Fugue - A glorious and melancholic Swedish folk tune - You won't be sorry!

[bjornr]

Well, I don't think you will be sorry. You don't have to listen to my recording. But please listen to the original I got this melody from. This is Sweden's finest jazz pianist playing an incredibly lovely piece of music. If you are not from Sweden, you probably haven't heard of him, but I think it is amazing and would be amazed to hear you think otherwise. He died young a long time ago. Give it one quick listen at least. Then try my version only if you wish. Thanks.

[ted]

At risk of seeming perverse, I find your music much more interesting and vital than that in the first example. I have listened to yours three times and intend to hear it more, but I doubt I shall listen more than once to the other one, which sounds like the sort of thing professionals do at cabarets. I concur that the tune itself is very pretty.

[Petter]

I loved your improvisation and I'm very familiar with the original that I like for sentimental reasons. It´s true Jan Johansson had a recognisable sound which really puts him up there with the best, even though most of his improvisation was based on blues. But I disagree that it's easier to find such a voice in jazz then in classical, only a handful pianists come to mind...

 And Ted, you'd probably get stoned if you said that in Sweden. =P

[ted]

And Ted, you'd probably get stoned if you said that in Sweden. =P

No probs, I've been stoned by experts. Water off a duck's back mate.

[bjornr]

I loved your improvisation and I'm very familiar with the original that I like for sentimental reasons. It´s true Jan Johansson had a recognisable sound which really puts him up there with the best, even though most of his improvisation was based on blues. But I disagree that it's easier to find such a voice in jazz then in classical, only a handful pianists come to mind...

 
Thank you kindly. I am glad to hear others have heard of him. I would like to agree with your disagreement but that handful of pianists you speak of is more than the one, maybe two classical pianists that come to mind that I would be comfortable saying I would recognise their playing something I was not already familiar with. Glenn Gould and maybe Horowitz. Otherwise it would be pretty much a shot in the dark. There are just so many. 

Anyway, thank you so much.

[bjornr]

whoops, still trying to figure this website out.

[bjornr]

Ted. I agree, I have no interest either in lounge music, cabaret, background jazz not meant to be really listened to. But, I think this pianist is so extraordinary. His sense of rhythm and pulse, his touch and his spare but soulful improvisations are so extraordinary. I can still only dream of achieving that. I accept he is not your cup of tea. But I continue to revel in his sound. When I take a break from Mr. Keith Jarrett and Sergei Prokofiev I have Mr Jan Johansson.

[ted]

Absolutely right, Bjorn. We have to be ourselves and let others be themselves in art. Preference also changes as we age too, sometimes quite markedly. The tendency to think there ought to exist some sort of universally constant artistic predilection over a lifetime, and that beauty at twenty is identical to beauty at sixty, is plainly wrong. Tomorrow I might suddenly find myself liking sounds I have avoided for sixty years, or vice-versa. It is not likely, but I am open to all serendipitous occurrences, it is part of the joy and fun of music. Even within a single improvisation I welcome surprise at every moment. To know everything that has happened, and will happen, seems to me a supremely pointless exercise, yet this is what musical orthodoxy asserts is right. It isn't right for me.