– A PEEK AT 1960’s NORDIC JAZZ SCENE

As the title suggests, this is but a fleeting, though
by no means hasty, glance at the diverse and meandering Nordic
jazz scene. The object of this compilation is not to show a detailed
cross-section – on the contrary, its a rather haphazard
selection. But jeez, what a selection! The common denominator
in this case is, that all of these tunes were recorded in the
Nordic countries – in this instance Finland, Sweden, Norway
and Denmark.



As the 1960’s emerged, one of the chief changes in popular
culture was, that jazz lost its dance music crown to rock and
pop, and had to adjust to the changing climate. This had a number
of Americans deciding to move across the Atlantic, although that
was the situation more or less over here as well. Some of the
migrants included this comp’s Dexter Gordon, Sahib Shihab
and Brew Moore, whose playing echoes the sophisticated groove
of the original art form, layers of history and, above all, the
flawless command of their instruments. For instance, Gordon, who
started in the 1940’s, was presumably a solid influence
on many Nordic musicians featured on this compilation. Many of
the local greats on this collection represent what would be called
the third generation of Scandinavian jazz – a crowd more
international than its predecessors, not least because they had
a chance to see top American names in their home towns and could
pick up their tunes in their local record stores, to paraphrase
the jazz chronicler Jukka Haavisto. The kids had a swell advantage
over their elders, and they sure used it. Fortunately, this shines
through in the music, and indeed on this very compilation.

Scandinavia is often tagged with the notion of melancholy and
the idea of the winter gloom, the counterpoint being the lush
nature of white summer nights. There is no such contrived theme
on this collection. This is bluesy rhythm music and the conscious
forerunners of the 1960s rumbled mostly to the tune of the latest
boss grooves across the Atlantic.

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