Lars Gullin
Encyclopedia
Lars Gunnar Victor Gullin (4 May 1928, Sanda, Gotland
– 17 May 1976, Vissefjärda
) was a Swedish
jazz baritone saxophone
player, occasional pianist
and composer closest in playing style to United States Cool school
players, with a full tone, but also a lightness uncommon with baritone saxophonists and an influence from Swedish folk music, which helps make his music unique.
in 1947 became a professional musician as a pianist. He planned on a classical career, studying privately with classical pianist Sven Brandel. Although he actually filled the baritone chair in Seymour Österwall’s band in 1949 by chance, it was enough for him to decide that it was an instrument with possibilities, influenced too by hearing the United States baritone saxophonist
Gerry Mulligan
for the first time on the Birth of the Cool
recordings. He worked as a member of Arne Domnérus
’s septet (initially co-led by the trumpeter Rolf Ericson
) for two years from 1951; the group mainly performed at Nalen, a leading dance spot in Stockholm
.
At the same time he began to work with visiting American musicians, recording with James Moody
, Zoot Sims
and Clifford Brown
. Most importantly, he first performed with Lee Konitz
in 1951, an association which was to be repeated several times in future years.
He formed his own group in 1953, probably the only regular group he was to lead. It was short-lived, breaking up that November, after Gullin was responsible for causing the group to be involved in an automobile accident, although no one was seriously hurt. The next year, 1954, he won the best newcomer award in the United States Down Beat
magazine, after two March 1953 Swedish sessions were leased and issued by Contemporary Records
as a 10” LP. Later Gullin albums were leased to Atlantic Records
in the United States. Gullin toured several Europe
an countries with Chet Baker
in October 1955, in a group which was marred by tragedy; it was Gullin who found the body of the group's pianist Dick Twardzik
, was found a victim of a heroin overdose, on October 21, in a Paris
hotel room.
The remainder of Gullin’s career was blighted by his own narcotics problems, and sometimes he survived on artists’ grants from the Swedish government. He was restricted by illness for much of the later part of 1958. During most of 1959 Gullin was active in Italy
, he played with Chet Baker
again and with the jazz alto saxophonist (and businessman) Flavio Ambrosetti, making radio broadcasts with him in Lausanne
, Switzerland
.
In the 1960s he continued to work occasionally with leading American players, including Archie Shepp
, with whom he recorded in 1963. One of his last major statements was his Aeros aromatic atomica suite recorded in 1973.
He died of a heart attack, brought on by his long-term addiction to methadone
. A recording jointly led by Lee Konitz
and pianist Lars Sjösten
, Dedicated to Lee … Play the Music of Lars Gullin was recorded in 1983, and issued by Dragon Records
, who have also issued ten CDs of Gullin’s recordings. The film Sven Klang's Combo (Sven Klangs kvintett, 1976) is a fictionalised version of the Swedish jazz scene of the fifties, and the saxophonist Lars is indeed based on Gullin.
His son, Peter Gullin, (12 April 1959, Milan
, Italy
– 7 October 2003, Uppsala
, Sweden
) was also a baritone saxophonist and composer. The elder Gullin’s composition "Peter of April" was dedicated to him. The classic tune "Danny's Dream" was dedicated to his second son Danny Gullin and "Gabriella" to his daughter, Gabriella Gullin (born 1961), a composer and conductor.
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
– 17 May 1976, Vissefjärda
Vissefjärda
Vissefjärda is a locality situated in Emmaboda Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 673 inhabitants in 2005....
) was a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
jazz baritone saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
player, occasional pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and composer closest in playing style to United States Cool school
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
players, with a full tone, but also a lightness uncommon with baritone saxophonists and an influence from Swedish folk music, which helps make his music unique.
Career
Lars Gullin was a child prodigy on the accordion. At age thirteen, he played clarinet in a military band and later learned the alto saxophone, but after moving to StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
in 1947 became a professional musician as a pianist. He planned on a classical career, studying privately with classical pianist Sven Brandel. Although he actually filled the baritone chair in Seymour Österwall’s band in 1949 by chance, it was enough for him to decide that it was an instrument with possibilities, influenced too by hearing the United States baritone saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
for the first time on the Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1957 on Capitol Records. It compiles twelve songs recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950...
recordings. He worked as a member of Arne Domnérus
Arne Domnérus
Sven Arne Domnérus was a Swedish jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist, popularly nicknamed Dompan....
’s septet (initially co-led by the trumpeter Rolf Ericson
Rolf Ericson
Rolf Ericson was a Swedish jazz trumpeter. He also played the flugelhorn.- Early career :He moved to New York City in 1947 and in 1949 joined Charlie Barnet's big band and with Woody Herman in 1950...
) for two years from 1951; the group mainly performed at Nalen, a leading dance spot in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
At the same time he began to work with visiting American musicians, recording with James Moody
James Moody (saxophonist)
James Moody was an American jazz saxophone and flute player. He was best known for his hit "Moody's Mood for Love," an improvisation based on "I'm in the Mood for Love"; in performance, he often improvised vocals for the tune.-Biography:James Moody was born in Savannah, Georgia...
, Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims
John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...
and Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings...
. Most importantly, he first performed with Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
in 1951, an association which was to be repeated several times in future years.
He formed his own group in 1953, probably the only regular group he was to lead. It was short-lived, breaking up that November, after Gullin was responsible for causing the group to be involved in an automobile accident, although no one was seriously hurt. The next year, 1954, he won the best newcomer award in the United States Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine, after two March 1953 Swedish sessions were leased and issued by Contemporary Records
Contemporary Records
Contemporary Records was a jazz record label founded by Lester Koenig in 1951 in Los Angeles. Contemporary was known for seminal recordings embodying the West Coast sound, but also released recordings based in New York...
as a 10” LP. Later Gullin albums were leased to Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in the United States. Gullin toured several Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries with Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
in October 1955, in a group which was marred by tragedy; it was Gullin who found the body of the group's pianist Dick Twardzik
Dick Twardzik
Richard Twardzik was a jazz pianist known for bebop who worked for the bulk of his career in Boston.He trained in classical piano as a child and made his professional debut at 14...
, was found a victim of a heroin overdose, on October 21, in a Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
hotel room.
The remainder of Gullin’s career was blighted by his own narcotics problems, and sometimes he survived on artists’ grants from the Swedish government. He was restricted by illness for much of the later part of 1958. During most of 1959 Gullin was active in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, he played with Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
again and with the jazz alto saxophonist (and businessman) Flavio Ambrosetti, making radio broadcasts with him in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
In the 1960s he continued to work occasionally with leading American players, including Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, with whom he recorded in 1963. One of his last major statements was his Aeros aromatic atomica suite recorded in 1973.
He died of a heart attack, brought on by his long-term addiction to methadone
Methadone
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients with opioid dependency. It was developed in Germany in 1937...
. A recording jointly led by Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
and pianist Lars Sjösten
Lars Sjösten
Lars Sjösten was a Swedish jazz pianist. During the 1960s, Sjösten often worked at the world famous jazz restaurant The Golden Circle in Stockholm. He played with many jazz greats like Ben Webster, Dexter Gordon, Art Farmer and Bernt Rosengren.Lars also played in Lars Gullin's groups - the great...
, Dedicated to Lee … Play the Music of Lars Gullin was recorded in 1983, and issued by Dragon Records
Dragon Records
Dragon Records is a Swedish Jazz record label which was founded by the journalist Lars Westin in 1975. Westin was then the editor of OJ ; Westin now runs the company with Leif Collin .-History:...
, who have also issued ten CDs of Gullin’s recordings. The film Sven Klang's Combo (Sven Klangs kvintett, 1976) is a fictionalised version of the Swedish jazz scene of the fifties, and the saxophonist Lars is indeed based on Gullin.
His son, Peter Gullin, (12 April 1959, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
– 7 October 2003, Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
) was also a baritone saxophonist and composer. The elder Gullin’s composition "Peter of April" was dedicated to him. The classic tune "Danny's Dream" was dedicated to his second son Danny Gullin and "Gabriella" to his daughter, Gabriella Gullin (born 1961), a composer and conductor.