PLAY! is Henning Ullén's second album under his own name. Together with Mauritz Agnas on double bass and Nils Agnas on drums, the trio offers music with a melancholic undertone, yet infused with a joy of playing. The title of the album, also the title of the second track urges us to play, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and improvisation in its simplest form. On the other hand, the music is rich, oscillating between well-composed, sometimes complex passages and freer sections that leave room for improvisation. The album is infused with a driving high-energy vibe. At times, the boundaries blur between what is composed and what is improvised. In addition to the trio format, the album also includes some shorter solo improvisations where Ullén for the first time on record presents his solo-playing.

Henning Ullén is an award-winning pianist and composer primarily active in jazz and improvisational music. He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Berklee College of Music, and the conservatory in Paris (CNSDMP). Henning Ullén was one of Sweden's most promising and acclaimed young jazz trumpeters when he had to end his trumpet career in 2019 due to a rare disease that caused dizziness and headaches in connection with playing the trumpet. He then quickly transitioned to the piano and released his first album, Debut, in 2021.

Sara Aldén - Vocals
August Björn - Piano & Harmonium
Daniel Andersson - Double Bass

Jazz on life and death! In There Is No Future, Swedish jazz singer Sara Aldén makes her album debut with self-written music and arranged jazz standards with a focus on grand crescendos and vulnerable intimacy. She creates jazz as if her life depended on it where the question of the end of everything is allowed to exist, the small endings and the big ones. Sara Aldén and her trio present a musical sinkhole in the ongoing history of jazz, where doom-filled and intimate compositions alternate with dizzying arpeggios and dystopian and lyrical sound worlds.

I have always loved Songs.
They follow me wherever I go and give me the soundtrack to life. On this album I pay tribute to the songwriters that gave us all this wonderful music by playing a selection of songs that have that ”larger than life” quality.

My band ASPIRATION, with my brothers in arms, bassist Hans Andersson and drummer Johan Löfcrantz Ramsay are once again joined by the great Lars Jansson on piano.

To add further grand dimensions to the music we teamed up with the fabulous Göteborg Wind Orchestra and, of course, the one and only Mats Hålling as arranger and conductor.

- Peter Asplund

Irma Neumüller, Vocals · Stefan Wingefors, Piano
Bo Nygårds, Guitar · Albin Halvordsson, Double bass
Johan Löfcrantz Ramsay, Drums

Sonic Skin blends equal parts of the sounds of granite, fabric, metal, rubber, stone, and strawberry cream in a fi reproof container and heats everything to the boiling
point. Before generous scoops of the concoction are distributed into heart-shaped bowls for serving, let it cool for a few seconds, no more.

Petter Bergander - piano
Eva Kruse - bass
Robert Mehmet Sinan Ikiz - drums

After the two critically acclaimed and award-winning albums ‘Longing’ and ‘What’s it all about?’, the jazz quartet Ellas Kapell are releasing their third album ‘For all we know’. With innovative arrangements, which could almost be considered original compositions, the group continues to interpret traditional music from the world of jazz. This time they are focusing on creating a musical atmosphere that allows you to both rest in the familiar as well as discover the unknown. The theme for the album is sorrow, yet with glimpses of something more. It is through the cracks that the light flows in and with their music, Ellas Kapell wants to echo those moments when the darkness shifts and despair turns to hope

While many have interpreted the classic jazz compositions of our time, few have done it in such innovative and creative ways as Ellas Kapell, if critics and audiences are to be believed. The four members met in 2016 and have since released three (soon) albums, won the Golden Album Reader’s Choice Award (JAZZ/Orkesterjournalen), been named the Vocal Jazz of the Year by Lira Music Magazine, as well as have been streamed over 4 million times. During the last few years, the band has toured frequently, and worked together with renowned Swedish jazz musicians such as Magnus Lindgren and Karin Hammar. In 2017, Ellas Kapell participated in the SVT documentary “Vi äger drömmarna"" (‘We own the dreams’).

“I was introduced to the world of vocal jazz at a young age. The melodies and lyrics of many of the jazz standards made a huge impression on me and still speak to me today. It has long been a great wish of mine to take this journey with Mike Moreno and Lars Danielsson, finding new ways of playing and singing these songs together … And here we are with an album consisting of not only jazz standards but also originals and modern tunes such as ‘Distance’ by Glauco Viénier and Norma Winstone.” (Mette Juul)

'Introspection' is a collection of songs from a certain era of my life, a sort of musical summary of some of my most formative years. During this time I've learned a lot about music, about being human, and most of all, about myself. Somewhere along the way, I started noticing a shift in my consciousness - I started breaking some of the paradigms I had from my upbringing, and started putting things together to create a world view of my own. This transition made me realize that it's never too late to change behaviors, learn new things, and ultimately become the person we aspire to be. 'Introspection' is about opening your mind, being receptive to all things in life, and to never stop seeking the truth.

People In Orbit is Adam Sass’ band where electronic meets acoustic, chaos meets calm, and the free meets the arranged. Through all these types of soundscapes, magnificent and inventive sounds are being created, which clearly sets the scene of different enviroments, persons and our own strange world. The Quintet is based in Malmö, Sweden, and started in the fall 2020. In March 2022 the recorded their debut album, which is planned to be released in 2023. The Swedish magazine, Orkesterjournalen, wrote this about the band's performance at Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival 2022: "I got totally struck by the Malmö based quintet, People In Orbit, which was flanked by Adam Sass' trumpet, composition and Edvin Ekmans tenor sax and effects.

Swedish jazz vocalist Anna Lundqvist is the band leader and composer of the Lisbon-based quintet; Anna Lundqvist Lisboa Cinco. Together with Anna; the band contains some of the most interesting and innovative musicians from the Portuguese jazz scene. This is the band's debut album; Sou Anna; which means I'm Anna in Portuguese. The music could be classified as modern jazz; drawing influences from band members' backgrounds; Swedish hymns; and Rock music. In other words; it is music created for interaction with many musical facets and colors; from traditional jazz to modern music of all genres. The album was recorded and mixed in Portugal and produced by Anna Lundqvist together with drummer Joel Silva. Anna has been one of the most progressive voices on the Swedish jazz scene for over two decades. During a short vacation; she fell in love with Portugal; and since 2016 it has become her second home.

Alf Carlsson; Electric guitar, acoustic guitar Samuel Löfdahl; Double bassAnton Dromberg; Piano Hannes Sigfridsson; DrumsWe all have beacons of light in our lives, things we cannot be without. For Swedish guitarist Alf Carlsson, he has made the choice to dedicate his debut record under his own name to the most luminous of his personal lights, music. A modern amalgamation of jazz, rock, and Swedish folk music, ‘Lights’ is set to release on the 1st of September on Naxos Prophone Records.

I met Toots Thielemans in the summer of 2008 at a concert in Skåne, Sweden. Pleasantly polite, he asked if I wanted to play something for him. He said, “Play the blues in C.” He had me play the blues several times, adding a new challenge of music theory each time. After a while he appeared satisfied, chuckling and giving me a pat on the back. I was happy and thought “Wow, I passed the Toots jazz test!” After that we had some ice cream and coffee. We talked about the art of improvisation and harmonica technique, and Toots recounted memories of his long career. He made all his stories come alive with intensity. It was an enchanting afternoon that I’ll never forget.

For me, Toots is the ultimate musician. As with his storytelling, his playing is intensely alive. Few musicians play with the kind of love, playfulness and dynamism that he puts into his music. The floating rhythm, the lyrical playing and his way of communicating with and within the music put him in a class of his own. He moves with confidence between genres, different ensembles and instrumentations, and his tone reveals a unique timbre; a few notes are enough to let you know it is Toots who is playing. Toots has inspired me to be unafraid as a musician. Daring to mix genres, daring to play any tune, as long I do it with the joy of discovery in the moment. Daring to enter new groups and constantly learn more. And perhaps most importantly, seeing that communication with my co-musicians and the audience is what brings life to the music. This album is my thanks to Toots, for the inspiration he gave and continues to give me each time I hear his music. - Filip Jers

Lina Nyberg: The seven parts of this suite are composed according to the way an old-fashioned Broadway musical is structured, as a tribute to Porter, Gershwin, Hammerstein and all those classic Broadway composers. Each piece is also dedicated to a composer and/or musician who for various reasons have meant a lot to me musically. The suite also marks my love for big bands, which goes back a long way, from when I danced as a teenager to Gugge Hedrenius’ big band in Stockholm in the 80’s. 2023 is the 30th anniversary of my first album Close (an album recorded by the same sound engineer as this one, the brilliant Åke Linton). I look back on these years with pride and joy, but also with some sentimentality. Thirty years, that is after all, my whole life as an adult with all the experiences a life can contain; happiness, disasters, births and deaths, and everything in between, as Shakespeare wrote ”All the world’s a stage, and all men and women but players”. That is also what I have tried to encompass in this suite; a piece performed with brilliance, warmth and commitment by the fantastic Bohuslän Big Band with whom I have had the honor of being Composer in Residence in 2022-23.

“Inside Looking Out” is the new album from Swedish jazz group Horncraft, the unique jazz group where French horns play an important part in coloring the music. The group also consists of some of Swedens most interesting soloists and the combination of thoughtful, personal and well written arrangements by Håkan Nyqvist and exiting solos from the members makes this group stand out.

Born in 1945, Håkan Nyqvist has a lot of experiences working in different ensembles and he's always tried to incorporate those experiences in his own writing. Playing both French horn and trumpet in jazz settings, he was an in demand musician that had the opportunity to play in various constellations such as The Swedish Radio Jazz Group, where Håkan worked with, for example Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Gil Evans, George Russel and Kenny Wheeler. He has also recorded with a lot of prominent jazz artists like Lars Gullin, Monica Zetterlund and Nils Lindberg. Some of his biggest musical inspirations were playing with, several grammy award winning, Bernt Rosengren in different groups. He recorded several albums with Bernt, both in an octet and in Bernts Big Band. Another inspiration was Swedish jazz giant, and long time friend, Per Henrik Wallin. He got to spend time with one of his big inspirations, Kenny Wheeler, on a couple of tours with James Last (they were both in the trumpet section) and that was also a highlight. Håkan has dug deep into the compositions of Wheeler. All of these different composers and unique experiences has had an impact on Håkan, but he has also looked inside and found his own style. The result is a a very special ensemble sound, playful, strong melodies with depth, space and time for the soloists and arrangements with unique harmonies.

With a setting of French horns, trombone, trumpet/flugelhorn, Tenor/soprano sax, piano, double bass and drums and with a handpicked group of top class jazz musicians that are totally invested, the music takes off, from the inside of the musicians and out to the listener.