Cover Photo by Gunnar Smoliansky.

September 1974

Lars Gullin: Bluesport

I'll never forget that moment when I walked into the control room and saw Lars pick up the baritone in the studio – and blow it, without teeth. Out came a fat, mellow, deep sound, much fuller than ever before but still with that special fragile edge.

A full sound, wide like a mountain side, Keith Knox wrote in the liner notes. Lars had tried an alto saxophone at a festival gig in the summer, and to everbody's surprise, including his own, managed to play it.

A year after his last studio session, as usual supervised and produced by Gunnar Lindqvist, Lars was back with new tunes for a familiar setting with trumpet, trombone and three saxes. But the scores had a new flavour with exotic percussion and a strong, extrovert feeling.