Bengt Berger Old School: All Time High

1942 -? Bengt Berger

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Bengt Berger Old School: All Time High (Amigo AMCD 885) 1999

“”Country & eastern” is the amusing phrase that Bengt Berger used to describe All Time High. The country part is debatable–nothing on this CD sounds anything like Merle Haggard, Tom T. Hall or Patty Loveless–but the eastern part is certainly accurate. On this unorthodox, delightfully quirky effort, Berger fearlessly combines jazz with everything from Arabic, Jewish and East European music to Swedish folk, blues and zydeco. It might be hard to imagine that many different forms of music co-existing under the same roof, but in fact, Berger and his band the Bengt Berger Old School (which includes, among others, saxmen Jonas Knutsson and Thomas Gustafsson, bassist Mikael Fahleryd and vocalists Catherine Hansson, Mats Öberg and Pelle Lindström) see to it that all of their quirky experimentation is successful. Berger takes a lot of chances on this unpredictable CD, and they pay off handsomely.” – Alex Henderson, AMG

A review in Swedish by Anders Hvitfeldt in Aftonbladet

More about the album here

Mats Öberg, keys, harmonica, vocal
Jonas Knutsson, saxophones
Bosse Skoglund, drums
Bengt Berger, drums
Thomas Gustafsson, saxophones
Catherine Hansson, vocal
Mikael Fahleryd, bass
Pelle Lindström, vocal, harmonica