Sten Åke Henry "Stan" Hasselgård (October 4, 1922, in

Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. History Th ...

, Sweden – November 23, 1948, in

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...

, United States) was a Swedish

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

clarinetist. Hasselgård was heavily influenced by

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

, and he played swing jazz in his early years, before exploring bebop shortly before his death.

Biography

His father was John Levin Johansson (1886–1923), a son of Johan Ludvig Persson who later changed his name to John Hasselgård; his mother was Linda Köhler (1893–1979), a daughter of Magnus Wilhelm Köhler. Åke Hasselgård's father died in a hunting accident in Gällivare when Åke was only a year old.Roland Classon,
Stan Hasselgård och hans rötter
("Stan Hasselgård and his roots"), ''

Helsingborgs Dagblad ''Helsingborgs Dagblad'' (''HD'', lit. "Helsingborg's Daily Paper"), published in Helsingborg in Skåne is the largest (circ. 84.000) newspaper in Swedish outside the metropolitan districts of Malmö, Göteborg and Stockholm. History and profi ...

'', October 30, 2006. Accessed December 4, 2011. Hasselgård grew up in

Bollnäs Bollnäs () is a Swedish locality and the seat of Bollnäs Municipality, in Gävleborg County, Sweden. It had 26,937 inhabitants in 2017 History The first recording of Bollnäs in writing is from 1312 when a vicar named Ingemund referred to it ...

, Sweden, and began playing clarinet at the age of 16. He attended college at the University of Uppsala and played in the there. In 1945, he played in a quintet led by Arthur Österwall, and founded a new Royal Swingers group that year. From 1946 to 1947, he played with Simon Brehm's sextet alongside

Gösta Eriksson Gösta Gunvald Eriksson (born 26 January 1931) is a retired Swedish rower who competed in the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics. Early life Eriksson was born on January 26, 1931, in Little Skee, Sweden, outside Strömstad. Career Olympic ...

(piano), Bror Hansson (trumpet), (guitar) and (drums).Roland Classon,
Stan Hasselgård fick spela med de stora
("Stan Hasselgård played with the greats"), ''Helsingborgs Dagblad'', October 30, 2006. Accessed December 4, 2011. Having achieved international renown, he moved in 1947 to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and played there on

52nd Street 52nd Street is a -long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan, New York City. A short section of it was known as the city's center of jazz performance from the 1930s to the 1950s. Jazz center Following the repeal of ...

with

Jack Teagarden Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964) was an American jazz trombonist and singer. According to critic Scott Yannow of Allmusic, Teagarden was the preeminent American jazz trombone player before the bebop era of the 19 ...

and Max Roach. Under the stage name Stan Hasselgard, he made his acclaimed recording of ''Swedish Pastry'', and in 1948 he joined Benny Goodman's

septet A septet is a formation containing exactly seven members. It is commonly associated with musical groups but can be applied to any situation where seven similar or related objects are considered a single unit, such as a seven-line stanza of poetry. ...

, alongside Wardell Gray, Mary Lou Williams and others. His last recording session occurred on November 18, 1948; on November 23 he was killed in a car crash outside the city of Decatur, Illinois, at the age of 26. He was buried in the family plot of District Judge John Larson (1883–1962) in Bollnäs churchyard. Larson had become Hasselgård's stepfather when his mother remarried in 1929, six years after she had been widowed.

Recognition

Filmmaker

Jonas Sima Gunnar Jonas Sima (born 31 May 1937 in Hudiksvall, Sweden) is a Swedish filmmaker,Jo ...

's 1983 documentary, ''Åke Hasselgård Story'', portrayed Hasselgård's life and career. At the 2002 Swedish Jazz Celebration at

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

's Nalen entertainment centre, he was posthumously recognized with a Golden Django Award. Since 2000, Bollnäs municipality has also disbursed an annual scholarship in his name, awarded to a young jazz musician with ties to Bollnäs. Hasselgård was the "famous bop clarinettist hohad died in an Illinois car crash recently" the memory of which spooked Sal Paradise on his journey to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

's, ''

On the Road ''On the Road'' is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonis ...

'' (1957). Hasselgård was second cousin to former Swedish Prime Minister

Ingvar Carlsson Gösta Ingvar Carlsson (born 9 November 1934) is a Swedish politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Sweden, first from 1986 to 1991 and again from 1994 to 1996. He was leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1986 to 1996. He i ...

; their common great-grandparents were Per August Magnusson (1822–1899) and his wife Kristina Charlotta Hjellström (1817–1880).Roland Classon,
Ingvar Carlsson och Stan Hasselgård var sysslingar
, ''Helsingborgs Dagblad'', October 30, 2006. Accessed December 4, 2011. Hasselgård's niece Åsa Hasselgård-Rowe is married to Richard Rowe, an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n who served simultaneously as ambassador (2003–2007) to Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania."Roland Classon,
Namnet Hasselgård lever vidare – via en brorsdotter
("Hasselgård name lives on through his brother's daughter"), ''Helsingborgs Dagblad'', October 30, 2006. Accessed December 4, 2011.Alexander Downer,

, October 2, 2002. Accessed December, 2011.

References

External links

Biography and discography
by Par Rittsel * Stan Hasselgardat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Minnet av Stan Hasselgård
("Remembering Stan Hasselgård"), ''Helsingborgs Dagblad'', Oct. 16, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasselgard, Stan 1922 births 1948 deaths Swedish jazz musicians People from Bollnäs People from Sundsvall Benny Goodman Orchestra members Swedish emigrants to the United States