CD & LP: Sonorama C-94/ L-94
LARS GULLIN - THE LIQUID MOVES OF LARS GULLIN
![LARS GULLIN The Liquid Moves Of Lars Gullin Back Front Cover](/pix/releases/L+C94/LARS_GULLIN_The_Liquid_Moves_Of_Lars_Gullin_Front350x350.jpg)
![LARS GULLIN The Liquid Moves Of Lars Gullin Back Back Cover](/pix/releases/L+C94/LARS_GULLIN_The_Liquid_Moves_Of_Lars_Gullin_Back350x350.jpg)
Track
Composer
Time
01
Bluesport
Lars Gullin
6:30
02
Out Of Bush
Flavio Ambrosetti
3:50
03
I Love You
Cole Porter
8:06
04
Ablution
Lennie Tristano
11:18
05
The Flight
Lars Gullin
5:40
06
Fascinating Rhythm
George Gershwin
5:46
07
Get Out Of Town *
Cole Porter
7:28
08
The Things We Did Last Summer *
Jule Styne/ Sammy Cahn
6:50
09
I Got It Bad And That Ain`t Good *
Duke Ellington/ Paul Francis Webster
7:16
Recorded 1959-1963 in Europe
All tracks previously unreleased, except track 2,
* bonus tracks, available on CD version only
Tracks 1 and 6 recorded 18.06.1962 in Stockholm, location unknown: Lars Gullin (bs), Gösta Nilsson (tp),
Olle Holmkvist (tb/ tu), Rolf Bäckman (as), Harry Bäcklund (ts),
Rune Gustafsson (g), Georg Riedel (b), Egil Johansen (dr)
Track 2 recorded 27.06.1959 at RSI in Lugano, Studio 2: Lars Gullin (bs), Flavio Ambrosetti (as), Raymond Court (tp),
Barney Wilen (ts/ Guest), George Gruntz (p), Eric Peter (b), Pierre Favre (dr)
Track 3 and 5 recorded Summer 1962 at Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen: Lars Gullin (bs), Sahib Shihab (as & fl),
Dexter Gordon (ts), Harold Goldberg (p), Benny Nielsen (b), Alex Riel (dr)
Track 4 recorded Autumn 1963 in Stockholm, location unknown: Lars Gullin (bs), Rolf Billberg (as),
Nils Lindberg (p), Björn Alke (b), Jan Carlsson (dr)
Tracks 7, 8 and 9 recorded approximately 1960 in Copenhagen, location unknown: Lars Gullin (bs),
Erik Moseholm (b), Preben Oxbøl (dr), Else Oxbøl (voc)
Sound restoration, editing and mastering in 2016 at Audiomoto, Berlin.
CD & LP: Sonorama C-94/ L-94 (Release Date: 22.04.2016)
All tracks previously unreleased, except track 2,
* bonus tracks, available on CD version only
Tracks 1 and 6 recorded 18.06.1962 in Stockholm, location unknown: Lars Gullin (bs), Gösta Nilsson (tp),
Olle Holmkvist (tb/ tu), Rolf Bäckman (as), Harry Bäcklund (ts),
Rune Gustafsson (g), Georg Riedel (b), Egil Johansen (dr)
Track 2 recorded 27.06.1959 at RSI in Lugano, Studio 2: Lars Gullin (bs), Flavio Ambrosetti (as), Raymond Court (tp),
Barney Wilen (ts/ Guest), George Gruntz (p), Eric Peter (b), Pierre Favre (dr)
Track 3 and 5 recorded Summer 1962 at Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen: Lars Gullin (bs), Sahib Shihab (as & fl),
Dexter Gordon (ts), Harold Goldberg (p), Benny Nielsen (b), Alex Riel (dr)
Track 4 recorded Autumn 1963 in Stockholm, location unknown: Lars Gullin (bs), Rolf Billberg (as),
Nils Lindberg (p), Björn Alke (b), Jan Carlsson (dr)
Tracks 7, 8 and 9 recorded approximately 1960 in Copenhagen, location unknown: Lars Gullin (bs),
Erik Moseholm (b), Preben Oxbøl (dr), Else Oxbøl (voc)
Sound restoration, editing and mastering in 2016 at Audiomoto, Berlin.
CD & LP: Sonorama C-94/ L-94 (Release Date: 22.04.2016)
![](../pix/releases/L+C94/Gullin344x420.jpg)
Gullin first began playing the accordion as a young boy. After arriving in Stockholm in 1947, at age 19, he also learned to play the piano and clarinet. A few months after joining Seymour Österwall’s band, for which he played alto saxophone, he was offered the open position of the baritone saxophone in the group. “I immediately understood that this was my instrument. It’s got richness and depth, warmth, light and shadow, like a cello. I wanted a different tone than the usual harsh one. I tried a metal mouthpiece but changed to ebonite to get a tuba-like sound.” (2) Once Gullin started playing the baritone, he was obviously influenced by Gerry Mulligan and his soft playing and laid back style. He first heard Mulligan in 1949, when he discovered two 78-records of the Miles Davis Nonet that later became known as the “Birth of the cool“ session. ”Gerry Mulligan impressed me and I knew what I wanted to do. He was my first model. I realized the enormous possibilities in the baritone.” (3)
Chet Baker, who had played and recorded with the Gerry Mulligan quartet, was surprised when he heard Gullin. “The only baritone player that I was aware of was Gerry Mulligan. When I heard Lars, I thought, Jesus, there is another way of playing the baritone! Lars played with a lot more fire and a lot more authority in some ways than Gerry did. Gerry was more of an arranger on his horn than a soloist, although he did play some nice solos from time to time, but I thought that Lars was really strong, a very talented man.” (4)
![](../pix/releases/L+C94/Gullin350x431.jpg)
In June 1959, Flavio Ambrosetti set up his own recording session and invited Lars Gullin. The drummer in that session, Pierre Favre, remembers: “Flavio Ambrosetti was a wealthy man because he owned a factory where the tires for Opel were produced. Every summer he invited several musicians for a recording in Lugano. Barney Wilen was there several years. Lars felt very comfortable there; I remember he was smiling a lot. He was such great musician, a very sensitive and calm guy who just loved the music, maybe more than he loved himself. On bass was Eric Peter and Lars liked his playing a lot, but that didn’t surprise me, everybody enjoyed playing with Eric, even Chet Baker wanted to play with him.“ (5)
Another Gullin recording from this period happened in Stockholm in 1962, featuring bass player Georg Riedel who had come to Stockholm as a refugee from Czechoslovakia when he was four. “I had just finished school and played on jam sessions in the club Nalen. When Lars Gullin came by and heard me he asked me to join his quintet. So we toured in 1953 and 1954. I really admired Gullin. Never before I had heard somebody playing the baritone saxophone like him. His style was not bebop but this melodic, Nordic style. That was new to me. To make his sound even softer, he sometimes put a handkerchief in the bell of his horn. We played Jazz for an audience that expected dance music, so they were not happy with us but some Jazz fans really loved us. Lars Gullin really had problems with drugs and when we were on tour, we had no driver, but Lars was driving the car. That really was dangerous. That’s why I decided to leave his band. I then played with Arne Domnérus for 25 years, but I kept playing with Lars for recordings, not for concerts. At our last recording, he didn’t show up in the studio and we were told, that he had passed away the day before.” (6)
![](../pix/releases/L+C94/Gullin400x235.jpg)
Arne Reimer
(1) Chet Baker in conversation with Pär Rittsel, from: Pär Rittsel “Lars Gullin A Discography”, Almere 2006, page 62 (2) “Lars Gullin A Discography”, Almere 2006, page 3 (3) see 2. (4) see 1. (5) Pierre Favre in conversation with the author, January 31, 2016 (6) Georg Riedel in conversation with the author, February 1, 2016 (7) Alex Riel in conversation with the author, February 1, 2016
Compiled and produced for Sonorama Records by Ekkehart Fleischhammer,
sound restoration, editing and mastering in 2016: Roskow Kretschmann at Audiomoto Berlin,
sleeve notes by Arne Reimer, photo of Lars Gullin on frontcover from around early 1960s by Alain Chevrier,
location unknown, used by friendly permission of Jazzinstitut Darmstadt, photo of Lars Gullin and Hanne Moore
in the kitchen of Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen from 1962 by Ebbe Wrae, used by friendly permission of
University Library of Southern Denmark, cover artwork: Patrick Haase, with special thanks to Klaus Scholz,
Doris Schröder, Frank Büchmann-Møller, Roskow Kretschmann, Arne Reimer and Mark Kanak.