meets-Sonny-Stitt-on-Varitone-with-the-Varitones-being-controlled-by-Don-Ellis mid-60s Atlantic side, only different is one which I keep coming back to. It's laugh-out-loud, joyously delirious music. Kullhammar also plays plenty of accoustic music as well, from vamp tunes to burning uptempo straight ahead stuff. And the shit is impeccably recorded, especially the bass (inevitably the good ol' wood, btw, even on hte funky stuff). Perhaps some of the best accoustic bass recording ever done, imo. In the end, though, it's the guy's spirit that gets me. Smart, yet irreverant, obviously respectful of the music itself , but perhaps significantly less so of the "mystique" and dogma surrounding it, somebody who seems to not see any good reason why "average people" shouldn't enjoy non-commercial contemporary jazz. Gotta love that! Quote
Daniel A Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 And he has really cool cover art on his albums. Quote
Daniel A Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 (edited) Jonas' records are distributed though his own label, Moserobie. On the Moserobie website there are sound clips available from most of the albums (click on "catalog"): http://www.moserobie.com/ Jonas once stated (though I'm not sure if it's still valid) that his albums would never be reissued once the original run was sold out. It's possible that he has revised this opinion after getting more attention outside Sweden. I agree that he's quite an impressive player. He's very self-assured, on and off stage, which I think shines through in his playing. I've heard some really terrific playing from him at live gigs here in Stockholm. Only sometimes I think there could be just a tiny bit more space in his soloing. It seems I'm rather alone in this opinion, though. I played with him once when he was 16 years old (the rest of the band members were a few years older). He already outclassed everyone else. What we played? Well, some Peter Herbolzheimer tunes, and the theme from "Three Days of the Condor"... Edited October 12, 2005 by Daniel A Quote
DukeCity Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 Jonas' records are distributed though his own label, Moserobie. On the Moserobie website there are sound clips available from most of the albums (click on "catalog"): http://www.moserobie.com/ ← I went to the website, and the sound clips appear to be no longer available on their server... Quote
JSngry Posted October 12, 2005 Author Report Posted October 12, 2005 ...sometimes I think there could be just a tiny bit more space in his soloing. It seems I'm rather alone in this opinion, though.← No, I would agree with that. But the guy's, what, 26? That will come, most likely. Until it does, I very much like the youthful energy put to the service of some invigorating (and often irreverant, as a younger person should be, I think) music. Hey - he's got the rest of his life to get old, but he's only gonna be young for a little while. Quote
clifford_thornton Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 The only one I've spent time with is the Norbotten Big Band one, but I think that one's great. There's a review I wrote of it up somewhere on AAJ. Quote
Guest Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 Hey, so cool to see Scandinavians get some attention here! Incidentally I went to a Jonas Kullhammar Quartet gig just this weekend. Most excellent indeed, and the third time I've seen them. He also plays in the even more excellent Nacka Forum, with trumpeter Goran Kajfes (another must-hear Swede), bass player Johan Bertling and the grand ole man of modern Swedish jazz, the mighty Kjell Nordesson on drums! Very highly recommended, especially their self-titled first album from 2002. Just got the new one and it sounds good so far. I don't remember the label, it might be Mooserobie... Another Moserobie gem is by the group Zanussi 5. I must say this: You cannot afford to miss this one! This is white-hot stuff for lovers of the 60s avant-garde. Yet this incredible groupd does something else again...it's quite arranged and written-out, yet they take it far, far out. An incredible triple attack of sax players (baritone sax, tenor, alto, soprano(?) and I think others too), All helmed by the bass player, Per Zanussi, who is also responsible for the great, great compositions, and the wonderfully sensitive drummer, Per Oddvar Johansen. Don't be fooled by the unknown names - I say without reservation that this group has given me *the* most incredible concert experiences of my past two years. I'm really lucky to be in their area, one of the sax players is a local guy too. The Scandinavian scene really is incredibly fertile and has been for nearly 10 years now. Some more stuff to check out: Atomic: Norwegian-Swedish group, many of the players have been associated with the Vandermark/Chicago scene Petter Wettre Trio: Absolutely incredible saxophone player (studied with Dave Liebman). He seems to be looking for a new direction these days, but 1999's "Meet the Locals" comes highly, highly recommended. Supersilent: Improv/noise/incredibilia...legendary stuff when they are "on". Sorry for the blatant Scandinavia-promotion, but I've just signed up again after a long absence and am rediscovering my collection after I had to leave my collection at home and go iPod... Quote
Big Wheel Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 The Finns are no slouches either. It's especially impressive when you consider that the entire Finnish population is about half the size of NYC's. Anyone check out the "Finnish Jazz" compilation CDs that come out every year or so? Quote
relyles Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 Another younger Swedish musician that I have enjoyed a lot is Fredrik Nordstrom. He has a couple of recordings on Moserobie and other labels that are well worth hearing - particularly the quintet with trumpeter Magnus Broo and a great vibes player whose name I can not remember right now. Back to the topic, I have a few Kulhammar discs lying around that I have not given a critical listen to yet. Once again Jim you have made me want to dig deep into some of the gems which are apparently already in my collection. Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 Jonas Kullhammar may be a cool player but the real question is does he allow taping? Quote
GregN Posted October 12, 2005 Report Posted October 12, 2005 Jonas Kullhammar may be a cool player but the real question is does he allow taping? ← lol. You got me! I was reading the thread, scrollin' down, and bam! Anyhow, I needed a good chuckle. Rough couple of days here. g Quote
Daniel A Posted October 13, 2005 Report Posted October 13, 2005 I went to the website, and the sound clips appear to be no longer available on their server... I just noted that, too. I'll post here if I find some links that work. Quote
Daniel A Posted November 12, 2005 Report Posted November 12, 2005 The sound clips seem to be working again: *Salut (2000)* *The Soul of Jonas Kullhammar (2001)* *Plays Loud for the People (2002)* Scroll down on this page for a couple of complete live tracks: http://www.moserobie.com/misc.html (There's also a video of "Bebopalulia", though you should be warned that it shows someone impersonating Jonas Kullhammar, rather than Jonas himself... ) A few collaborative project in a somewhat different vein: *Forum Nacka (2002)* *Kullrusk (2004)* (with the excellent alto saxophonist Per "Ruskträsk" Johansson, allthough I prefer both him and Kullhammar non-amplified) *Leve Nacka Forum (2005)* Quote
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted December 12, 2005 Report Posted December 12, 2005 He used to post once in awhile on the BNBB way back in the day. I remember thinking the guy was quite the self-promoter, but the sound samples definitely differentiated him from the vast majority of people who just came along to spam the board. He drove a super hard bargain in the trades dept. and had a habit of suddenly moving the goal posts and asking for just one more thing as you were preparing to write the check, so to speak. I think Shrugs once got into it with him over that. Quote
Late Posted October 22, 2013 Report Posted October 22, 2013 Anyone here heard Mr. Kullhammar's take on A Love Supreme? I was a little surprised that he'd take on that monolith. His recording is vinyl-only, I think. I haven't heard it. Maybe he and Branford could have an ALS showdown. Quote
Late Posted October 23, 2013 Report Posted October 23, 2013 10" white vinyl, limited to 250 copies. Quote
Daniel A Posted October 23, 2013 Report Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) LP only releases seems to be a new trend in Sweden. I know of several recent albums that have been released only on LP and as a download (or from a streaming service). The Kullhammar album was only released on LP, though, - no download as I know of - and it has already sold out. Jonas' quartet recently dissolved after 15 years and their last album will be out in November. As always, he has other interesting projects going on, however. The idea for the ALS project apparently came from a German jazz festival that wished to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Impulse records. Edited October 23, 2013 by Daniel A Quote
JSngry Posted July 17, 2023 Author Report Posted July 17, 2023 Jonas Kullhammar is on the new Cesar Frazier album. Did not see that one coming! https://www.dustygroove.com/item/148037/Caesar-Frazier-with-Jonas-Kullhammar:Caesar-Frazier-Live-At-Jazzcup?label=131295&incl_oos=1&incl_cs=1&sort_order=artist Quote
JSngry Posted July 17, 2023 Author Report Posted July 17, 2023 Oh my... That's so...non-American. And I am SO thankful for that. Quote
Guy Berger Posted July 22, 2023 Report Posted July 22, 2023 I finally got around to listen to a few of his albums on Clean Feed. Excellent. Quote
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