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.

Very Big Big Band!

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!

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1. Fabulous Five at Great Jazz Club, Linköping

2008 has for me been a year of many shapes and many turns, most of them in a positive way. Here’s a little list of what has happened during the year.

Lived in Vienna, Austria

Actually this one also includes the second half of 2007, but my year in Austria really was great in many ways. I met a lot of very nice people and got a lot of friends. Played with some great musicians, learned (at least ok) German, ate lot’s of Schnitzels and Würstels and enjoyed Austria’s tasty beer.

Skiing in the alps

This was just amazing, tremendous fun and the mountains held one of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. Getting to know Vienna as a city was great, I really liked the atmosphere and pace there, everything is a bit less serious than in Stockholm. To top everything off, Austria hosted the European Championship of football, Euro 2008. Finally I got the chance to actually be there, and those weeks were just marvelous!

Musically

Here I will remember and take with me all the shows with Vienna Jazz Composers, the gigs with my friend Beate Wiesinger, playing with Lungau Big Band and amazing singer Tony Momrelle in Salzburg, and of course all other concerts I did during my time in Austria. I will also take with me the great saxophone lessons with Klaus Dickbauer and the Friday morning sessions with piano player Erwin Schmidt.

Moved back to Sweden

This was a bit scary at first, considering I had given up all my musical contacts for a whole year. I was pretty nervous over this, afraid I wouldn’t have the chance to play as much as I used to back home. Also I had had no luck finding a place to stay and had to move around by friends for a few weeks. Luckily all things solved to the better, I found a great flat and pretty fast also got back in my old musician life of Stockholm. Moving back also meant meeting all my old friends again, which I of course had missed a lot during my time in Vienna.

France & Italy

Pretty close after I got back to Sweden we went to Chamonix, France, to play with a band put together by the Ahlén Brothers. We also did a gig in Italy and I fell in love with both countries, but especially with Italy. The food there was completely amazing and the people were so kind to us. I hope I get the chance to go back there some day.

Kristian Persson forming Neighbourhood

The first rehearsal with the band Neighbourhood was a blast, and this has continued ever since. Every gig we’ve done has been so full of joy! I love playing with this band and can’t wait to get out and play with these guys again.

Playing at Umeå Jazz Festival

This is the best jazz festival I have ever attended, both as a listener and as a musician. We played there with hip hop artist Cleo, and the way everyone working at the festival and all the people in the audience treated us were totally great. The atmosphere is so creative and open, and all musicians attending just loves playing there. The mix of the program is fantastic and every concert is well visited. I hope I get to play there many times more.

Forming my own band

This autumn I have finally started composing music for a band of my own, something I haven’t done for the past three and a half years or so. I’m really excited, I have asked some of my best friends to participate and I can’t wait to come out and play with this group. Usual Suspects will be our name, make sure you remember that!

Seeing Ludwig again

On Christmas day in Sweden it’s pretty common that you go out and celebrate and meet your old friends. In my case I went out in Linköping with some friends I’ve met during my time in Stockholm. Yes, different cities but we all come from the Linköping area. Anyway, one of my best friends and the leader of the band Fabulous Five, composer and guitar player Ludwig Göransson, came home from Los Angeles where he lives now. He means a lot to me and seeing him really was one of the highlights of the year.

2009

I’m really looking forward to 2009, hoping it will be a year full of laughs among friends (not only mine), great musical moments, love, health, wellness, joy and peace.

Happy new year!

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1. From June till now

We’re going into the studio with Neighbourhood tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll come out again with some fresh tracks.

Neighbourhood at Fasching

We did a rehearsal tonight, since we’re recording some songs we haven’t played in a while. The whole band were lacking a bit of energy though, but I think this will be better tomorrow.

I’ve had a hard time keeping my energy and flow up for the last two weeks or so, typical pre-Christmas behavior. I think I really need some vacation to get the inspiration back. During these weeks I have tried to write some music for my new project which I’m gonna start working with in January, but I haven’t finished a single tune. Luckily I had a really inspired period before my energy went down, and wrote a couple of nice tunes then. I’m really excited about this new project and I can’t wait to get started! I’ll put up some tracks here on the page as soon as it’s possible.

Check out the Neighbourhood Myspace if you want to listen to some of our old recordings with Neighbourhood.

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1. New music with Neighbourhood

I just read an interesting blog post on the nice blog of Tommy K Johansson, that I just have to share with you!

Walk the streets of Stockholm with hitta.se

Tommy wrote about a new Google StreetView looking service from hitta.se, making it possible to virtually take a walk down the streets of Stockholm.

I just tried it out and took a walk from Stockholm central station up to my school, the Royal college of music, and then continued home to my place on Odengatan. Lot’s of fun, and slightly addictive I would think.

Try it out for yourself, go ahead and explore the streets of Stockholm!

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1. Back on track, I’m writing again

Since I had some serious problems moving my web site to a new host, and during this time wasn’t able to blog or update my site, I thought a small summary of what’s happened since then would be appropriate.

Biggest topic of course: I’ve moved back to Sweden again, after a very nice year in Austria. Being home feels very good, I’ve been lucky enough to get things going pretty fast after I came back, musically as well as privately, and I’m very optimistic about the future as well.

The fact that my German has significantly improved is one of the things I’m taking with me from Austria, it feels great to, although far from perfect, be able to communicate in a new language, and I’m taking every chance I get.

Euro 2008

Fanzone Vienna

A big event for me down there was the Euro 2008, the atmosphere was amazing and I walked on clouds during the weeks of football this summer. Hangin’ around in the Vienna fanzone really was something special. Unfortunately it wasn’t the best year for Sweden, but looking back on the final results of the tournament, our group really wasn’t an easy one. I’m glad the winners were Spain though, something I forecasted before the tournament (Yes I know, hard to prove that now, you just have to take my word for it!), although I didn’t bet any money on it.

Musically

Here it’s a lot to remember, all the get-togethers and concerts with Vienna Jazz Composers, our gigs with Beate Wiesinger, all the long rehearsals (!) and concerts with Moontrane and all the other bands I played with once in a while. I also remember the saxophone lessons with my good friend and teacher Klaus Dickbauer and the friday morning sessions with piano player Erwin Smith.

Lungau Big Band & Tony Momrelle

Me & Tony after the show

One gig in particular that I’m gonna remember is the one with Lungau Big Band featuring Incognito lead singer Tony Momrelle on the big stage at fan zone Salzburg, the day before the Euro 2008 final. Playing the lead alto together with this great big band and with this totally amazing singer is something that really meant a lot to me and, together with other experiences, showed that it’s possible to move somewhere else and still get the chance to play some great music, something that in the end made me believe more in myself and what I’m doing.

Back in Sweden

Now I’ve got plans to start a band of my own and have started composing music, which feels both exciting and scary since I haven’t composed music in a pretty long while. I really look forward to this though. This is part of my examination project at the Royal college of music, and will hopefully end up into my examination concert upcoming spring. Stay tuned for updates on this!

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1. Looking back on 2008

[tags]Loopia, one.com[/tags]

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1. English & Swedish!

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best, but although the air was cold, it still was outweighed by the warm atmosphere of the festival, both among the musicians and the audience.

Our gig with Blue Corners was good, unfortunately I myself had a bit of a fever and was pretty dizzy during the gig, and since we were playing outside in the freezing cold combined with a pretty bad stage sound, the conditions could have been better.

Despite this we still had a good time playing and came up with some special moments. Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to shorten out program a bit, we did three tunes that got a bit longer than planned, and had to finish everything off with a very shortened version of one of the bandleader Morgan’s beautiful ballads, and take our planned last number out.

Not a bad decision though, Morgan featured this ballad beautifully and it felt good finishing our set off this way, especially since the rest of the concert became pretty powerful, and as an effect of the bad stage sound also became a bit unvaried dynamically.

* * * * *
It was fun to see how fast I got into the “normal life” again, except for the fact that I tended to think a bit more in English and German this time, answering with yeah and greeting people with hallo! on first impulse.

* * * * *
I missed Zlatan’s big show in the Serie A-finals, It started fifteen minutes after I boarded the plane. I’m definitely not missing his show in Euro 2008. Is that gold I smell?

[tags]Blue Corners, Concerts, Euro 2008, New Sound Made, Serie A, Zlatan[/tags]

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1. In Sweden tomorrow

On Wednesday New Sound Made Festival starts and runs until Friday. We’re playing with Blue Corners on the big outside stage at 18.50 on Friday. Don’t miss it!

I’m going high-tech in this post and throw in two pictures from a gig with Blue Corners at Jazzclub Fasching last year. Now I only have to find my passport and I’m ready to go.

[tags]Blue Corners, Jazzclub Fasching, New Sound Made[/tags]

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1. My visit to Sweden

[tags]Big Band, Rehearsal, Wiener Stadtfest[/tags]

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1. Yesterdays gig with Uni Big Band

I have some new concerts scheduled, and some more of them coming up soon, which is fun! It’s not easy coming to a new country, trying to make contacts and trying to get gigs, but it has turned out surprisingly well!

Now we’re heading for the sun!

[tags]homepage, status report[/tags]

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1. Back in Sweden and Stockholm