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The Jazz
Journal - December 98
Bosse Wärmell / Rolf Ericson
The Golden View
(Flash Music FLCD-7)
A fitting tribute, three decages after his death, to an
enormously gifted saxophonist who was one of the key figures
in the Swedish bop scene in the late 50's and early 60's.
Wärmell, only 30 when he died, might surely have made
it into the international big time alongside his partner on
the second of these two sets, the great Rolf Ericson.
The first two tracks here, recorded in 1960, demonstrate how
instinctively Swedish groups of the period had already
picked up the hard bop idiom, and Wärmell and
Söderquist have plenty to say on these two classics.
The main revealations though come in the session with
Ericson at Stockholm's jazz famous Golden Circle restaurant
two years later. Wärmell is even more masterful and in
perhaps more relaxed form even at punishing tempos amid an
all-star cast, with pianist Werner (The Theme) and
Ericson (In Walked Bud) masterful too in extended
takeouts of several more bop classics. Outstanding for me in
Wärmell's performance is his light and feathery solo on
Ah-Leu-Cha, when the ghost of Parker or Stitt might
have been looking over his shoulder inspiring those fluid
lines, though Wärmell was a much less hectic performer
than either, with a tone more akin to that of Getz. The mood
of laid back mastery continues in Five Spot After
Dark. Drummer Rune Carlsson recalls in the liner note
that this was just an ordinary gig.
"But Bosse Wärmell's tenor playing was sensational, one
had not heard anything like it. Rolf Ericson was very
suprised and happy".
All good things come to an end, alas, and they ended much
too soon for this rising star. These tracks are valuable
pointers to what might have been.
John Chadwick
Gilbert
Matthews Quartet - Hothouse / Per
Henrik Wallin Trio - Blues for Allan / Bosse
Wärmell - The Golden View / Börje
Fredriksson - Progressive Movements / Don
Cherry - Brotherhood Suite / Krister
Andersson - About Time and Concord
and Time
FLASHBACK
Supported by the Swedish National Council
of Cultural Affairs
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Flash
Music
Katarinav. 20, 116 45 Stockholm
S W E D E N
tel: 046 8 641 26 03
fax: 046 8 644 12 19
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