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Sven-Åke Johansson
Sven-Åke Johansson, born in 1943 in Mariestad (Sweden), is one of the style-defining drummers of the German free jazz era of the 60s and 70s. From the 80s onwards, he pursued an artistic path largely independent of institutions and groups as a music performer in the circles of fine arts and new music. Among other things, more than fifty record releases, a number of music theater pieces, radio plays, pictorial works and a lively touring life are among his oeuvre.
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Bengt "Frippe" Nordström: Vinyl Box
by Mark Corroto
Sometimes an artist can tilt the axis of a genre. Tilt it by just a degree or two. The effects might not be felt as such in the moment, but after decades their imprint is profound. Peter Brötzmann was one example, as was Derek Bailey. Add to that list, the Swedish saxophonist Bengt “Frippe" Nordström (1936 to 2000). As a musician born into a family with wealth, he was spared the necessity of playing gigs to earn his livelihood. In ...
read moreSven Ake Johansson: Jazzbox
by Mark Corroto
Funny how listening to the five-CD Jazzbox by free jazz drummer Sven-Åke Johansson may remind you of the British punk rock band The Clash's first hit single “Train In Vain" (1980). Like Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, Johansson's career has been one that has worked to challenge the language of American music. In The Clash's case, it was American pop and disco. For Johansson and his European colleagues (Peter Brotzmann, Manfred Schoof, Peter Kowald, and Alexander von Schlippenbach) it was ...
read moreSven-Ake Johansson: Die Harke und der Spaten
by Mark Corroto
Part performance piece, part free improvisation, Die Harke und der Spaten ("The Rake and the Spade") is a musical stage play composed by Swedish jazz legend Sven-Åke Johansson. This recording, made in Malmö, Sweden in 1998, features a Who's Who of European improvisers and proponents of free jazz--a European free jazz that distinguishes itself from American music.Johansson was there at the beginning of the European free scene, recording with founding fathers Peter Brötzmann, Alexander Von Schlippenbach, and Manfred ...
read moreAke Johansson: Trio 77
by Craig W. Hurst
Trio 77 is a CD release of a 1977 recording made for Swedish Radio by pianist Ake Johansson. Johansson, who emerged on the Swedish jazz scene while barely out of his teens in the late 1950's, has performed and recorded with many great jazz artists, having held the distinction of being the accompanist for many American players when they visited Sweden. Johansson also has recorded on the Dragon label with Chet Baker and Toots Thielemans. Trio 77 presents a retrospective ...
read moreSven-Ake Johansson, Axel Dorner, Andrea Neumann: Barcelona Series
by Glenn Astarita
The musical implications portrayed here, seemingly hearken back to drummer, Sven-Ake Johansson’s flirtations with mechanistic noise music, most notably “Concerto for 12 tractors” and a concerto for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. With that notion in mind, the trio of trumpeter, Axel Dorner, Johansson and pianoharpist (a stripped down piano sans keys) Andrea Neumann engage in some unorthodox banter on this most interesting production. Furthermore, all of these pieces are untitled and categorized in numerical order while many of the passages feature, Dorner ...
read moreSven-Ake Johansson: Six Little Pieces For Quintet
by Glenn Astarita
Drummer Sven-Ake Johansson proclaims, “The compositions and improvisations in my quintet represent, stylistically speaking, a period of free jazz, which may, at first sight, recall the Sixties. On Six Little Pieces For Quintet, the drummer, armed with his 60’s Slingerland kit, shoots for the stars with these invigorating pieces along with band-mates who counteract the leader’s throbbing pulse, sweeping press rolls and gyrating rhythms via simply stated choruses and fierce soloing.
Johansson and co. admirably seize the spirit of those ...
read moreSven-: Schlingerland/Dynamische Schwingungen
by AAJ Staff
Solo free improv drum recordings tend to send most jazz fans scurrying for cover. But for the bold, there are some sweet exceptions. Sven-Åke Johansson's 1972 record Schlingerland presents just the man and his drum set, and it's a fascinating listen. Johansson seems intent on exploring the polyrhythmic possibilities of his kit, building up percolating rhythms and then subtly altering them over time. A lot of this music embodies aspects of the West African drumming tradition: Johansson overlays asymmetric drum ...
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