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Really wonderful work from vocalist Monica Zetterlund – recorded at a time when she was really coming into her own! The album really has Monica stepping past her initial influences from American jazz – working in an idiom that's equally well suited to expression in her native Swedish, as it is filled with traces of a pan-global approach to jazz that features elements of bossa, modal jazz, and other compelling rhythms. Backings aren't credited, but they're plenty darn great – and titles include "Monicas Vals", "Konstigt", "Siv Larssons Dagbok", "Vilsevalsen", "Jag Tror Pa Dej", "Visa Fran Utanmyra", and "Spela For Mej".

Bill Evans is reunited with singer Monica Zetterlund – in a live date done more than a decade after their classic Waltz For Debby album! The first side of the record features Evans in a trio mode – working instrumentally, without Monica, in a group that features the great Eddie Gomez on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums – easily some of the better-recorded European live material by Bill from the 70s, caught in a way that really shows his new sensitivity in the later decade. Evans' piano is breathtaking here – a subtle symphony of shades and tones that delights the ears at each new twist and turn – recorded in some slightly longish takes on tunes that include "Sugar Plum", "Sareen Jurer", "Very Early", and "Gloria's Step". Bill continues the feeling of the first side wonderfully on the flip – as Zetterlund joins the group, and shows how much she's matured as well since here last meeting with Evans. Most of the tunes are standards, but they've got a sensitivity that goes way beyond familiar readings – carried off wonderfully by Monica in some beautifully dark-toned vocals. Titles include "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "The Second Time Around", "Once Upon A Summertime", "What's New", and the lovely "Samba".

One of the grooviest sets ever recorded by Swedish singer Monica Zetterlund – a cool late 60s album that has some really wonderful songs! At some level, Monica's still very firmly in jazz vocal territory – but she's also letting in strands of hipper 60s pop work, in a mode that's similar to some of Blossom Dearie's best work from the same period. Not surprisingly, the album's got a great version of Dearie's classic "Sweet Georgie Fame", as well as Swedish readings of Carla Bley's "Ida Lupino", Steve Kuhn's "Memory", and the tracks "A Man & A Woman", "Bachianas Brasileiras", "Alfie", and "Quietly There".

One of the only live albums we've ever seen from vocalist Monica Zetterlund – a small combo performance with a great sense of depth and personality! There's a range of work here that goes beyond most of Zetterlund's studio albums – a mix of material that almost makes the session a summation of her many years in music, with nice snippets of many different modes. Lyrics are in both English and Swedish – and Zetterlund speaks a fair bit to the audience too, always in Swedish – and backing is by the trio of pianist Lars Bagge. Titles include a great "Bossa Nova Medley", plus "Svart Vit Calypso", "Trubbel", "Milano", "It Could Happen To You", "Social Call", "The Second Time Around", "I Valet Och Kvalet", "As Time Goes By", and "Lil Darlin".

No palaver here – given that the album is tight, focused, and possibly the best so far from this amazing vocalist! Lina Nyberg's a singer like few we can think of today – a creative, compelling artist who really lets her vocals open up in these completely unique styles – with the kind of freshness that you'd find in the 70s generation of singers like Sheila Jordan, Karin Krog, or Monica Zetterlund! The style's creative, but never too outside – avant, yet still plenty swinging jazz, too – that balance that you'd find in the ladies we reference. Core instrumentation includes piano, guitars, bass, and drums – and the set also features some guest trumpet and baritone sax too – on titles that include "Paul", "Ditte", "Caetano", "Adrenalina", "Ingrid", "Aliisa", and "So Long Frank Lloyd Wright".

Swedish jazz takes it to the next level – drawing on all the growth and development of the early 50s, and really finding their own voice in the latter half of the decade! Some of the work here still feels like the best Swedish stuff of a few years before – almost west coast modern, with a strong emphasis on tone and color, and a good ear for modern ideas – but other tracks really start to show the beginning of a rich Swedish voice in jazz – one that draws on other cultural sources for inspiration, and begins to make sounds strong enough to reach the rest of the world with their impact! As with other volumes, the packaging is wonderful – a large booklet filled with photos, images, and notes that are mostly in Swedish, but still include some English bits too. 3CDs features a total of 63 tracks – with work by Eje Thelin, Bengt Hallberg, Lars Gullin, Harry Arnold, Gosta Theselius, Rune Ofwerman, Sven Ake Johanssen, Monica Zetterlund, Bengt Arne Wallin, Linn-Tones, Hacke Bjorksten, Alice Babs, Carl Henrik Norins, and Putte Wickman.

Brand new, indeed – music from a time when the Swedish jazz scene was really overflowing with fresh ideas – many of them home grown, and some of them a local answer to modern trends from the US and other parts of Europe at the time! The scope of music here is really wonderful – as some musicians really stretch out, and start to carve the kind of modern edge that's made Scandinavian jazz some of the freshest of the 60s – while others refine some older Swedish ideas in jazz, but inflect them with groovier 60s touches that are definitely appreciated by our ears! As with other sets in this series, the track list is wonderful – a whopping 4CDs, with 67 titles in all – many of which we haven't seen on other reissues at all – in a handsome slipcase with a big booklet of notes and photos too. Includes work by Monica Zetterlund, Bernt Rosengren, Staffan Abeleen, Gals & Pals, Bengt Frippe Nordstrom, Eje Thelin, Thomas Fehling, Jazz Doctors, Jan Johansson, Knud Jorgensen, Lars Sjosten, Nils Lindberg, Lars Lystedt, Arne Domnerus, Swedish Modern Jazz Group, Kurt Lindgren, and many others!

A fantastic bit of lost vocal jazz from the 60s – sung by Finnish vocalist Carola, an artist we'd rank right up there with Monica Zetterlund, Karin Krog, and some of our favorite European singers from the time! Like Monica and Karin, Carola sings mostly in English and has a very groovy approach – one that's partially inspired by American jazz singers of the 50s, but which is also very much in the spirit of the modal jazz and Saba scene going down in Europe at the time! Carola's singing here with hip backing from the trio of pianist Heikki Sarmanto, who also brings in some wonderful guest work on flute and tenor sax by Esa Pethman. The set includes a killer original called "The Flame" – written by Esa and Carola, and swinging with a modal style that's totally great – and which makes the track take on a very sweet jazz dance feel! The set also features a great version of the Clarke/Boland tune "Just Give Me Time", another original called "The Poem", and wonderful takes on "Detour Ahead", "So Long Big Time", "Work Song", "Lonely Woman", and "Sunrise Sunset".

An incredible document of the growth of the European jazz scene in the postwar years – a set recorded in Berlin, but featuring a host of the best players from all over the continent! The mix of musicians here is wonderful – similar to some of the great boder-crossing experiments from Saba/MPS a few years later – but still wonderfully fresh in this setting – as modern jazz giants from the other side of the Atlantic come together with amazing clarity of sound – and a host of fresh ideas that really set them apart from their contemporaries in the US! The set features a driving take on "Haitian Fight Song" with Dusko Goykovich on trumpet, Albert Mangelsdorff on trombone, Arne Domnerus on alto, Hans Koller on tenor, and both Martial Solal and Tete Montoliu on piano. Other numbers include a version of "Am I Blue" with vocals by Monica Zetterlund, "Blue Monk" by a Montoliu trio, "Hittin The Blues" with vibes by Fats Said and guitar from Franco Cerri, "Gone With The Wind" with Arne Domernus on alto and Ronnie Ross on baritone, "3 + 3" with Domerus and ross – plus Koller on tenor and Cerri on guitar, and "Avertissez-Moi" by a larger group with Martial Solal on piano, Koller on tenor, Domerus on alto, Goykovich on trumpet, and Sadi on vibes!

Beautiful work from the legendary late 60s run of British pianist Michael Garrick – and two of his best records of the mid 60s to early 70s! A few of the numbers on Black Marigolds are in a septet mode – with Garrick leading a group that includes Ian Carr on trumpet, Joe Harriott on alto, Don Rendell on soprano sax, and Tony Coe on tenor – all shading in some beautiful tones on the straight numbers "Good Times" and "Webster's Mood" – and really going to town on the modal number "Ursula", a rolling groover that's simply fantastic! 2 other tracks – "Jazz For Five" and "A Jazz Nativity" – have the group joined by poet John Smith, who's recitation beautifully matches the horn work of Coe and Harriott. Remaining tracks are even more unusual – and feature Garrick in trio formation on either celeste or harpsichord – really hitting beautiful notes that have a slightly exotic feel, on titles that include "What Are Little Girls", "Spiders", "Black Marigolds", and "Carolling". The Heart Is A Lotus is one of the key recordings by the team of Garrick and Norma Winstone! Winstone's vocals here rank right up there with those of Karin Krog or Monica Zetterlund – creating a whole new style for the voice in jazz, as they dance along with the freely searching work of Garrick's sextet on the record. There's a sense of lyrical poetry to the album that's really beautiful – but rhythm is also a key aspect of the session – and most tunes dance along in a flurry of bass and drum interplay, hitting that warm modal groove! Titles include "The Heart Is A Lotus", "Torrent", "Temple Dancer", "Blues On Blues", "Voices", and "Beautiful Thing".

Hip vocal tracks from Dutch singer Rita Reyes – recorded with backing by the Pim Jacobs Trio, a lively combo that features Pim's piano, plus bass and guitar – a nicely light rhythmic style that really works well for the vocals! The format is simple, but compelling – and the record's a great chance to hear Rita at her best – singing in a style that made her one of the best European female jazz singers of her day – right up there next to Monica Zetterlund, Karin Krog, and a rare few others to come to prominence at the start of the 60s. Titles include "Summertime", "I've Got The World On A String", "Too Close For Comfort", "But Not For Me", "Thou Swell", "Like Someone In Love", and "No Moon At All".