Radio Broadcast, NBB and Steve Slagle

Per Moberg, 15th June, 2009

Don't miss our concert with Mingus music!

Just follow the link below!

P2 Live NBB with Steve Slagle Plays Mingus June 16 2009 19:30-21:30

If you miss it the clip will be available in the archive for 30 days!

/Per Moberg

NYC from a Baritonesax players point of view

Per Moberg, 24th May, 2009

The trip started early, six o'clock Friday, 8 / 5 from Luleå. There will be a long day on which the time lag extends the day with six hours. The trip is going well. After having checked in at the hotel in Manhattan I go to a Chinese restaurant with Karl-Martin Almqvist and Janne Thelin. I eat chicken with orange flavor. Very good and exciting when the roasted orange skins and the very strong pepper fruits of the same color and form mix. After dinner we went to a bar for a beer. Karl-Martin called his former teacher George Garzone from the time he studied in New York. George will be the soloist on the song "Buck Eyes" on the cd. When George answers, it appears that he is having dinner at the same Chinese restaurant we just left! He joins us after his meal. Later that evening he will play at a jazz club and we go there to listen. George is playing very well and we look forward to Monday when he comes to the studio.

On Saturday, I wake up to HAMMER BLOWS. Although I live on the 24th floor? It turns out that they are building a skyscraper across the street. Construction has reached the same height as my room. It is a vertiginous feeling to see the builders lean out to receive the cargo on the way up with the crane. In the afternoon it´s time for rehearsals. Good to loosen up the lips. I have the pleasure to play on my Selmer baritone saxophone again. It has been in repair for a few months after a less successful air cargo handling. Nice to hang out with my old friend again! Back at the hotel I play a few notes on the flute. It is always a dilemma to practice in hotel rooms, beeing afraid to disturb the other guests, but the next day we will play "Box of Canoli" and that requires a little extra practise. When I go down to the hotel lobby, I meet Mirka. She thanks me for the entertainment. In the evening we eat enormous ribs at a restaurant, When in New York!!

Sunday. Time for recording. The studio is very nice and it sounds good in the room. James Farber is our sound engineer. He and his colleague are very talented. It has not even been half an hour before we are up and running, recording the first song. It is "Rufus at Gilly" with Rufus Reid as a soloist on bass. Rufus has an amazing tone in the base and a cruel phrasing. Since I play a bass instrument myself it feels nice to be part of such a superb bass section: Rufus Reid bass, Björn Hängsel bass trombone and Janne Thelin bass clarinet. Then it is time for perhaps the most difficult song: "Box of Canoli" where I leave the bass boys to play the flute in the same register as Bo Strandberg on lead trumpet. That's extremes! The recording is going well when we have Peter Erskine rhythmic drum playing in the back.

David Liebman comes to the studio on Monday. He plays incredibly beautiful and soulful in Tim's beautiful ballad "Here With Me". George will join us later in the afternoon. He lives up to the expectations from the jazz club! In the evening I go with Janne and the trombone section to the Village Vanguard listening to their Monday band (big band). Dick Oatts play leadsax and is the soloist in a beautiful ballad. Dick played with NBB back in 1999. He recognized us (perhaps because Janne had a NBB T-shirt on) and was interested to hear about our upcoming CD. The band sounds very good and we listen to their version of Thad Jones best song "Three And One".

When we went to high school and played in the music school, the best we could listen to was the Brecker Brothers. On Tuesday, one half of that hornsection arrives at the studio: Randy Brecker on trumpet. Slightly surreal to play with a great idol, but very pleasant. Not at all terrifying as Tim suggests in the song "Booo".

Wednesday, last day in the studio and we listen through all the material. We make some corrections and additions. Tim is very pleased and invites the whole gang for champagne. Everything feels good and it will be exciting to get a copy when the cd is released this fall.
On Thursday is the flight home to northern Sweden where spring probably has arrived the week we have been away.

/Per Moberg