Founded in Sweden in 1994 by Jan Johansson's sons Anders and Jens, Heptagon Records has reissued much of the late Swedish pianist's 1950s and 1960s output on CD.
Spelar Musik pa Sitt Eget Vis is a generous 77-minute CD that focuses largely on orchestral jazz that he recorded from 1964-1966. Many of these recordings are classically influenced and inspire comparisons to the third stream experiments of
Gunther Schuller as well as the orchestral music that
Gil Evans recorded with
Miles Davis in the late 1950s, but such comparisons shouldn't obscure the fact that
Johansson was quite original himself. One of the things that made him unusual was his ability to place Scandinavian folk songs in a jazz setting, and this collection finds him turning his attention to traditional Scandinavian melodies like "Kung Erik Leker pa Luta" and "Varfor Skola Manskor Strida," as well as American standards such as "Lover Man" and "As Time Goes By." Several of the selections aren't orchestral, but are small-group and solo performances that feature
Johansson on the organ instead of his usual piano. Although this enriching music hasn't been reissued by an American label, Spelar Musik Na Sitt Eget Vis made it to American stores as an import and is well worth searching for.