Staffan Abeleen 5tet: Downstream (1966) Philips / Universal Classics Jazz UK (jp)

LondonJazzCollector goes off-piste again. Last week, South Africa, this week bound for…Sweden, baby it’s cold outside. Take it away, Lars…

Selection: Relax, Float Downstream (Farnlöf)

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Tracklist

A1.  Fin Sikt Över Havet (Nice View of the Sea) 4:54
A2. Relax – Float Downstream 15:23
B1. Heavenly Blue 2:56
B2. Maybe Tomorrow 11:14

Artists

Staffan Abeleen, piano; Lasse Farnlöf, trumpet ; Bjorn Netz, sax; Bosse Skugland, drums; Paul Danielsson, bass; recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, February 21, 1966, looks like the main requirement for Swedish jazz musicians is to be able to play their instrument in winter-warm thick gloves, a trench-coat, hat and scarf.

All compositions are credited to Lasse (or Lars) Farnlöf, trumpet player and composer, obviously, whose name sets the spellchecker into a tizzy.  Farnlöf’s side-hustle was 60’s Swedish film scores, none of which register on my Netflix.

Biographical information is in very short supply on these Swedish musicians. Born 1940 in Stockholm, Staffan, Swedish variant form of Stephen, a name found everywhere in Europe;  Abeleen – last name found only in Scandinavia. Abeleen died in 2008 (his brief wiki)

What he did in the preceding forty-odd years goes without remark, aside from a small number of EPs and a few LPs. One LP is “Sweet Alva“, I assume named after the pooch on the cover. The thing with pets, they often bear a disconcerting resemblance to their owner, especially in the haircut department. And if pleased to see you, Alva jumped up, she’d probably flatten you. “No, Alva, no! Sit!! I said SIT, not shi . . . oh, Alva.  . . .

The Abeleen Quintet also have a prequel to Downstream, titled Persepolis, recorded a few years previously, also reissued in Japan in the UCJU series.

There is definitely a fresh Swedish take on Modern Jazz, recorded in Sweden at the same time as the golden years in America, in the same tradition but with their own individual voices.  An Abeleen EP (on Sonet) sounds actually quite promising, but commercially dissipated into … nothing. 

Music

A few American jazz musicians during the 60s and 70s relocated to Sweden, including trumpeter Don Cherry and bassist Red Mitchell. Others included Sweden on the European tour itinerary. Sweden resorted to growing their own musicians: Lars Gullin, Rolf Ericson, Arne Domnérus, many others not known outside a rarefied circle of Swedish Jazz cognoscenti.

Art Director’s Fika Break

(That’s not what it sounds like, but a traditional leisurely Swedish social time-out over a coffee). Marketing Swedish jazz had the familiar problem of packaging: what to put on the cover to attract the assumed “bachelor demographic”? (Nowadays, the blonde is actually likely to be the sax player)

Thankfully, serious jazz listeners are not distracted by these commercial antics. Must be a sign of my age, but I was more interested in comparing the sizes of the alto, tenor and baritone. Seemingly, as was the blonde, a Lars Gullin fan, obviously. (Is Lars and Lasse the same name? I’m confused)

Back to the music…

An Ebay seller (auction in 2008) shows an uncommon appreciation of the musical content of Downstream, good for them:

Super rare Swedish 60s Jazz LP!!! Staffan Abeleen may not be a household name, but he’s got a heck of a great group — and one of the best European combos we’ve heard from the time!

It’s clear that the group have taken some cues from the classic Cannonball Adderley Sextet of the Riverside years — working here in that “soul jazz into modern” style that showed up on a lot of the Cannonball-produced records from the same period — a mode that’s still somewhat grounded in a rootsy, rhythm-based sound — but which also breaks out with some incredible tones, colors, and modes — shading in the set with a depth that we never would have expected!

LJC thinks: What is striking about the Abeleen Quintet is not so much “hey, Swedes can play jazz, who dathunk?” but the confident self-assured presentation: a large expansive canvas of composition and melodic ideas, not afraid to spread out over ten minutes; controlled variety of pace and harmonies, the group playing solidly together, with nice solo excursions each with their own voices.

It is musically very early to mid-Sixties, not retro cocktail jazz, not karaoke-Blue Note, no battles or chases, but very much in the spirit of those times. The composer Lars or Lasse, whoever, has a touch of Lee Morgan in his writing to my ear, and not far from Wayne Shorter, very cool, in a good way. The presence of a composer arranger mind in the quintet elevates it above run of the mill formula jazz, a pleasure to Relax, Float Downstream.

Vinyl: UJCU 9084 Japan 2007 reissue

The studio of the 1966 recording session is undisclosed, most likely somewhere in Stockholm, Sweden. The recording engineer not mentioned, and only three small working snaps emerged from the session.

This reissue is sourced from a needle-drop: at the end of the last track, you hear the underlying surface noise suddenly cut out, and the hollow sound of a tonearm/cartridge lifting up. Smoking gun?  In the absence of an original tape source, a necessity.

It’s a very listenable transfer, perhaps a trifle light in the bass department, though a good upper register and stereo placement. To perform this well as a reissue, I conclude it is probably a very good original recording, which you are unlikely ever to see. Sometimes you must compromise, but only for a good reason.

Meticulous attention to detail from our friend in Japan, facsimile Philips labels.Insert:

It goes from bad to worse! It is very difficult to figure out what’s going on, by whom, and when, as the liner notes are in Swedish, and the insert is, helpfully, in…  Japanese. Any Japanese readers welcome to throw in any titbits from the text

Vinyl Reissue Collector’s Corner

The full Universal Japan UCJU series of 60’s British Jazz and pick of international jazz titles includes three Swedish jazz selections (two Staffan Abeleen Quintet titles, and Lars Gullin) alongside  four Tubby Hayes classics, Yusef Lateef, Ronnie Ross, the monstrous wallet-busting boom-jackie-boom-chick, Danish crooner Pedro Biker, and Brazilian Jazz Messengers  Meirelles Os Copa 5tet, not to forget the totally forgotten London Jazz Four (cringeworthy Take a New Look at The Beatles), The Jacobs Brothers (who?) and the much-misspelt Collin Bates (two “L” s, Cecil)

The producer responsible for this series is not some 7th Floor corporate suit, but a jazz enthusiast, Tatsuo Sunaga. From his website: “Japanese DJ/Producer Sunaga is known as jazz critic, and famous globally as a jazz record collector. Sunaga has released over 200 works including compilations, producer works, international remixes. His latest projects are “Jazz All Nighters of VEE JAY” and “Bethlehem Jazz All Nighters” ” 

What is particularly interesting is Sunaga’s “curator’s ear” – the selection of three Swedish records alongside some of the finest British jazz, considered worthy of inclusion in the same European Jazz series. It speaks highly of his choices.

Tatsuo Sunaga‘s Jazz Allnighters – original analog re-issues “Sunaga Tatsuo used his power to re-issue 6 rare recordings of 50’s-60’s European jazz, and that from a major label! These are not CD releases, but all vinyl”.

True, they are all vinyl reissues, which (neatly) sidesteps the identity of the recording sources. European 60s recordings, mastered to vinyl, from what? It is the question you are not supposed to ask. I guess the inevitable digital transfer to vinyl, but some records are sufficiently obscure not to have available digital transfers, hence needle-drop. However, their value is not to be understated: the originals of these recordings are impossibly rare, parent record companies show no interest in reissuing them, and the music is solidly of its time, gone, but not forgotten, a fresh take on the 1960s, from the 1960s.

There seems to be an affinity between certain European countries and jazz, thinking of Denmark and Sweden as unlikely suspects. For this purpose, I set aside the place of Gothenburg as the capital of Death Metal, and any connection between the standard jazz repertoire form AABA, and ABBA. Any Swedes, or Swedish jazz fans, are welcome to expand our understanding of Swedish Jazz.  Personally, I like what I am hearing, but I don’t know why Swedish Jazz happened. 

Declaration of Interest: I once drove a Volvo, a couple of years, and my jazz collection is supported by IKEA (shelving). 

As the seasonal milestone (millstone?) approaches, the usual sentiment-on-vinyl releases approach. Let’s get it over with, “Merry Christmas all!” Now, can we get back to some serious listening. 

 My Christmas present this year is to my Hi-Fi: – a Dynavector XV1T cartridge upgrade. It knows it’s worth it! Next year will sound even better, something to look forward to. 

LJC