The group Paul and His Gang is best known in the United States for its 1996 Stomp Off recording Take Your Tomorrow. The band was formed by cornetist-vocalist Paul Strandberg in his native Sweden in 1990 specifically to play at a Bix Beiderbecke memorial concert. The ensemble, with some personnel changes, lasted for a dozen years, recording three other albums in addition to the Stomp Off release.
First Session was cut in 1991 and its 20 selections, other than two songs released on a cassette and two others on a multi-artists sampler, were previously unreleased. The group consists of Strandberg, trombonist Dymitr Markiewicz, Lars-Erik Strom on clarinet and alto, pianist Jan Lundgren (who would become well known for playing in more modern settings), Frans Sjostrom on bass sax, and drummer Ragnar Tretow.
Imagine if Bix and his Gang, Beiderbecke’s recording group of 1927-28 (particularly the one from Oct. 5, 1927, that also included trombonist Bill Rank, clarinetist Don Murray, bass saxophonist Adrian Rollini, pianist Frank Signorelli, and drummer Chauncey Morehouse) decided to record the same tunes a second time the day after the original sessions. They may very well have sounded like the performances on Paul And His Gang’s debut.
Strandberg’s sound and style on cornet are very close to Beiderbecke’s while rarely directly quoting his solos. Bass saxophonist Sjostrom clearly had the Rollini style down pat and the other musicians play in similar fashions as their role models. They bring back the sound of the classic group with excellent musicianship and without copying the past.
The Aug. 8, 1991, studio session consists of nine songs with four being played twice. Highlights include “Jazz Me Blues,” “At The Jazz Band Ball,” “Somebody Stole My Gal,” “Goose Pimples,” and an extended version of a song that Bix never recorded: “I’ve Got A Feeling I’m Falling.” In addition, there are six selections taken from the group’s performances at the Breda Jazz Festival of May 29-30, 1992. Four (including “Margie”) are from Beiderbecke’s repertoire along with versions of “Snag It” and their original “Anita.”
It is very good to have this enjoyable music available at last and it is a real treat for Bix fans.
Paul and His Gang • First Sessions
Self-Released
www.digitalpaul.se
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
