On 19 March, the cult Radiojazz Group will be resurrected with a concert at the Swedish Radio concert hall Berwaldhallen, a retrospective that also looks to the future. The concert will be broadcast live on Jazzradion in P2 and on Berwaldhallen Play. It will be a tribute signed by Nils Landgren, new artistic director of Jazzradion, and Georg Riedel, one of the original members of the group. For several decades, the Radiojazz Group played a central role in the Swedish jazz music scene.
“I want to build a bridge between old and new and show how modern Swedish jazz music was already when Radiojazzgruppen started its activities. Since I was a member of the Radiojazz Group for many years, I believe I have a good insight into the enormous musical range that existed and the impact it had on Swedish musical life,” says Nils Landgren, artistic director of Jazzradion on P2 Swedish Radio.
Radiojazzgruppen started in the second half of the 1960s as a studio orchestra at Swedish Radio and worked continuously until the mid-1980s. Since then, Radiojazzgruppen has been resurrected on a project-by-project basis – most recently in 2018 when it performed a tribute concert to Jan Johansson during the Baltic Sea Festival in the BerwaldHall. As of the concert on 19 March, the Radiojazz Group will once again be a regular part of the programme on Jazzradion in P2.
Over the years, the cream of Swedish jazz musicians has played in the Radiojazz Group. Initially it consisted of Arne Domnérus, Jan Johansson, Bengt Hallberg, Rune Gustafsson, Jan Allan, Lennart Åberg and Georg Riedel, several of whom wrote directly for the group. The group has also collaborated with a number of foreign composers and arrangers such as Gil Evans, George Russell, Carla Bley and Thad Jones.
In this concert, Radiojazzgruppen will honour the memory of those who made Sweden a strong jazz nation and highlight the music that paved the way for later generations. It also looks to the future with new music written by Georg Riedel, who has curated the concert programme together with trombonist Nils Landgren, artistic director of Jazzradion i P2 and the Radiojazz Group.
Sunday 19 March at 17:00 hrs.
The Radio Jazz Group
Örjan Fahlström, conductor
Nils Landgren, artistic director, host, trombone soloist
Georg Riedel, host
The concert will be broadcast live on Jazzradion in P2 and Berwaldhallen Play. Tickets for the concert have been released and are available at berwaldhallen.se.
For more information, contact:
Karl Thorson
Press & PR Manager
Berwaldhallen | Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra | Radio Choir karl.thorson@sverigesradio.se
08-784 18 30 | 070-431 18 93
Maria Lekteus, Communications Manager P2
maria.lekteus@sverigesradio.se
073 712 32 21