account
basket
Challenge Records Int. logo
Momento Magico

Ulf Wakenius

Momento Magico

Format: CD
Label: ACT music
UPC: 0614427956521
Catnr: ACT 9565
Release date: 28 March 2014
Buy at PlatoMania
1 CD
Buy at PlatoMania
 
Label
ACT music
UPC
0614427956521
Catalogue number
ACT 9565
Release date
28 March 2014

"Momento Magico is a varied instrumental album and a masterclass in one, in which Ulf Wakenius his mastery of the acoustic guitar, displays in all keys."

Heaven, 01-7-2014
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
Press
EN

About the album

Jazz musicians could add ‘travellers’ to their job description - since being on tour is an indispensable part of a successful career, in a sense jazz musicians are descendents of vagabonds and wandering people.

These thoughts also crossed Ulf Wakenius‘ mind when he named his new album Vagabond. After all, he has travelled around the globe several times; in the early ‘80s he toured all over the world with Guitars Unlimited, a guitar duo with Peter Almqvist. In between he stayed in Brazil and played with some of the country’s most prominent local musicians. After that he continued performing in concert halls and jazz clubs around the world – for years Wakenius worked together with Ray Brown and the bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen, with whom he even played for the former US president Bill Clinton. He has performed in concert with stars like Herbie Hancock, Toots Thielemans, Hank Jones, Pat Metheny and Michel Legrand. Particularly worthy of mention is Wakenius’ 11-year membership in the legendary Oscar Peterson Quartet until its leader’s death in December 2007.

Furthermore, for a couple of years Wakenius has been the accompanist of his fellow ACT artist Youn Sun Nah. Since the Korean star singer lives in Paris, the metropolis on the Seine, with its many jazz clubs and extraordinary versatile music scene, has been a regular destination for him. Moreover, it also became the source of inspiration for Vagabond: in addition to guest appearances by Nguyên Lê and Youn Sun Nah, who performs a version of the Police classic “Message in a Bottle” with remarkable simplicity, it was Paris, where he met the accordionist Vincent Peirani, which shaped the album.

In 2003 Peirani made a much-noticed performance at the La Défense Jazz Competition when he was still a student at the Paris Academy of Music, and he has been a staple of the jazz scene in Paris ever since. Performances with Michel Portal, Renaud Garcia-Fons, Daniel Humair and Louis Sclavis, or with his own projects, such as in duet with Vincent Lê Quang, with a rock quartet or a world music quintet, as well as in the fields of chanson and classical music with artists like François Salque, Laurent Korcia, Roberto Alagna or André Minvielle – all this has proven that Peirani can be considered the rising star of the great French accordion tradition, with such famous representatives as Richard Galliano.

On Vagabond Peirani demonstrates that he has already found a unique style that works in different genres and perfectly fits Wakenius’ guitar. His accordion occasionally mimics the sound of a human voice, as heard most clearly on “Breakfast in Baghdad” - originally composed by Wakenius for Youn Sun Nah and featured on her album Same Girl (ACT 9024-2).

Wakenius‘ previous albums on ACT have been focused on one theme. On Notes from the Heart he interpreted Keith Jarrett’s music, and on Love is Real he centred on Esbjörn Svensson. On Vagabond it becomes apparent that as a globetrotter Wakenius is driven by curiosity for all sorts of good music and he proves himself as a truly versatile guitarist - from the French “Bretagne” and the Nordic and almost hymnal sounds of “Psalmen” by his friend and fellow musician Lars Danielsson, to archaic Native American tones of Jim Pepper’s “Witchi-Tai-To”, and from the South American “Chorinho” to the Asian sounding “Song For Japan”. Wakenius sends the listener musical postcards from all over the world and merges them into a fascinating travel report.

The album is also a family affair. For the first time Ulf Wakenius worked together in the studio with his son Eric, who is obviously following in his father’s footsteps as a guitarist, as heard on the title song that they composed together. In addition, they perform Attila Zoller’s wonderful “Birds And Bees” as a duet. Wakenius sums up by saying, ”It’s the best album I have ever made.”

Artist(s)

Ulf Wakenius (guitar)

Born: April 16t, 1958 in Halmstad, Sweden. Ulf Wakenius. A jazz guitarist extraordinaire acclaimed and celebrated all over the world. Between 1997 and 2007 Ulf held what may have been the most prestigious spot in jazz for a guitarist: a chair in the Oscar Peterson Quartet.This was the coronation of a career which included many record-breaking moments.Wakenius guitar duo Guitars Unlimited rocked Scandinavia in the early 80s, culminating in the 1985 Melody Grand Prix, which was seen by 600 million viewers, probably the largest audience a jazz guitar duo ever had. Shortly after that Wakenius started a extremely successful and long-lasting collaboration with the legendary bass player Niels-Henning Örsted Pedersen.( NHOP), and both of his duo albums with bass icon...
more

Born: April 16t, 1958 in Halmstad, Sweden. Ulf Wakenius. A jazz guitarist extraordinaire acclaimed and celebrated all over the world. Between 1997 and 2007 Ulf held what may have been the most prestigious spot in jazz for a guitarist: a chair in the Oscar Peterson Quartet.This was the coronation of a career which included many record-breaking moments.Wakenius guitar duo Guitars Unlimited rocked Scandinavia in the early 80s, culminating in the 1985 Melody Grand Prix, which was seen by 600 million viewers, probably the largest audience a jazz guitar duo ever had. Shortly after that Wakenius started a extremely successful and long-lasting collaboration with the legendary bass player Niels-Henning Örsted Pedersen.( NHOP), and both of his duo albums with bass icon Ray Brown, topped the US Jazz Charts.The last few years he's been touriing the world with the amazing Korean singer Youn Sun Nah.

Oscar Peterson has publicly described Ulf as one of the greatest guitarists alive in the world today and many of today’s most acclaimed jazz guitarists are among Ulf’s fans, including Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, John Scofield and Mike Stern. Great Rhythmic feel combines with a extraordinary lyrical touch- his emphasis is always on melodies and groove. He has been filmed by Clint Eastwood. His next release on ACT will be Ulf Wakenius-Solo "Momento Magico"


less

Composer(s)

Magnus Öström

Magnus Öström was born on May 3rd, 1965 in Skultuna, Sweden as second son to local painter Arne and Siv Öström. His brother Tommy was three years older and influenced Magnus in his early years with his eclectic record collection including Jimmy Hendrix, Deep Purple, Almond Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. At the age of eight Magnus built his first drumkit out of his fathers empty paintcans and only a year later he started his first band together with a kid from across the street, Esbjörn Svensson. Magnus received his first real drumkit only one year later as a christmas present. Another year later he performed his first concert. The band was called ”Beware Of The Beginners”. In 1978 his brother took...
more
Magnus Öström was born on May 3rd, 1965 in Skultuna, Sweden as second son to local painter Arne and Siv Öström. His brother Tommy was three years older and influenced Magnus in his early years with his eclectic record collection including Jimmy Hendrix, Deep Purple, Almond Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. At the age of eight Magnus built his first drumkit out of his fathers empty paintcans and only a year later he started his first band together with a kid from across the street, Esbjörn Svensson. Magnus received his first real drumkit only one year later as a christmas present. Another year later he performed his first concert. The band was called ”Beware Of The Beginners”.
In 1978 his brother took him to a concert of Billy Cobham with John McLaughlin. This experience turned his musical world upside down and got him into jazzrock. Aged 13 to 16 Magnus had several bands simultaneously together with Esbjörn Svensson playing all different styles, from dance-music to punk. From 1981 to 1983 Magnus studied at the music highschool (Gymnasium) in Västerås. During those years Esbjörn and Magnus had their first trio together. From 1983 to 1985 he then studied music at Sjöviks folk high-school.
In 1985 Magnus moved to Stockholm to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music. He immediately started to play in different bands on Stockholm ́s jazz scene. Between 1987 and 1992 he was a constant member of Monica Borrfors band, a well-known Swedish jazz vocalist who played mainly jazz standards and together they toured extensively throughout Sweden and beyond. ”Playing live, especially with a singer is the best school in the world for a young drummer”, he says.
In 1989 after a break of a few years Magnus and Esbjörn hooked up again and started jamming together. They formed a band called ”Stock Street B”. The setup included - amoung other gadgets - samplers and octapads with sampled vocals. ”It was too early for that kind of thing. No one understood what we were doing, really. They thought we were playing to backing-tracks but everything we did was live...!” In 1991 him and Esbjörn started the predecessor to e.s.t. and in 1992 Dan Berglund joined on bass. Together they recorded 12 albums and one concert DVD, toured the world several times over, sold hundreds of thousands of albums, and were titled the ”trio of the decade”. Nowadays e.s.t. are considered to have been the most influential band in jazz in the Noughties and their album ”Live in Hamburg” (ACT 6002-2) has been awarded ”Album of the Decade” by no lesser than the London Times. The career of e.s.t. came to a sudden, tragic end when Esbjörn Svensson died in a scuba diving accident on June 14, 2008.
Three years later, on Februar 25, 2011, Magnus Öström released “Thread of Life” (ACT 9525-2) – his debut as a leader and his first (musical) sign of life after the tragedy. Its haunting, dark music, drawing inspiration from jazz, progressive rock, drum’n’bass and minimal music was Öströms attempt of coping with the huge loss. On the song “Ballad for E”, Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund played together in the studio for the first time after Svenssons death – accompanied by the great e.s.t. fan Pat Metheny.
In July 2011, the German JazzBaltica Festival is paying tribute to Esbjörn Svensson and e.s.t. .
The highlight of the festival is an evening with music by and for Esbjörn Svensson, on which Magnus Öström not only performed with his “Thread of Life” band but also was hosting the programme.
In 2012, Magnus Öström received the „Echo Jazz“, Germany’s most important music award, as „best drummer international“ for „Thread of Life“. His performance of piece “Tears for Esbjörn”, together with pianist Iiro Rantala was an emotional peak of the award ceremony.
Four years after the death of Esbjörn Svensson, on March 30, 2012 with „301“ (ACT 9029-2) a new e.s.t. album was released – with previously unreleased studio material, produced by Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund. The album made it to #53 of the German popcharts and #1 of the jazzcharts. Also, since the release of “Liberetto” (ACT 9520-2) in February 2012, Magnus Öström is a permanent member of the band of bassist Lars Danielsson.
less

Lars Danielsson

Swedish bassist, cellist, composer and arranger Lars Danielsson is well-know and admired throughout the International jazz scene for his lyrical playing and strong groove. Born in 1958, he is a musician with particularly broad interests. At the conservatory in Gothenburg he had studied classical cello, before changing to bass and to jazz. As a bassist he has a uniquely rounded sound, which is as lyrical as powerful. The 'Lars Danielsson Quartet' with former Miles Davis saxophonist David Liebman, pianist Bobo Stenson and legendary ECM drummer Jon Christensen has received a lot of recognition and numerous awards during the 18 years of its existence. Danielsson has released ten solo-albums since 1980 with his quartet and guests such as Alex Acuña and John Abercrombie....
more

Swedish bassist, cellist, composer and arranger Lars Danielsson is well-know and admired throughout the International jazz scene for his lyrical playing and strong groove. Born in 1958, he is a musician with particularly broad interests. At the conservatory in Gothenburg he had studied classical cello, before changing to bass and to jazz. As a bassist he has a uniquely rounded sound, which is as lyrical as powerful.

The "Lars Danielsson Quartet" with former Miles Davis saxophonist David Liebman, pianist Bobo Stenson and legendary ECM drummer Jon Christensen has received a lot of recognition and numerous awards during the 18 years of its existence. Danielsson has released ten solo-albums since 1980 with his quartet and guests such as Alex Acuña and John Abercrombie. The Quartet has been a testing ground for Danielsson’s work as a composer and arranger, which has extended over the last years to include both - symphony orchestra and big band music. He has worked with Denmark’s Radio Concert Orchestra as well as the JazzBaltica Ensemble as a composer, arranger and producer.

Lars Danielsson has worked with: Randy and Michael Brecker, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Mike Stern, Billy Hart, Charles Lloyd, Terri Lyne Carrington and Dave Kikoski. He has also been a member of the "Trilok Gurtu Group".

As a producer, Lars Danielsson worked with Cæcilie Norby, Jonas Johansen, the Danish Radio Concert Orchestra and Viktoria Tolstoy.

In 2007, he received a commission for a piece with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestrafeaturing himself as a soloist together with Leszek Moždžer. He has also received a commission from the NDR Big Band and Wolfgang Haffner to write a piece for the JazzBaltica Festival 2007. Furthermore, he has been working with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with Vytas Sondeckis and Bugge Wesseltoft.

His 2008 album “Pasodoble” was a huge success. Jazzwise UK wrote about Danielsson’s collaboration with Polish pianist Leszek Moždžer: “A clarity of thought and execution rarely encountered in jazz.”

“Pasodoble” was followed by another collaboration with Leszek Moždžer on the 2009 album “Tarantella”. Once more the album caused enthusiastic reactions by Jazzwise: “Easily Danielsson’s finest album to date, it also numbers among the finest albums in the ACT catalogue.”

On his most recent album “Liberetto”, Lars Daniellson teams up with Armenian piano shooting Star “Tigran”, e.s.t. drummer Magnus Öström guitarist John Paricelli and Trumpeter Arve Henriksen to discovers new musical spaces and the freedom of music between chamber jazz, classic and European folk music.


less

Ulf Wakenius

Born: April 16t, 1958 in Halmstad, Sweden. Ulf Wakenius. A jazz guitarist extraordinaire acclaimed and celebrated all over the world. Between 1997 and 2007 Ulf held what may have been the most prestigious spot in jazz for a guitarist: a chair in the Oscar Peterson Quartet.This was the coronation of a career which included many record-breaking moments.Wakenius guitar duo Guitars Unlimited rocked Scandinavia in the early 80s, culminating in the 1985 Melody Grand Prix, which was seen by 600 million viewers, probably the largest audience a jazz guitar duo ever had. Shortly after that Wakenius started a extremely successful and long-lasting collaboration with the legendary bass player Niels-Henning Örsted Pedersen.( NHOP), and both of his duo albums with bass icon...
more

Born: April 16t, 1958 in Halmstad, Sweden. Ulf Wakenius. A jazz guitarist extraordinaire acclaimed and celebrated all over the world. Between 1997 and 2007 Ulf held what may have been the most prestigious spot in jazz for a guitarist: a chair in the Oscar Peterson Quartet.This was the coronation of a career which included many record-breaking moments.Wakenius guitar duo Guitars Unlimited rocked Scandinavia in the early 80s, culminating in the 1985 Melody Grand Prix, which was seen by 600 million viewers, probably the largest audience a jazz guitar duo ever had. Shortly after that Wakenius started a extremely successful and long-lasting collaboration with the legendary bass player Niels-Henning Örsted Pedersen.( NHOP), and both of his duo albums with bass icon Ray Brown, topped the US Jazz Charts.The last few years he's been touriing the world with the amazing Korean singer Youn Sun Nah.

Oscar Peterson has publicly described Ulf as one of the greatest guitarists alive in the world today and many of today’s most acclaimed jazz guitarists are among Ulf’s fans, including Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, John Scofield and Mike Stern. Great Rhythmic feel combines with a extraordinary lyrical touch- his emphasis is always on melodies and groove. He has been filmed by Clint Eastwood. His next release on ACT will be Ulf Wakenius-Solo "Momento Magico"


less

Charles Trenet

Louis Charles Auguste Claude (Charles) Trenet (Narbonne, 18 May 1913 - Créteil, 19 February 2001) was a French singer, composer and actor, active from the nineties until the nineties of the 20th century. Trenet, who got his comic expression and his felt hat the nickname 'Le Fou Chantant' (the singing fool), is best known for his world hit Douce France and La mer. In France, Trenet is just as famous as Édith Piaf and Charles Aznavour.  
more

Louis Charles Auguste Claude (Charles) Trenet (Narbonne, 18 May 1913 - Créteil, 19 February 2001) was a French singer, composer and actor, active from the nineties until the nineties of the 20th century. Trenet, who got his comic expression and his felt hat the nickname "Le Fou Chantant" (the singing fool), is best known for his world hit Douce France and La mer. In France, Trenet is just as famous as Édith Piaf and Charles Aznavour.


less

Press

Momento Magico is a varied instrumental album and a masterclass in one, in which Ulf Wakenius his mastery of the acoustic guitar, displays in all keys.
Heaven, 01-7-2014

‘Momento Magico’ is still a remarkable record of top musician Wakenius who shows you the wonderful world of the multifaceted guitar and he plays it fantastic!
Music Frames, 13-5-2014

Play album Play album

You might also like..

e.s.t. 30
Magnus Öström & Dan Berglund
e.s.t. 30 (vinyl)
Magnus Öström & Dan Berglund
Kind of Tango
Wolfgang Haffner
Kind of Tango (vinyl)
Wolfgang Haffner
Good Stuff
Iiro Rantala | Ulf Wakenius
Good Stuff (vinyl)
Iiro Rantala | Ulf Wakenius
Father And Son
Ulf & Eric Wakenius
Lost Hero - Tears for Esbjörn
Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic V
Jazzpaña live
Gerardo Núñez / Ulf Wakenius
Magic Moments 7
Various Artists
Lento
Youn Sun Nah