Fredrik Carlquist, Joan Chamorro & Andrea Motis - Saxophone Conversations (2020)

Barcelona based Swedish tenor saxophonist Fredrik Carlquist releases his 9th album Saxophone Conversation . The music is built around the interplay between Carlquist and fellow saxophonist Joan Chamorro on baritone, both among the leading sax voices on Barcelona’s jazz scene today. The music stamps off in the swing era and continues to Carlquist’s original compositions where worked out ideas seamlessly melt together with improvisations. A dynamic and melodic music where details matter.The album also features bassists Tom Warburton & Garry Fimister, drummers Caspar St.Charles & Joe Smith, Swedish singer/song writer Richard Lindgren and Catalan trumpet player Andrea Motis which makes this album an interesting documentation from Barcelona’s vital and cosmopolitan jazz scene.

Carlquist and Chamorro first started playing together in Jazz Terrassa Big Band in Spain in 2003. Their common interest in the melodic playing of the cool- and west coast jazz tradition led to Chamorro’s a guest appearance on Carlquist’s album Playing Cool that was released in 2011. Since then the saxophonists have been performing regularly together under Carlquist’s leadership who started to build up a repertoire of standards and originals arranged for a chord less setting with double bass and two horns. The group performs with and without drums. On this album singer Richard Lindgren appears in one number and Andrea Motis ,that performed live with the band several times over the years, sits in on trumpet in three numbers. The album includes seven originals by Carlquist. The opening theme Let’s Talk is a minor blues variation that bears a slight influence of Swedish folklore. In Rogue Planet II and Ulrika’s Remark Carlquist explores counterpoint which resulted in two lyrical and melancholy numbers that again leads the thought to Sweden and to players like Lars Gullin and Rolf Billberg. Sideline , Ukulele Ike and Frolics On The Roof are more straight ahead numbers paraphrasing jazz standard structures. Only Dreaming is composed by Carlquist and with lyrics by Richard Lindgren. Fredrik and Richard have worked together since 2006 and Carlquist appears on four of Lindgren albums and produced Richard’s acclaimed Barcelona Sessions from 2008. This is the first time that we get to hear Richard Lindgren in a more pure jazz context.
Four covers are included; Carlquist’s own arrangement of the classic standard I Can’t Give You Anything But Love and an adoption of Johnny Hodge’s I’ll Be There originally recorded by Hodges and Ben Webster. The other covers are adoptions of two Kansas City Six classics rarely heard performed today; Pagin’ The Devil and Way Down Yonder In New Orleans both recorded originally in 1938.



Track List:
01. Frolics OnThe Roof
02. Pagin' The Devil
03. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
04. Ulrika's Remark
05. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
06. Let's Talk
07. Ukulele Ike
08. Rogue Planet 2
09. Sideline
10. I'd Be There

1st session (track 1-4):
Fredrik Carlquist - tenor sax and clarinet
Joan Chamorro - baritone sax and bass clarinet
Andrea Motis - trumpet
Garry Fimister - double bass
Caspar St:Charles - drums

2nd session (track 5-10):
Fredrik Carlqust - tenor sax
Joan Chamorro - baritone sax
Tom Warburton - double bass
Joe Smith - drums

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