Bosse Broberg -- Anyone hip to this

[Larry Kart]

I have two big band albums by Broberg (b. 1937) and his Nogenja ("Nogenja = "No Generation Jazz") Ensemble -- "Regni" (Phono Sueica) from 1995 and "Conspiracy in Flat Five" (Caprice) from 2000 or so -- that I found very appealing when I first listened to them a few years ago, and upon recent re-listening I'm even more impressed. Broberg lists his idols as Gil Evans, Monk, Dameron, Ellington, Strayhorn, George Russell, Mingus, et al., but all that has been digested and personalized; Broberg is himself. His band is full of very good and quite individual Swedish players, some of them fairly familar to me (e.g. Jan Allan, Lennart Aberg) others new to me (e.g. alto and tenor saxophonist Krister Andersson, who on alto recalls the late brilliant Konitz offshoot Rolf Billberg). In particular, Broberg's music is full of humor/wit -- genuinely musical humor/wit in jazz (that is, there's a dramatic, storytelling element of distortion of expectations that also is wholly musical) being a rare thing in my experience (e.g. Broberg's "Monkey Serenade" on "Regni" is an at once quite insane and perfectly lucid 14-minute exercise in harmonic and rhythmic wrong-footedness [based on "I Got Rhythm"], while his "Double Steps and Track Fragments" from the same album does things to "Giant Steps" that ought to be illegal -- though as I'm sure you'll agree, the idea of playing with, even toying with, "Giant Steps" is an idea whose time has come). BTW, Broberg in his onetime position at Swedish Radio commissioned George Russell's "Electronic Souls etc." back in the mid-1960s.

[Rooster_Ties]

Sold, on the strength of your description.

Just moments ago I bought the only cheap copy of "Conspiracy in Flat Five" that I could find on-line. (Every copy everywhere was $25 and up (many WAY up), except the one I just got for about $15, postage paid.)

Couldn't find any on-line samples, but the AMG reviews of both those dates (and your review, Larry) were all I needed to "hear".

Looking forward to the disc.

Edited July 16, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[Larry Kart]

Sold, on the strength of your description.

Pretty sure you'll enjoy it. Also, as one might expect (Scandavian meticulousness), both it and Regni are beautifully recorded. The title track of this one, a polytonal setting of "Donna Lee," is full of Broberg's serious/funny sense of humor.

[Peter Friedman]

I have this one by Bosse Broberg. It is a highly enjoyable quintet session.

Bosse Broberg / Red Mitchell - West Of The Moon - Dragon