With its sophisticated, jazzy sound, A Night Like This meant a big breakthrough for Rebecka Törnqvist upon its release in 1993. The 29-year-old debutante sounded extraordinarily confident and secure, and the backing consisted of a big part of the Swedish jazz elite, including names like Per "Texas" Johansson, Anders Widmark, Esbjörn Svensson, and Pål Svenre. The latter also produced the album together with Törnqvist. Many of these musicians, like Johansson, would in a few years become known outside jazz circles, but it was Törnqvist and this album in particular that were crucial in starting the '90s wave of female jazz vocalists in Sweden, including names like Viktoria Tolstoy, and were important in vitalizing the interest for the whole genre. Despite what it meant for the general popularity of jazz in Sweden, in itself this album is hard to place as either jazz or pop, and it crosses the borders in each and every song. Overall, the instrumentation and sound are jazzy, while the approach is rather more pop. This is the jazziest of Törnqvist's solo albums. When Swedish jazz-pop had proved itself marketable, much of the scene in the late '90s became quite watered down, but Törnqvist stood out as a skilled songwriter and A Night Like This is, perhaps, the album where her talent for songwriting is most obvious.
© Lars Lovén /TiVo