Sven Berggren

I was born last century in Ystad in the south of Sweden but never actually lived there. I started up playing the guitar after I heard a record by the Fab Four from Liverpool. At the age of 14 I picked up the trombone which is my main instrument. I have considered myself as much as a tromboneplayer being a composer. As a composer I have always being interested in electronic sounds and my own musical path have been oriented towards that. That’s usually what I’m up to in groups like ALEA (check out myspace.com/aleasvenberggren or click here to download: .. ). But off and on I also play “straight jazz” with groups like Horncraft or BBB sextet. In the nineties I was part of the Bernt Rosengren octet. Bernt is really one of the greatest Swedish jazzmusicians ever and it was a fantastic experience to make three albums with that group which resulted in a Swedish jazz-grammy. Being a jazztromboneplayer I also find my self playing a lot of big band and in recent years my main big band-base has been The Norrbotten Big Band, it’s really I great band with lot of talented people. The bandleader , Tim Hagans , is not only I great composer and arranger but one of the globes leading voices on his instrument. Some years ago I also had the privilege to play with the Swedish radiojazzgroup and that gave me possibilities to play with great musicians like Carla Bley, Steve Swallow and Kenny Wheeler.