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Dan Berglund
Dan Berglund was born in May 1963 and grew up in a small village in Sweden called Pilgrimstad near Ostersund. His father played accordion in an amateur band and his elder brother played guitar. They introduced him at an early age to very different styles of music including Swedish folk music, pop and rock.
Dan started to play the guitar when he was ten and soon after formed a band with his local friends. The band was made up of three guitarists and one drummer, so they were missing the bassist. Dan took over the bass part, first of all playing the bass lines on his guitar, then later his father bought him an electric bass and Dan was immediately fascinated by playing it. Together with his father's band he had his first public performances at different kind of events: weddings, birthday parties and funerals.
During his High School years Dan continued to play in his own rock group with his friends. They named themselves "Dizzy" and, besides playing cover versions of Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple songs, also composed their own music. They played together a lot.
One day his High School music teacher, Ceasar, brought a double-bass to Dan's home and although a double-bass was not a cheap instrument his father bought it for Dan. Roughly a year later Dan started his professional music education at Birka Folkhogskola in Ostersund. It was a difficult time for him, as he would have much preferred to play his electric bass in a rock-band rather than the double-bass in a conservatory.
His music teacher, Ceasar, then also suggested him as bassist to the local state-run orchestra, whose leader was very skeptical about engaging Dan. This rejection fueled Dan's ambition and he went into a phase of never-ending practice sessions and rehearsals until he got the post. Whilst playing with the orchestra he had many concerts and TV-engagements.
In 1990 Dan got tired of playing with the orchestra and wanted to improve his musical skills, so he moved to Stockholm and registered with the Royal Music University. He immediately got to know all of the capital's great musicians and due to his abilities was soon engaged and played in many different bands like the Fredrik Noren Band, Lina Nyberg, Louise Hoffsten, and Per Texas Johansson. It was during one of the tours with Lina Nyberg that Dan met Esbjö Svensson for the first time.
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Rymden + KORK: Rymden + KORK
![Read "Rymden + KORK" reviewed by Gareth Thompson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/46229bbcfce0a2636ebde51538bd40f5.jpg)
by Gareth Thompson
The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (aka KORK) performs each year at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. By contrast, it has also twice provided backing to the Eurovision Song Contest in Norway. Intriguing then to find them linking up with Bugge Wesseltoft, leader of Rymden and a pianist-composer whose work is both learned and accessible. Both parties create music that hammers at the spine, whilst also tingling it. The name of Wesseltoft's trio means outer space" or universe," whereas KORK is an ...
read moreRymden: Space Sailors
![Read "Space Sailors" reviewed by Gareth Thompson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/6101c40c3429e7172b3182ddac8fbc45.jpg)
by Gareth Thompson
Outer space and cosmic jazz have long been a match made beyond heaven. The latest act throwing their hat into Saturn's rings is the excellent Norwegian band Rymden, featuring keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft. The trio has clearly boned up on Sun Ra and Lonnie Liston Smith, but rockier influences are present too from the likes of Hawkwind, The Doors, Soft Machine, even Throbbing Gristle, with Marc Moulin's acid jazztronics in there as well. Closer to home, you can hear ...
read moreMattias Risberg's Mining: Zauberberg
![Read "Zauberberg" reviewed by Karl Ackermann](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/b79007ebf7888974a1747035c6ac6b31.jpg)
by Karl Ackermann
The Swedish pianist Mattias Risberg has teamed up with a range of well-known northern European born or based improvisers, including saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist and vocalist Jennie Abrahamson. He remains largely unknown in the U.S. but garnered well-deserved attention for And Now the Queen--A Tribute to Carla Bley (Lilalo records, 2016), a duo recording with Ljungkvist. Risberg lives between two musical worlds as a post-modern composer with an affinity for (relatively) old-world instruments. His inspirations are no less diverse: he cites ...
read moreRymden: Reflections And Odysseys
![Read "Reflections And Odysseys" reviewed by Tyran Grillo](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/2dbddc2e18098a70ec71514b17a150d9.jpg)
by Tyran Grillo
Reflections & Odysseys gifts to the listening world the debut of pianist Bugge Wesseltoft's new triocalled Rymdenwith bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström. The rhythm section, best known as part of e.s.t. (led by the late Esbjörn Svensson), serves Wesseltoft with fresh purpose, at once grateful for what came before and eager to chart maps ahead. It's a dual aesthetic embodied not only in the album's title, but also in its approach to crafting sound as a realm in ...
read moreRymden: Reflections And Odysseys
![Read "Reflections And Odysseys" reviewed by Roger Farbey](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/2dbddc2e18098a70ec71514b17a150d9.jpg)
by Roger Farbey
Is it mere coincidence, or fate, that Bugge Wesseltoft and the late Esbjo Svensson were both born in the same quarter of 1964? More to the point, Wesseltoft, having effectively merged his New Conception of Jazz with the two surviving members of Svensson's e.s.t., has now hatched a veritable Scandinavian supergroup. The formation of Rymden is a welcome move since it provides an excellent vehicle for Wesseltoft and the virtuoso rhythm section of bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström. ...
read moreTonbruket: Dig It To The End
![Read "Dig It To The End" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/2010/tonbruket_digittotheend_bl.jpg)
by Bruce Lindsay
For its eponymous debut (ACT, 2010) , this band was called Dan Berglund's Tonbruket. It was a new outfit, the first new venture by a member of e.s.t. after pianist Esbjörn Svensson's death in 2008, pretty much an unknown quantity. For Dig It To The End, bassist Berglund remains as an emphatic presence, but the band is simply Tonbruket. It's a clear indication that this is a democratic outfit, a band of equals, a group that can trade on its ...
read moreDan Berglund: Back from the Dark
![Read "Dan Berglund: Back from the Dark" reviewed by AAJ Staff](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/ce40afa91d19eb49ca8adc6cdc687.jpg)
by AAJ Staff
Bassist Dan Berglund became known as one-third of Swedish jazz superstar group e.s.t. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio), with CDs including From Gagarin's Point of View (ACT, 1999), Good Morning Susie Soho (ACT, 2000), Strange Place for Snow (ACT, 2002) and e.s.t.. Live in Hamburg (ACT, 2007)--one of The Times UK's top albums of the last decade--culminating in Leucocyte (ACT, 2008). The trio's steady rise in the jazz sphere was abruptly truncated by pianist Svensson's tragic death in a scuba diving accident, ...
read moreEx-e.s.t. Bassist Dan Berglund Interviewed at AAJ...And More!
![Ex-e.s.t. Bassist Dan Berglund Interviewed at AAJ...And More!](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/ce40afa91d19eb49ca8adc6cdc687.jpg)
Source:
All About Jazz
Bassist Dan Berglund became known as one-third of Swedish jazz superstar group e.s.t. (Esbjrn Svensson Trio), with CDs including From Gagarin's Point of View (ACT, 1999), Good Morning Susie Soho (ACT, 2000), Strange Place for Snow (ACT, 2002) and e.s.t.. Live in Hamburg (ACT, 2007)--one of The Times UK's top albums of the last decade--culminating in Leucocyte (ACT, 2008). The trio's steady rise in the jazz sphere was abruptly truncated by pianist Svensson's tragic death in a scuba diving accident, ...
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