ROLF BILLBERG - LEGEND

What´s being said and done:

Sven Klangs Kvintet Attack of the Jazz!
The year is 1958 in a Swedish provincial town. Sven Klangs Kvintet plays Jazz in various village halls. A new saxplayer enters the band. He turns out a rebel with a cause: improvisations and Jazzfeel! A thrill for all band members except the band leader; Sven Klang, who insists on sticking to traditional values. Rolf Billberg is indeed the rolemodel for the rebellious saxplayer Lasse in this hillarious cult-movie. An essential movie for all Jazzfreaks!
LENGTH: 110 min./ COUNTRY: Sweden/ 1976 PRODUCTION: Per Berglund for the Swedish Filminstitute, Stockholm Film, Europe Film, Musikteatergruppen Oktober, SR-TV2 and FHR INSTRUCTION: Stellan Olsson STARRING: Henric Holmberg, Eva Remaeus, Anders Granström, Jan Lindell, Christer Boustedt You can purchase the film through: DANISH FILM INSTITUTE

"Billberg's intellectual posture towards the art of sound compelled him to regard music as something utterly beautiful, to a large extent a function of physical law and thereby a kind of universal gestalt. One consequence of this was that Billberg held music to be something separate from the concerns of daily life. In his attitude to music Billberg never found it necessary to compromise; his manner of speaking about music and his way of playing were the natural expressions of his nature - unmistakable accuracy, precision and intelligence."

-Hans Carling (Orkester Journalen Sept.1966)

It's interesting to note how four extremely important personalities put their mark on Billberg's music. From Charlie Parker he learned the whole foundation of modern jazz and self-confidence; Stan Getz showed him the importance of knowing the horn inside out; Lee Konitz gave him the airy, almost vibratoless sound and a further insight into the superimposition of chords, and Lars Gullin contributed with his deep love and feeling for Swedish folk-lore.

I was working on an article about Rolf, and selected ten musicians who had been exposed to his music for quite some time. I simply asked their opinions. Nine of them said that he was playing more Konitz than Konitz himself, and that was all there was to it.

The tenth one was Lee himself, who happened to be around. I quoted the statements and he looked flabbergasted;

?- But NO! Rolf doesn't play like me at all! Well, perhaps at times he sounds like a distant cousin, or something. But he definitely has his own thing going... and i don't even know what it is!”

-Carl-Erik Lindgren