Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival July 29 – August 2, 2025

With its roughly 300 half-timbered houses, Ystad is a charming town in southern Sweden. Perhaps better known for Henning Mankel’s crime novels than for its jazz festival, the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival (YSJF) has now reached its sixteenth edition, under the artistic direction of brilliant pianist Jan Lundgren.

As a member of the ACT Music “family”, it is no coincidence that, as with the Jazz Baltica festival, a certain number of the famous German label’s projects are featured in the 35 concerts offered over the four days of the festival.

Held this year from July 30 to August 2, the YSJF kicked off with Pasodoble & Beyond, a duo featuring double bassist Lars Danielsson and pianist Leszek Mozdze. Their recording collaboration on ACT Music dates back to 2007, and they offered a fresh interpretation of their Pasodoble albums in the hall of the Ystad Saltsjöbad, a luxury spa hotel by the sea.

Beyond Ystad’s medieval center – worthy of UNESCO heritage status –  another jewel of the pearl of the Swedish Riviera is its long, white-sand beach. But back to our two jazzcats, Lars and Leszek. The strings of the two instruments intertwine, listening to each other as much as conversing in a finely tuned dialogue. With his trademark humour, the Polish pianist thanked the audience for attempting to understand their “abstract and mathematical” language.

After Pasodoble, they played Incognito, the very first piece they had ever performed together. For the encore – as tradition demands – the pianist- humourist quipped that it’s a bit like your employer asking you to stay late at the office while congratulating you on a job well done. A fitting analogy indeed.

Spread over no less than ten stages, mainly in Ystad but not only, the main concerts always take place in the Ystad Teater, a theater perfectly preserved since its 1894 opening. It was here on the festival’s first day, that the two musicians who played with Miles Davis – in very different eras – took the stage.

First came bassist Dave Holland with his group Kismet, co-founded with saxophonist Chris Potter. Although Kismet is normally a quartet, Holland had to tour as a trio due to  Kevin Eubanks‘s health issues. With drummer Marcus Gilmore holding the rythm behind bass and sax, the absence of the guitar was soon forgotten.

Speaking of a guitarist who cut his teeth with Miles, Mike Stern closed the evening in style. Letting his wife take the lead for the opening, she graced us with one of her originals, on which she used the small African stringed instrument known as the ngoni.

The rest of the set was classic Stern: his instantly recognisable lines (that explains why he is one of my Top 5 guitar heroes) backed by his usual crew save for one change –  the Hungarian saxophonist Gabor Bolla was standing in for Bob Franceschini for the first time that day, and believe me, we didn’t lose a thing.

Just as many jazz aficionados like to come back to Ystad again and again, so do certain musicians. This was once again the case for saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen, who is always looking for a good excuse to come.

For her fifth appearance, the musician who left her native Germany for Switzerland came with her Robin project, a quintet formed with four Swiss musicians in a resolutely Afro- Cuban vein. Sharing writing duties with the group’s two other musicians, Manon Mullener on piano and Sonja Bossart on bass, Nicole took us on a journey between Berne and Havana, thanks to the two percussionists, David Stauffacher and Roberto Hacataryan.

Between this early afternoon concert and the evening finale at the Ystad Teater, the festival invited us to a secluded garden in the heart of the old town. In fact, since last year, a private garden has been the setting for a more intimate concert.

On this late afternoon, the cloudless blue sky was disturbed only by the passing of a few stray seagulls, who may or may not have been enjoying the jazz standards interpreted with brio by the trio featuring Swedish bassist Hans Backenroth and his two Danish accomplices, Thomas Fryland on trumpet and Jacob Fischer on guitar. With Toots forever a superstar in Scandinavia, they closed with Bluesette, which over time has become almost a Swedish national anthem.

To celebrate twenty years of existence, the Mare Nostrum trio had to release a new album, and as soon as it came out, it was easy to guess that Ystad would be included in their tour.

As always for the past twenty years, they opened with  Mare Nostrum, a theme written by Jan Lundgren for their first album.

With the three partners skilfully sharing the writing, a new theme by Paolo Fresu was to follow, before an anthology of tunes dedicated to their loved ones.

While Richard Galliano’s wife, Gisèle, gets the aptly named Chanson pour Gisèle, Paolo Fresu refers to his son Andrea’s school on the Pavese theme.

As for Jan Lundgren, soon to be a happy father for the first time, his Lullaby for two was dedicated to his two canine companions, with a lullaby for his daughter Lili surely on the way so that she won’t disturb her father’s sleep too much.

Usually performing twice during the festival, Jan Lundgren was back on stage on the third day for a brand new project alongside drummer Wolfgang Haffner and bassist Anders Jormin. Citing Bill Evans as his main influence, he was bound to pay him a tribute at some point, between a cover of Suicide is Painless, the theme from the M.A.S.H. series, Debbie’s Waltz and many others.

Under the approving gaze of ACT Music founder Siggi Loch, seated in the packed Ystad Teater, the trio delivered exactly the level of artistry one would expect from musicians of this calibre.

Festival regulars know that the festival has a soft spot for vocalists, whether from Sweden or elsewhere. Appearing here for the very first time, Catherine Russell is undoubtedly a specialist in vintage jazz and R&B. Her premise is to interpret little-known gems recorded by the greats, from Billie Holiday to Ray Charles.

She also draws inspiration from themes from Broadway comedies, including Nat King Cole’s version of You Stepped out of a Dream.

During her concert, she also paid tribute to her father, Louis Russell, who for many years was musical director of the Louis Armstrong’s big band.

The presence of big bands is another highlight of the festival, which this year paid a vibrant tribute to Quincy Jones, the festival’s guest of honour in 2012. To Quincy with Love, a project bringing together three eminent members of the ACT Music family and the Bohuslän Big Band, was to close the festival on the lawn of Charlotten lunds, one of the many manor houses dotting the lush Skane region.

It was the same big band that  Quincy Jones had conducted thirteen years earlier for Midnight Sun Never Sets and Stockholm Sweetnin’.

For this well-crafted tribute, we were treated to a much broader repertoire. Between a magnificent instrumental arrangement of Thriller by Magnus Lindgren and covers of Superstition by Viktoria Tolstoy and Ida Sand, the presence of Nils Landgren on trombone and vocals was even more striking on this warm late Saturday afternoon.

A reminder, if needed, thay Quincy Jones had a considerable impact on twentieth-century music, from his collaborations with Stevie Wonder to Michael Jackson. He was also a formidable bandleader, as demonstrated by his sessions recorded for the Mercury label in 1959 and 1960.

The next morning, the Swedish Riviera awoke to the sound of waves crashing on the sand.

The sound of the previous day’s blue notes lingered only in my ears. Jazz gave way to the shrill sound of seagulls, at least until next year when the 17th edition of the YSJF will, as always, be unmissable.

Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival 29 juillet – 2 août 2025   

©All Photos Tim Dickeson.