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Jordmån — Jazz på Nysvenska
((Not on label) no#, 2020, LP / CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2021-04-25

Jazz på Nysvenska Cover art

A little over 50 years ago an album was released in Sweden titled Jazz på Svenska, an album that took traditional Swedish folk tunes and gave them a jazz spin, the key figure on the album being pianist Jan Johansson, and the album propelled him to superstardom, but unfortunately he lost his life in an auto accident shortly thereafter. It would be several more years before a young guitarist / multi-instrumentalist / composer named Peter Bryngelsson made his opening appearance on Ragnarök’s debut album in 1976, a certified progressive rock classic. He stayed on board for four more albums, then in the mid-80s (along with Dan Johnsson, Henrik Cederberg, Ove Karlsson, Hans Bruniusson, and flutist Björn J:Son Lindh) formed a new band Triangulus, followed by session and solo work in a jazzy vein, then by the mid-90s became a member of Urban Turban (three albums) continuing his solo worl and even rejoining Ragnarök here and there for some reunions. So where am I going with this? In 2020 Bryngelsson (along with numerous guests) released the album at hand Jazz på Nysvenska (rough translation Jazz of New Sweden) as an LP release under the name Jordmån, but make no mistake, this is Bryngelsson in charge, and for nearly each of the traditional songs, Bryngelsson has composed new companion pieces to go with them. In 2021, it has been reissued on CD with a few additional tracks. Most of the tunes are presented as instrumentals, but some feature Swedish female vocals, especially powerful on the ten-minute three-part suite “Emigrantsviten”: So is this jazz? Not in my book, although there is definitely some of it here; perhaps this would be better described as Swedish roots-folk with touches of rock, jazz, and world music thrown into the mix. For his part, Bryngelsson plays pretty much anything with strings — dobro, guitars, mohan veena, mandolin, bass, cümbüş, piano, lap steel, dulcimer, mandoloud, and more, plus organ, some vocals, and percussion. The guest list numbers about 20 nusicians and covers just about anything that Bryngelsson doesn’t play — strings, woodwinds, keyboards, accordion, nyckelharpa and more — even some that he does play, just depending on which track, and several of the guest players are recognizable as members of Bryngelsson’s former bands. This is beautiful music that is culturally deep and powerful, yet it remains innovative. The lyrics are few, but don’t ask me what they mean.

Filed under: New releases, 2020 releases

Related artist(s): Peter Bryngelsson / Jordmån

More info
http://open.spotify.com/artist/0oCoLrolJUfhLDOS4hrswk
http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-p%C3%A5-Nysvenska-Jordm%C3%A5n/dp/B08KJ6KTXB

 

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