Rolf Ericson and His All American Stars

In the spring of 1956, Swedish trumpeter Rolf Ericson, who, except for Swedish sojourn 1950-1952, had been working in the United States since 1947, returned to tour his homeland with a small group of prominent jazzmen, to play the Scandinavian national parks circuit through the end of August. The members of the unit were Cecil Payne, Duke Jordan, John Simmons, Art Taylor, and singer Ernestine Anderson.

The tour itself had a rather hectic outcome, and after two of the jazzmen got in drugs trouble, all the American were sent home by June 28. Replacements flown from the States were pianist Freddie Redd, bassist Tommy Potter and drummer Joe Harris. Ernestine remained and Swedish baritone Lars Gullin also joined the Ericson combo. Both of these groups had a profound impact on the development of Swedish jazz.

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Album details

Press reviews

"In 1956, Swedish trumpeter Rolf Ericson headed an American group for a tour of his native land. Unfortunately, the group (also consisting of baritonist Cecil Payne, pianist Duke Jordan, bassist John Simmons and drummer Art Taylor) included several drug addicts, and after two of the musicians got in trouble, all four Americans were sent home. Their only recording session (which resulted in four songs, including a vocal for the young Ernestine Anderson) are in this CD. To fill out the remainder of the tour, Ericson was able to quickly get baritonist Lars Gullin, pianist Freddie Redd, bassist Tommy Potter and drummer Joe Harris along with Anderson. The only existing live broadcast of the band takes up the majority of this release. Anderson is featured on five straight songs in a mini-set, and among the instrumentals "Night in Tunisia" is the hotter cut; there are also brief features for bassist Potter and baritonist Gullin. The recording quality is decent, if not up to the level of the studio date, and overall, this is a worthwhile if not quite essential set."

Scott Yanow -All Music Guide