Patrick Rydman

Poetic singer/songwriter jazz with strong pop sentiments and a little bit of soul and circus thrown in for good measure. Sometimes with a slightly melancholic touch, but also with humor within reach. Patrick Rydman belongs to the rare kind of singers that merges jazz with other genres in a completely natural and magnificent manner. Born and raised outside of Gothenburg, Patrick Rydman is a rare occurence on the Swedish music scene: A male jazz singer of the younger generation who furthermore writes his own material. His music sounds like “poetic singer/songwriter jazz with strong pop sentiments and a little bit of circus”, according to Patrick himself. Influenced by songwriters like Bacharach, Jobim, Paddy McAloon, Bill Withers and Joni Mitchell, raised on pop songs and tunes from the Great American Songbook, the resulting mix is Patrick’s own: melodic, personal, groovy, intimate and full of variation. Patrick has been seen and heard on the Swedish music and theater scene in a multitude of groups, projects and productions. He is a singing, composing and arranging member of the vocal ensemble Amanda with numerous shows in Sweden and abroad and two Swedish Grammy nominations to their credit. He has produced and written songs for other artists, worked as a theater musician, composed for the stage and radio, sung Burt Bacharach-hits in the cult show The Missing Fortnight and been featured vocal soloist with Bohuslän Big Band on several occasions. Apart from his original material, he has sung a large part of the Great American Songbook, where he has collaborated extensively with piano player Anders Persson (Toots Thielemans, Jim Beard and Viktoria Tolstoy to name but a few) having as a guiding light the classic recordings of Bill Evans and Tony Bennett. 50's, 60's and 70's soul, pop and rock'n'roll hits and contemporary classics are also part of his vast repertoire.The jazz influence originally comes from his father who was a talented amateur musician and an avid be-bop listener. Originally starting with the trumpet (which he still plays from time to time, including on his own recordings), Patrick moved on to the drums and in his later teens started focusing on his singing. He has worked extensively to broaden his expression, for instance by studying Indian classical vocal techniques in Bombay for two months with Dhanashree Pandit-Rai.

PRESS QUOTES:

It's hard to not smile cosily when listening to Patrick Rydman for the first time. He manages to touch some kind of nostalgic string that reaches from today via easy listening and Burt Bacharach down to some early fusion of jazz and blues that can only melt one's senses... Patrick Rydman is experienced, despite this being his solo debut. As a prominent member of groups like Amanda and Slabang. And sure, one notices the experienced craft; it is at times almost sophisticated, it is beautiful and it is soft in that..., well, attractive way. And first and foremost, he manages to avoid those obvious pitfalls when approaching the soft-jazz domains of Svante Thuresson, and on top of that avoids them with discreet ease. Nice.
GROOVE, SE

With influences from Jamie Cullum, Michael Franks and Paddy McAloon, the singer Patrick Rydman steps onto the Swedish jazz scene. He does it with an impressive effortlessness. Together with other Gothenburg musicians like Fabian and Josef Kallerdahl, Lisen Rylander et al, Rydman delivers his music, original jazzy pop, or poppy jazz. The lyrics are sensitive and slightly melancholic, like in Foghorn Conversation or The Game. The elegant "jazz-cat"-streak is also present, like in Overnight Sensation. I like this record. It's more than cocktail jazz.
TROTS ALLT, SE

Not only the cover of I Will Do It oozes nostalgia. When you open the cover there is a black CD that looks like vinyl, where you can even see the "tracks". Very neatly done. Patrick Rydman makes his solo debut with this record, but his musical track listing is long. He is for example a member of the Amanda vocal ensemble and has also been singing with Bohuslän Big Band, which shows the scope of his artistry. This is also mirrored in the album which offers a mix of jazz, pop and singer/songwriter with a light retro feel. He sings with natural pathos in a row of original songs that have a pleasing straightforwardness to them. Among others, Fabian (keyboards) and Josef Kallerdahl (bass), who otherwise can be heard in MusicMusicMusic, are playing on the recording. In other words, musicians who can really stretch it. The CD feels very genuine and appealing. With this mature debut he blows many much more merited gentlemen away. It is for real and full of life straight through.
LIRA, SE