• GATEFOLD COVER

The odds were stacked against pianist Jan Johansson when he set his fingers on the keys in a Stockholm recording studio in 1962. The rock revolution had reached a pinnacle. Pop acts like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were coming to prominence and mainstream interest in jazz was waning.

Nonetheless, the balding, sad-eyed Swede set out to cut a record consisting entirely of jazz arrangements of 12 Scandinavian folk songs. The resulting Jazz på Svenska (Jazz in Swedish), issued in 1964, went on to become one of Sweden’s most successful jazz albums, selling more than a quarter of a million copies. This effort to repurpose his country’s traditional music had a lasting effect on Johansson’s career, though that was not necessarily his intended goal. "I just wanted to give listeners the possibility of hearing these melodies. Otherwise they would have lain, unknown, in a dusty pile in the loft of a library, which was where I found them," he states on the record’s sleeve.

PERSONNEL:

• Jan Johansson - (piano)
• Georg Riedel - (double bass)

TRACKS:

• SIDE A
• A1 Visa från Utanmyra
• A2 Gånglek från Älvdalen
• A3 Polska från Medelpad
• A4 Visa från Rättvik
• A5 Brudmarsch efter Larshöga Jonke
• A6 Vallåt från Jämtland

• SIDE B
• B1 Emigrantvisa
• B2 Berg-Kirstis polska
• B3 Leksands skänklåt
• B4 Gammal bröllopsmarsch
• B5 Visa från Järna
• B6 Polska efter Höök Olle