The Lars Gullin Society
is dedicated to Gullin's music. We help to keep it alive by arranging concerts, help publishing sheet music, supporting research, publishing a newsletter and supporting reissues and new recordings. This site is a part of our activities. It is written, designed and maintained by Pär Rittsel. All views and opinions expressed here are his own.

The Lars Gullin Prize
is awarded annually to musicians who carry on Gullin's musical spirit. This year tenorist Bernt Rosengren was honored.

Available CDs
Many, too many, CDs with Lars Gullin are out of print. Here is a complete list of what you can find in shops or on the web.

Sitemap
Tributes to Lars
Links: 

Scott Yanow on Lars Gullin:
"One of the top baritone saxophonists of all times and a giant of European jazz, Lars Gullin would be better known if he had visited the US often and if excessive drug use had not cut short his career...
  All bop and cool jazz collectors should be aware of Lars Gullin and own several of his sets."
All Music Guide to Jazz; Miller Freeman Books 1998

Brian Priestly on Lars Gullin:
"The first musician after Django Reinhardt to have an impact in the USA without relocating there, Gullin has never been duplicated or surpassed. His facility and relaxation, especially in the 1950s, were able to make the baritone feel like a delicately handled tenor. But his tone (thanks to the Tristano influence detectable in many Swedish and German musicians of this period) was so light and pure that it recalled not so much a tenor as altoist Lee Konitz ...
  Local commentators detect the inspiration not only of folk-music but the 19th-century Swedish composers in Gullin´s distinctive writing."
Jazz, the Essential Companion; Paladin, London 1987

Jack Kerouac on Lars Gullin:
"... a whole case of longplayed bop albums ... and first Wig plays Stan Getz and the Swedish group with Bengt Hallberg on piano, the marvelous Lars Gullin on baritone, great rhythm section – first music I'd heard in months ..."
from Selected Letters 1940–1956, Penguin Books.

Commemorative stamp by Ceslav Slania, photo Christer Landegren

Chet Baker on Lars 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."
Private interview by Pär Rittsel.Read the whole interview

Leonard Feather on Lars Gullin:
"If he ever decides to emigrate to this country, I might add, he is going to scare a lot of people, make a lot of records and gain a lot of admirers."
Liner notes: Lars Gullin Baritone Sax; Atlantic 1246, now reissued on CD