This video of Joshua Redman Elastic Band, featuring amazing Sam Yahel on keys and one of my favorite drummers of all time, Brian Blade, is a clip I found the first time when I studied at Fridhems Folkhögskola, something like 5 years ago. I loved it and listened to it over and over again.

The way Joshua builds his solo, and the backup from Yahel and Blade is nothing but amazing. Talk about being in the groove! This clip would be amazing with just audio, but to actually see it on video adds another dimension. Especially watching Brian Blade, is it possible not to love this man after watching this video?

Only sad thing about the clip is that it fades out in the end, before the solo is over, I would love to hear where they go next!

I’ve had the opportunity to see Joshua live a few times:

• In Göteborg with Kurt Rosenwinkel: Kurt Rosenwinkel – guitar, Joshua Redman – saxophone, Aaron Goldberg – piano, Larry Grenadier – acoustic bass, Ali Jackson, drums.
• With his own trio at Porgy & Bess, Vienna: Joshua Redman – saxophone, Omer Avital – bass, Greg Hutchinson – drums.
• Once again with his trio at Umeå Jazz Festival: Joshua Redman – saxophone, Reuben Rogers – acoustic bass, Brian Blade – drums.

For me, the best concert out of these three was the concert together with Kurt Rosenwinkel in Göteborg. Everyone in the band played fantastic and I really liked the way Joshua and Kurt complemented each other, and with the backup of that fantastic band the concert was one of the best concerts I have ever visited!

This band also made a record later in the name of Kurt Rosenwinkel, called Deap Song, which is a record I love and always come back to. Great playing and songs, and the sound of the record is totally amazing, it’s not always jazz records are as well mixed as this one.

Oops, got a bit carried away there. Anyhow, here’s the great video that I initially wanted to write about in this post. I really hope I get the chance to see Joshua Redman with his Elastic Band live sometime in the future, let’s hope they take it up again sometime soon! Enjoy!

Had a rehearsal yesterday with a youth big band in Uppsala, which I’m gonna join as guest soloist on a concert on Sunday. I was pretty tired after a long day of rehearsals in Stockholm, so my playing maybe wasn’t on top, but the band sounded great with lot’s of talented kids in the band, and I think the concert on Sunday will be a good one!

Before I went there, we rehearsed for my examination concert next week with my new band Usual Suspects, our first rehearsal since the recording we did a month ago. Edvin, the piano player, and Efraim, the guitar player, just came back after a trip to Africa where they mostly have played drums, so everyone seemed to be excited to be back on their own instruments again. I think the concert on Tuesday will be a good one, I brought some new tunes to complement the material we already have, and they turned out to work great in the band. We have two rehearsals left before the concert, just enough to polish the final details!

Me & Kristian Persson from Neighbourhood joined great soul singer Samson for President for a gig at Fasching. Here´s a video from the gig, enjoy!

I have uploaded some recently recorded music with my new band Usual Suspects! You can listen to the tracks in the player on the music page. Feel free to leave a comment about it, I’d love to hear what you think!

To hear us live, you’re very welcome to attend my examination concert from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm next week. Concert is on Tuesday, the 5th of May, and we begin to play at 20.00. Another nice band will start the concert at 19.00.

I’m bringing some wine and snacks, for free and for everyone as long as it lasts, so hopefully we can have a good time together after the concert as well! Very welcome!

Directions: Take the subway to Stadion, follow signs to Musikhögskolan, concert is in Lilla Salen.

Now it’s possible to take a sneak peak of my new band Usual Suspects, which I’ve been working a lot with lately. I’ve been writing a lot of tunes, recorded a few of them and is now in the progress of mixing the material. It’s already possible to take a sneak peak of what you can expect by listening to the song The Matador, available on my myspace!

I will put up more material as soon as were done mixing, of course here at jensfilipsson.com as well. If you’re interested in hearing us live, we have our premiere gig on my examination concert, which will take place in Lilla Salen at Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Kungliga Musikhögskolan) on the 5th of May.

We also do a gig at the New Sound Made festival on the 14th of May. You’re very welcome to these concerts, both of them free of charge! The festival is by the way a great chance to hear some fresh, amazing music from lot’s of young, upcoming musicians. Three days, three scenes, 45 bands, all for free!

• Jens Filipsson – saxophone, compositions
• Efraim Olofsson – guitar
• Edvin Nahlin – piano
• Niklas Fernqvist – bass
• Sebastian Ågren – drums

It’s been a while since my last post here, mostly because I’ve had so much to do in “real life”. One of the things I’ve been up to was a small, three gig tour with Jerry the Cupboard.

Sandviken

We started of at Drömfabriken in Sandviken, one of the most amazing concert locations I have ever visited. It is run by people with learning disabilities, and just meeting these people makes you happy, the energy of that place effects you as soon as you walk through the door. We felt so welcome and was so well taken care of, and Drömfabriken have a special place in my heart after that day.

Everyone in the band was very inspired when we went up on stage, and the tour got the start we hoped for, with a really nice gig. Unfortunately there were not that many people in the audience, but I think we gave the people who showed up a nice experience.

Swedish newspaper Arbetarbladet wrote a nice review about the gig.

Stockholm

Our second concert of the tour was at Hotel Hellsten in Stockholm. They have a very nice concert series, with a jazz concert in the bar of the hotel every Thursday. Intimate concerts well worth a visit if you’re in town!

Being the second gig of the tour, and after such a great first gig the day before, we had a bit of a hard time really getting into it, but after a bit of a slow start we got it together, and it turned out to be a nice gig as well.

Before the gig I walked around in the hotel and met this Swedish comedian apparently staying there. Since I watch what he does and read his blog regularly, I got the impulse that I know this guy, before realizing who it was. I happily said hello, and by the look of his face I think I surprised him a bit. I guess people like him are pretty used to these things happening, but nevertheless you feel a bit stupid afterwards.

Borlänge

Our third and last gig of the tour was at Jazzclub Bolanche in Borlänge. A nice thing about this club is that it’s situated in the same building as the hotel, making it very easy to get there, you can almost take the elevator from your floor and step out on stage. Luxury!

I really liked the vibe of the club, it has a bit of a country & western style to it, making it a little different to an ordinary jazz club. Everyone at the club were very helpful and nice, which of course makes our life easier, but also makes it so much more fun to play! Sometimes you wish that more clubs would think about this, they would gain a lot from it.

As a musician I have to say that we often tend to do our best concerts at clubs with a good reputation (among musicians), where you know you are treated good and professionally. Since time on stage maybe is 20 percent of the total time you spend at the club, of course the time of stage effects the mood we’re in when we get up to do our job, and of course the audience can pick up on how the musicians feel.

Happy club -> happy musicians -> happy audience -> repeat cycle…

After sound check we had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant and then it was time to get up on stage. In the first song I immediately felt that this would be a good concert, the music was filled with so much energy and we had so much fun playing from the first note to the last. Inspiration was on top and afterwards we all agreed that this was our best concert of the tour.

The audience was the kind of audience you wish you always had the pleasure of playing for, people of all ages, really listening and concentrating on the music.

After the concert there were lot’s of happy faces in the band, the staff and the audience, and we are very grateful that we could finish our tour in such a nice way with such a nice gig. From what I understood the club also recorded the concert on video, so hopefully I can upload some video clips from it in the future.

To finish this post off I would like to thank everyone coming and listening to us, and also a big thank you to Thomas, Clas and Calle for some great days together, let’s do it again soon!

We have been rehearsing for three days, and today we play the first gig of the small tour with KMH Jazz Orchestra featuring guitar player Ulf Wakenius. Rehearsals have been running smoothly and I think the concerts will be nice. Welcome to listen at the following locations!

• 19 February, 19:00 @ Lilla Salen, Kungliga Musikhögskolan, Stockholm.
• 20 February, 18:00 @ Jazzclub Crescendo, Norrköping.
• 21 February, 18:00 @ Ingesunds Musikhögskola, Arvika.

Had a meeting at a climbing center.

Took a long walk and found a retro crossing button.

Left school and met this beautiful sky.

Took a walk home and said hello to my silent friend, the church.

Yesterday I was in Linköping and did a workshop with two youth big bands, Playstation from Linköping and Black River Big Band from my hometown Mjölby, the very same band I once started in myself. In that matter the day offered some great nostalgia, especially since a few of the numbers the band did were things that I played myself during my years there.

My part of the workshop was to talk and practice a little extra with the saxophone students, and to work a little with improvisation. The kids from both bands really did a great job, and I had a lot of fun working with them. It was great to see that everyone participated in the improvisation part and gave it a try even if they had never improvised before. I haven’t done that much teaching and my experience is therefore a bit limited, but I think I did an okay job, and I hope the kids had a good time!

The day ended with a concert where both bands first played a small set each, and then we finished it off with a couple of songs with both bands together, and as you can see on the picture, it became a really big big band!