One of the best jazz album of 2020 comes from Sweden, a land of fierce improvisers that has a deep bond with “a certain type of jazz” since the Scandinavian raids of Albert Ayler, Don Cherry and Cecil Taylor. Anna Högberg, an under forty who is a member of the ‘Fire! Orchestra’ of Mats Gustafsson, has released ‘Lena’, six tracks that are a concentrate of pure free, with a sextet called Attack.
On the other hand, what would a playlist be without a Mats Gustafsson record? Allt Är Intet, “everything is nothing” in Swedish, marks the comeback of the quintet The End after their fine debut of two years ago. Heavy drums, baritone guitars and Gustafsson-Kjetil Møster on the saxophones, the group is built around jazz-rock with metallic rhythms and the vocal instrument of Sofia Jernberg.
These two albums are hot stuff: get in line, there’s something for everyone!!!
