Swedish free improv / jazz from 1977…tune in to this fine record Duo (ERA 2328) for a rare live recording of Stefan Wistrand (alto and soprano sax) and Peter Olsen (drums), captured at a small club called Huset in Örebro. Fine rescue job by the Einnicken Records label in Eskilstuna.
Not only a great set of music but also a glimpse into the little-known Swedish improvisation culture of this time. When I say little-known, it’s certainly all but unknown to me. Stefan Wistrand’s notes indicate that there weren’t that many improvising groups outside of the main urban centres of Sweden, but Peter Olsen was in the University city of Örebro (his home) having returned there after drumming in the Per Henrik Wallin trio, who made The New Figaro record in Stockholm in 1975, for the Dragon label. In the bustling student life of Örebro, Olsen met Stefan Wistrand, who was already growing disillusioned with the jazz genre, particularly in the commercial manifestation of jazz fusion, which he considered “soulless”. The pair decided to try working together.
Although they started out as a quintet, they gradually shrank down to a quartet and then a trio – until only sax and drums were left. The pair had a common aim: “work intuitively in the pure core of improvisation”. From this I deduce that the previous collaborative settings were, perhaps, too structured or jazz-like for this wild young pair, who wanted the all-out freedom of free jazz blowing and very loose compositional structures to experiment within. The results of their energised and spirited approach to music is now here on the grooves for all to savour, most evidently in the long track ‘Svit’ – which even at 29:15 mins doesn’t capture the whole set (the tape unfortunately ran out). Tremendous poise and control is balanced out by spontaneous outbursts of untamed explosions, spinning wheels throwing off powerful sparks. Unlike their Afro-American free jazz heroes, these 1970s players didn’t aim for noisy skronk effects, and although there’s iron and force in Wistrand’s explorations, there’s also a strong gift for melody, fractured tunes working their way into coherent lines of thought. On ‘Svit’ the duo play their way through a rise-and-fall format (not unfamiliar to listeners of free improvisation groups) feeling their way by pure intuition.
Equally strong is ‘Stack-a-too’ which, in an alternate reality, is probably the sort of direction Eric Dolphy would have taken if he had lived into the 1970s – there’s the same eccentric and warm tone in the saxophone, the same sudden outcroppings of tunes, including some familiar jazz compositions and riffs on same, for the audience to peg their hats. This live recording even includes some “vocal outbursts”, from a fellow named Bengtsson – perhaps a friend or enthused member of the audience. This record originally came out on ViaKassett in 1978, a very small and shortlived but idealistic label who wanted to offer the world “unique music, poetry and other sound experiences that you don’t find in the usual phonogram flood”. Even Discogs has failed to catalogue the 13 other releases of electronic music, improvisation and experimental endeavours that surfaced for one glorious moment in this part of the world in the late 1970s. Similarly, Wistrand and Olsen didn’t continue for much longer after this point; as 1979 turned into the 1980s, the more progressive-minded venues in Sweden stopped hosting jazz gigs and turned to punk rock and new wave to draw in the audiences. Both players found it hard to resist the allure of alternative rock through the 1980s, but they returned to jazz in the 1990s.
See Steve’s review of the 2021 Nods Off record (recorded in 1999) on this same label, and also look out for records by The Electric MZ. Excellent. From 13th November 2023.