What is Sweden known for, besides Alfred Nobel & his Prize, Ingrid Bergman, and deliciously thin pancakes?
Sweden is known for being very hospitable to jazz in its myriad forms, trad, mainstream, and “out”. Exploding Customer (love that name!) is a hep Swede foursome who put a most welcome spin on le jazz avant-garde – there’re actual melodies (bright, witty, & disarming ones, too), soulful soloing (trumpeter Tomas Hallonsten has a riveting Freddie Hubbard-like tone, plus he draws upon growling pre-bop brass studs like Cootie Williams and Ziggy Ellman) and concisely, their wailing skronk is born of exuberance rather than anguish (saxguy Martin Küchen has some of the folksy bray of free icon Albert Ayler, albeit a tad smoother), and the rhythms are both vigorously propulsive and playfully subtle (they swing & almost rock). Three thumbs up – available where jazz imports are sold or ayler.com. Paris Transatlantic Magazine By: Stephen Griffith Despite all the clutter on the Internet, it can occasionally perform a useful function: in January 2005, a solitary poster started a thread on a bulletin
