Nordic Jazz
Lowell, Massachusetts, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Review by Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon, December 2009
Anna-Frida & Nordic Jazz
[FOLK-JAZZ] “At the heart of Nordic Jazz,” Anna-Frida Abrahamsson wrote us in a lovely hand-written note. “Is a penchant for the simple and sublime folk melodies of Sweden.” And she’s on to something. Abrahamsson, in town from Massachusetts for a handful of shows with local trio Nordic Jazz, sings pretty and clear-voiced in both English and Swedish. On her own, Abrahamsson’s recordings have a Norah Jones via Dear Nora thing going on. Nordic Jazz delivers jazzy renditions of Swedish folk songs for Abrahamsson to swing to, dropping the Bill Evans trio as a point of sonic reference. So even those scared away by the thought of “world” music can find something to like here. CASEY JARMAN. 9:30 pm. Savoy <http://wweek.com/places/savoy/> , 2500 SE Clinton St., 808-9999. Cover. All ages. - Willamette Week, Portland, OR
Discography
- "Errol Morris Candidate" discs I, II, and III
- "Anna-Frida Sjunger", tracks featured on KXCI Radio in Tucson, AZ and UMass Lowell College Radio
Photos
Bio
Singer Anna-Frida Abrahamsson was born in Lund in 1980 and grew up around Europe, in Norway, Belgium, and France, as well as in Ystad, Sweden. Her college career took her to Switzerland, Australia, and Arizona, and she now lives in Boston, where she still appears at traditional jazz jams. During the past ten years, she has performed in jazz clubs around the USA. In Portland, Oregon, she started the group ”Nordic Jazz,” bringing the distinct style of Scandinavian jazz to the Northwest. Versatile on the alto saxophone, the alto recorder, and the acoustic guitar, and marked by a Swedish childhood, a Belgian-French upbringing, and an American early adulthood, Anna-Frida has adopted an international music style along with a harmonic jazz cadence. Her style is a pleasing blend of a1940's jazz beat, Scandinavian folk melodies, and classical choir harmonies. With a clear voice and lots of feeling she seduces her audience and delivers the essence of a song.
She will be accompanied by Chris Ward, indie rocker and bass player for Lone Wolf James. Born in 1973, he was raised on Led Zeppelin and Neil Young. After college, he got in his car and drove from the desert of Tucson, Arizona up to the lakes and forests of the Northwest, birthplace of grunge, and settled in Portland, Oregon, where he was introduced to ever more indie music. He since became inspired by the likes of Pavement, Sonic Youth, Sleater Kinney, Tragically Hip, and more. As bass player for Night Pipe, long jam sessions delved into the psychedelic, with blues overtones and consistently a noise rock feel.
Chris and Anna-Frida met at a youth hostel in Nice, France. They have been creating original music ever since. They live right in the heart of the industrial revolution, in Lowell, Massachusetts.
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