Lars Gullin

Lars Gunnar Victor Gullin pronunciation : [ ˌlɑːʂ gɵliːn ] (* 4. May 1928 in Visby , Gotland , † 17th May 1976 in Vissefjärda ) was a Swedish jazz - saxophonist (baritone), occasional pianist and composer of cool jazz (bebop) who was one of the few European jazz musicians who also found greater recognition in the USA in the 1950s . His best known piece is Danny's Dream, recorded in 1954 .

Live and act

Gullin played the accordion as a child , with which he even won an award. He began composing simple polkas at the age of five, played the clarinet at the age of 13 in a military band in Visby, which also formed the core of the local classical orchestra, and in local jazz combos that were partly inspired by Benny Goodman , partly from Dixieland . His professional career as a jazz musician began when he moved to Stockholm in 1947. Originally, he wanted to become a classical pianist and studied at the music academy and privately with Sven Brandel. B. a piano concerto that was even broadcast on the radio. In 1946 he played in a dance band, in 1947 alto saxophone and clarinet in the Charles Redland Big Band in the Winter Palace , in Arthur Österwall's band and then in the more jazz-oriented big band of his brother Seymour Österwall . There he played bebop with some band musicians (the big band also played Dizzy Gillespie pieces that they heard in his Stockholm concert in 1948) and switched - initially by chance - to the baritone saxophone. He recognized the possibilities of this instrument for himself, especially influenced by the cool jazz of Gerry Mulligan and Lee Konitz on the Birth of the Cool recordings by Miles Davis . He made his first recordings with the Österwall Bigband and then with Zoot Sims in 1950.

From December 1950 to spring 1951 he toured with the quintet of the recently returned trumpeter Rolf Ericson from the USA (where he had played with Woody Herman and briefly with Charlie Parker ) . In the same year he formed a house band (sextet) with the alto saxophonist and clarinetist Arne Domnérus for the Tanzpalast Nalen, where the musicians had previously come together for jam sessions between performances, with Gullin and Chicago- born Jack Norén on drums. Both Ericson and Gullin and Norén left the Nalen band, which was a Swedish institution until the 1970s, in 1952. Gullin was in great demand and played with traveling musicians such as James Moody (1951), Stan Getz (1951, 1958) , Clifford Brown (1953 with Art Farmer ), Lee Konitz (1951 and more often, so in Cologne 1956 with Hans Koller and most recently in 1973), Jutta Hipp (1955). In 1953 he formed his own group, which was disbanded shortly afterwards due to a car accident caused by Gullin, in which no one in the band was seriously injured. Two LPs released by Contemporary Records in 1953 meant that Down Beat voted him Best Newcomer in 1954 and his later albums were distributed in the US by Atlantic Records . His light tone and his fluent playing on the baritone with an influence of Swedish folk music, which one believed to be heard together with a melancholy Scandinavian undertone, put him at times on the same level as Gerry Mulligan among listeners and critics in the USA. In October 1955 he toured Europe with Chet Baker - but the tour was overshadowed by the heroin death of pianist Dick Twardzik in Paris . The body was discovered in the hotel by Gullin, who was personally close to Twardzik. Gullin also had drug problems that seriously damaged his career. In 1955/6 he also recorded a lot in Germany, e.g. B. with Baker and Caterina Valente . In 1958 he was mostly ill and toured again the following year with Chet Baker in Italy , where he also recorded with the alto saxophonist Flavio Ambrosetti and also in 1959 with the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra at the WDR in Cologne. In the 1960s he occasionally played with jazz greats such as Archie Shepp (recordings in Copenhagen in 1963 The house I live in ) and in 1964 with tenor saxophonist Harry Bäcklund and alto saxophonist Rolf Billberg . In 1973 he recorded the Eros Aromatic Atomica Suite composed by him (published by EMI), recorded in the same year with Konitz and in 1975 with Monica Zetterlund (as in 1960). He died in 1976 of a heart attack (caused by methadone consumption).

Lee Konitz recorded a tribute album Dedicated to Lee .. Play the Music of Lars Gullin (Dragon Records) in 1983 with pianist Lars Sjösten . In his memory, the Lars Gullin Prize has been awarded since 1997 .

The character of Lars in the Swedish film Sven Klangs Kvintett , who played in the milieu of Swedish jazz musicians in the 1950s, is based on Gullin.

His son Peter Gullin was also a baritone saxophonist and composer (his father dedicated the composition Peter of April to him ).

Discography

As a leader

• Lars Gullin Vol.1-9, Dragon Records (from 1955)
• Portrait Of My Pals (EMI, 1964)
• Eros Aromatic Atomica Suite (EMI, 1972/73)
• Like Grass (EMI, 1973)
• Bluesport (EMI, 1974)
• Lars Gullin, Harry Bäcklund Alma Mater, Alma, Almah , Anagram Records (recorded in Stockholm 1964) and as a sideman on Harry Bäcklund Remembering Harry , Rolf Billberg Altosupremo , both with Anagram Records

As a sideman

• Åke Persson : The Great (Four Leaf Clover, 1951–57)
• Clifford Brown: Memorial (OJC, 1955)
• Rolf Ericson: Rolf Ericson & The American Stars (Dragon, 1956)
• Stan Getz: In Sweden 1958-60 (Dragon)
• Monica Zetterlund: Swedish Sensation! (EMI, 1958-60)
• Nils Lindberg : Sax Appeal & Trisection (Dragon, 1960–63)
• Nils Lindberg: Symphony No. 1 & Jazz From Studio A (Dragon, 1961-63)
• Brew Moore : Svinget 14 (Black Lion, 1962)
• Archie Shepp - Lars Gullin Quintet: The House I Live In (Steeplechase, 1963)

literature

• Keith Knox Jazz Amour Affair- en bok om Lars Gullin , Stockholm, Svensk Musik, 1986, ISBN 91-85470-27-9

Web links

• Lars Gullin Society, with bio by Pär Rittsel, with discography
• Dragon Records

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lars Westin Jazz in Sweden Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. mentioned that at that time people even spoke of "goatherd jazz" (fäbodjazz) 
2. ↑ In an interview with Rittsel, archived copy ( memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Chet Baker also expresses himself accordingly. According to his statements, however, he only heard from Gullin in Europe. In the same interview, he denies having been addicted to heroin himself on the 1955 tour. 
3. ↑ Later on, another stumbling block was the loss of many of his teeth