New Sound Made festival is over for this year and I have to say it was a total success! I hope to get hold of some pictures to upload here, if you sit on any and feel like sharing it, you are more than welcome to send me an email.

Morgan Andersson Blue Corners were the first band I played with and who also started the whole festival up. It became a bit stressful before the gig, I had a rehearsal just before and had to eat, do the sound check, discuss set list and so on, all at the same time. It turned out good though! The gig felt nice even if it was a bit unusual to play outside, the sound of the group became a bit different. Also from a saxophone players point of view it was a bit hard, it was pretty cold outside which makes the pitch go down when you don’t play and go up when you play (Cold saxophone = air flows slower, which results in lower pitch, warm saxophone = faster airflow, higher pitch). Amazing singer Maria Andersson joined us for a song which was really nice. We hadn’t done this song with Maria before and we decided while we played that Maria and I should improvise over it together, which felt really good! There’s always a certain focus in a group when no one really knows what will happened and something unexpected occurs. Great!

Fabulous Five’s gig continued my Wednesday. Our concert was perhaps not the best one we’ve ever done, but it still felt good. We tried a new song by Ludwig which is something of a pophit. It turned out really well, fun to vary the concept and find new ways to approach a song. Before this gig we had a little break and it felt like a good start of the series of gigs we’re having now (Great Jazz Club in Linköping 14/5, Jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm 24/5 and the Culture House of Trelleborg 30/5).

Soul & Funk-band Spiceadelic became my Wednesdays last gig, and a great ending! 13 people on stage, a feel like partying-audience and one hell of a show! Also a big thank you to Erik Metall who took care of the sound on the big stage where we played. Really good stage sound, it’s not always that you as a horn player in a situation like that actually hear exactly what you play, it was great!

Drummer Carl Åberg’s group Start opened my festival Thursday up. Looking at the group I think we did a good gig, but I’m not particularly pleased with my own contribution. After three gigs on Wednesday it felt like my inspiration was a bit low, I felt like I was repeating myself and played the same stuff all the time. Therefore I became a bit tensed and tried to force something creative and fresh, with the opposite effect that the musical flow instead gets clogged. This probably will be something I always have to work with, but my hope is that it will be easier to find that creative state I always want to be in the more I play.

Very nice group Alda, lead by singer Carolina Wallin Peréz, where Thursday’s second gig. Usually the Gothenburg-based saxophone player Niklas Persson plays there, but he couldn’t make it to this gig, so I substituted for him. Carolina writes some really beautiful music for an exciting setting: Voice, vibraphone, tenor sax, alto sax, baryton sax/bass clarinet/clarinet and trumpet. The group has a very large dynamic range and the music can be both solid and fragile. It felt challenging and fun to play and try to contribute with something nice (or ugly) to the music. I felt I had a bit of hard time to fully find the focus during the concert, especially since it was the first time i played live with them. I always find rehearsals and concerts very different and it doesn’t matter how much you have rehearsed, the musical process within a piece of music really starts first when you play it live. Afterwards it still felt like it was a nice concert, made me feel good!

Erik Eriksson sextett became Thursdays third and last gig, and also the last thing I did during New Sound Made (except for enjoying all the other good music from all the other bands!). We played our premiere gig on Jazzclub Fasching in February and this was our second one. Erik writes incredibly nice and original music that are a blast to play. The group he’s put together is also a very nice gang and everyone really contributes with something special to the music. The concert was a great finish for me, the whole band played unbelievably inspired and we had the audience with us. The atmosphere was on top!

Here you can listen and find more info about some of the groups:
Fabulous Five, Erik Eriksson sextett, Alda

I were playing with Carl Åberg’s group Start at jazzclub Fasching yesterday, and despite some problems with my monitor it was a good gig. Some times I almost didn’t hear anything of myself, and when I asked for some more it almost turned into acoustic feedback and way too loud. It felt good on sound check so a bit disappointing that it got worse on the gig. Unfortunately I think this is a problem way to often. How come? Well, there was another band playing that evening that were sound checking after us, but from what I know the mixing board at Fasching is digital and they can save the exact settings for the different bands. Maybe the number of people in the room makes the sound different than on sound check, but can the difference be that big? Maybe you get nervous from the concert? Sure, but not to the state that all sound gets different. Can the sound engineer not keep his/her fingers away although the band is already pleased? Hope not!

The gig itself was good though! We had a really good time while playing and I felt I’m getting back into my old good shape again. This felt of course extra good and just on time with New Sound Made beginning tomorrow. A funny detail was that I on the rehearsal before the concert where joking about a solo break that one of us, who I’m keeping to myself, wasn’t too pleased with. I got my punishment on the gig when I in the last song for the night were gonna play a two bar solo break on a pretty fast minor blues. Well, I did play it, but maybe not in the way I intended. Maybe I also should add that “who I’m keeping to myself’s” solo break was awesome! Thanks destiny/god/whoever for that lesson!

Now I’m leaving for my penultimate rehearsal before New Sound Made. Come and listen, it will be three great days!