Mattias Åström writes: “When writing and choosing material for this record I realized in the end that three of seven songs were waltzes. One of...

Mattias Åström writes: “When writing and choosing material for this record I realized in the end that three of seven songs were waltzes. One of them sounded in some way Swedish, somehow simple and in the key of C. Another of the songs, “Smaland Detour”, made me think of the accordion. Is there something Swedish about the waltz and the accordion? I don’t know, but ”Swedish Waltz” felt like a suitable title for the album. The trio on this record has played together for a long time. This is our third album, though the first one was never released. We all met in Uppsala and have played together in different bands and gigs for more than twenty years.

Drummer Daniel Olsson, from Sala, studied at Gothenburg Academy of Music and has always been in great demand. Bassist Erik Ojala went to Berklee College of Music and was a student of bassist Marc Johnson. It has been a truly wonderful experience to keep on playing with this trio. We recorded this album at Studio Kultivator in Bandhagen Stockholm run by engineer Jonas Olofsson. The recording was made in one day and the goal was to document the trio under good circumstances - with a nice grand piano and studio… The title of the ballad “Letting Go”, is about letting go of control while playing - easier said than done, but maybe that is what jazz is all about? Hope you enjoy the music!”