12 March 2006

Feb 23/Göteborg: Returned to Sweden, back with Mats. Last time I played in this city was more than four years earlier and the feeling at the Nefertiti club was much more alive; new programmers with young ideas, what the scene needs to thrive.

Feb 24/Stockholm (night one): The gig was held at Ugglan, an amazing venue, some kind of mix between East European beer hall and arts club. The performance space was a simple room packed with about 80 people in a tight space. Since I was asked to put the program together for the evening, I decided to flip the tour program for the first set- Paal and Mats duo, followed by by David and I as a duo. For the second half of the night, I attempted a solo set (thanks to Connie for asking me to do this, my first solo performance in Europe) and brought back the trio with Paal and David since it had worked so well in Kongsberg. After hearing David’s solo music two nights earlier, I felt like I failed at the format. Used Joe McPhee’s, “Goodbye Tom-B,” and Albert Ayler’s, “Love Cry,” as source material for the tenor, and between these I played a solo blues on the clarinet for Per Henrik Wallin. Think I might have arrived at something worthwhile on the blues but for me to do something personal as a solo artist, I still need to work with the kinds of parameters first set in motion on Furniture Music; now carried through into the Pintura Series with the painter, Richard Hull. Otherwise I feel like I’m playing someone else’s music which doesn’t work in my hands. First time to play in this city after several years absence and my concentration was a bit crap; you try to set everything in place, be organized and clear and- you fail. At least the last stretch of music, with the trio, made good. Totally different than in Kongsberg, so it points to the fact that there’s a lot of room to move with that lineup. Another great part of the evening was the fact that Fredrik Ljungkvist and Magnus Broo came by to listen. Really looking forward to playing with those guys in April for the new Atomic School Days project. Closed the bar with Paal, got into a cab, and the night ended with me watching a man singlehandedly drag a huge couch down a sidestreet.