Bengt Hallberg (13 September 1932 – 2 July 2013) 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist, composer and arranger.John Fordha
"Bengt Hallberg obituary"
theguardian.com, 7 August 2013 Born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, he studied classical piano from an early age, and wrote his first jazz arrangement at the age of 13. At the age of 15 he recorded his first record as a member of a group led by bassist Thore Jederby"Bengt Hallberg"
All About Jazz, 3 July 2013 and in 1949 he recorded with the Swedish alto saxophonist Arne Domnérus for the first time, and the two musicians continued to play together for several decades. During the 1950s, Hallberg played with leading visiting American players, including the tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, recording "Dear Old Stockholm" (originally "Ack Värmeland du sköna") with him, and alto player Lee Konitz in 1951, and trumpeters Clifford Brown and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

in 1953. Jones first recorded arrangement featured Hallberg. In the same period he worked with baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin, another leading Swedish player of the time. Both players were associated with the 'Cool Jazz' scene in their country, influenced by the American school around pianist Lennie Tristano, a Hallberg favourite with whom Konitz was associated. Hallberg had a versatile style and in his later years he wrote music for film and television, as well as choral arrangements, and he also played the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

. With Domnerus and Georg Riedel among others, he participated in the '' Jazz at the Pawnshop'' sessions in December 1976. According to Chris Mosey, while Hallberg was: "usually an extremely delicate and very measured player, ewas obviously affected by the general ambience, and here and there cuts loose with awesome force".Chris Mose
"Arne Domnerus: Jazz at the Pawnshop - 30th Anniversary Edition (2007)"
All About Jazz, 30 October 2007 Hallberg died from congestive heart failure.Doug Ramse

Rifftides/Arts Journal, 2 July 2013

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Stan Getz * '' Stan Getz in Stockholm'' (Verve, 1955) * '' Imported from Europe'' (Verve, 1958) With

* '' Jazz Abroad'' ( EmArcy, 1955) * '' Quincy's Home Again'' ( Metronome, 1958) also released as ''Harry Arnold + Big Band + Quincy Jones = Jazz!'' (EmArcy)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hallberg, Bengt 1932 births 2013 deaths Philips Records artists Swedish film score composers Swedish male film score composers Swedish jazz pianists 20th-century Swedish pianists Male jazz pianists 20th-century Swedish male musicians Swedish male jazz musicians Radiojazzgruppen members Prestige Records artists Columbia Records artists Epic Records artists Musicians from Gothenburg

Discography

As leader

As sideman

See also

References

External links