This weekend I were playing at Karlstad Jazz Festival with Johan Gund Big Band. Johan is an old friend of mine and the whole idea of the project was that he had gathered a lot (a big band) of his friends from around Sweden to make a gig at the festival.

For me the whole thing got a bit of a bad start. I had to leave Stockholm very early last Friday morning and had put the alarm on for 5:15 am. Unfortunately I only managed to get four hours of sleep and was anything but well-rested. Good that I’m gonna sit on a train for three hours I thought, then I can sleep some there. Unfortunately destiny and the train company had something else in mind and placed me together with a mother and her three children, and one of them weren’t the most calm little thing I have ever met. In other words, no sleep on the train either.

After arriving in Karlstad we rehearsed with the saxophones from 10am to lunch, and then with the entire band from 2pm to 7pm. After this I was pretty much out of energy. After waiting to get access to where I was staying I could finally go to sleep around 1am. I usually have a hard time falling asleep, but this night I only had to lay my head on the pillow and I were off in the land of dreams. I wish it could always be that easy! The following morning I slept through the morning and then went out to Mariebergsskogen (Marieberg forest) where the festival area was located.

The gig itself went very well, it had some nerve considering we only had played together once at the rehearsal the day before, but with all the experience in the band this was not a problem. Everyone played really well and the concert seemed to be very appreciated by the audience.

The festival was very nice, good concerts and a great atmosphere. It was fun meeting all friends that were there playing that I hadn’t seen in a long while, both in our and other bands. I also got the opportunity to say goodbye to Per that leaves for China and Carolina for Trondheim, Norway, both for half a year. Good luck to both of you and have fun! The goodbyes also reminded me of my own move to Vienna that is getting closer, and it’s easy to get a bit sad realizing how much you like your friends and how much fun it is here. But I guess I have to make sure I have fun in Vienna as well!