Opposite Corner -

Opposite Corner was a Swedish avant-garde jazz ensemble on the 1972 split-release Club Jazz 5 with the Palle Danielsson 6, followed by the 1976–82 Caprice titles Jazz i Sverige ’76 and Low-High and the 1984 Dragon album Back From Where We Came. They also constitute a half-side of the 1977 live document Det NyJAZZte från Göteborg.

Members: Stig Ekelöf (trombone), Gunnar Lindgren (tenor saxophone), Bobo Stenson (piano), Lars-Urban Helje (bass), Conny Sjökvist (drums), Gunnar Forss (trumpet), Jon Christensen (drums), Åke Johansson (piano), Mats Hellberg (drums), Kjell Jansson (bass), Annika Skoglund (vocals), Anders Kjellberg (drums), Leroy Lowe (drums)

Background

Opposite Corner began as In the Opposite Corner, a Gothenburg quintet formed in 1968 by saxophonist Gunnar Lindgren. The early lineup included bassist Lars-Urban Helje, drummer Conny Sjökvist, trombonist Stig Ekelöf, and pianist Bobo Stenson.

Lindgren grew up in Jämtland, where his father served as a church cantor. He earned an engineering degree at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. The saxophonist performed his twelve-minute suite “Messiaens fåglar” [The Birds of Messiaen] in 1966 on Swedish radio and dedicated the piece to French composer Olivier Messiaen.

Stenson grew up in Västerås and studied piano with composer Werner Wolf Glaser. He played in the early 1960s in a quartet that trumpeter Gunnar Fors led with bassist Ivar Lindell and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson. The pianist met saxophonist Börje Fredriksson in 1963 at Jazzriksdagen in Kolbäck and joined his band. Fors and Stenson also recorded together in 1965 in a Västerås quintet with tenor saxophonist Bengt Lindquist.

Sjökvist first played accordion at nine and switched to drums as a teenager. He played rock with friends in the Masthugget district of Gothenburg and joined jazz musicians at local basement-club jams. The drummer spent two years in the 1960s in New York, where he befriended drummer Tony Williams and pianist Herbie Hancock. He returned to Gothenburg and accompanied visiting saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Joe Henderson at Jazz Artdur, a club co-operated by Lindgren and Helje.

Opposite Corner performed with Fors on September 27, 1969, at the Power House jazz club in Örebro. They used the shorter name Opposite Corner in 1971 on Club Jazz 5, an SR Records album shared with a sextet led by bassist Palle Danielsson. The quintet included Arabic and Tibetan melodies in the radio program.

Drummer Mats Hellberg joined Opposite Corner while Stenson cleared out for pianist Åke Johansson, studied music at a Stockholm school for blind children and returned in 1956 to his native Borås as a piano tuner. He accompanied Dexter Gordon from 1964 in Gothenburg and made the 1974 trio album Monday Date. Opposite Corner won the 1976 Jazz i Sverige vote, which secured a Caprice album project with producer Jan Bruér at Jazz Artdur.

Discography:

Club Jazz 5 (1971 • Palle Danielsson 6 / Opposite Corner)
Jazz i Sverige ’76 (1976)
Low-High (1982)
Back From Where We Came (1984)

References and notes

Gunnar Lindgren: Färgstark musikant och jazzpedagog — Early group name, the 1971 radio appearance, Stenson’s replacement by Johansson, and the 1976 quintet. (DIG Jazz)
Jazzimprovisatör med miljöengagemang — Interview with Lindgren; Jämtland upbringing, church-cantor father, engineering studies, and Jazz Artdur activity; page 10. (Göteborgs universitet)
Swedish Jazz 1965–1969 — Lindgren’s 1966 radio suite and the transition from In the Opposite Corner to Opposite Corner. (Caprice Music)
Svensk jazzhistoria vol. 10: Watch Out! — Personnel credits for the early quintet with Ekelöf, Stenson, Helje, and Sjökvist. (Groovespin)
Bobo Stenson: Så här började det / Minns också sitt 60-tal! — Piano studies with Werner Wolf Glaser, the Gunnar Fors quartet, and the 1963 connection with Börje Fredriksson. (DIG Jazz)
Gone with the Wind — Musician-issued credits for the Gunnar Fors quintet recorded in Västerås in 1965. (SÅJ-Records)
Jazzprofilen Conny Sjökvist har avlidit — Early instruments, Masthugget rock groups, basement-club jams, New York residence, and Jazz Artdur appearances. (Göteborgs-Posten)
Power House: Band som spelade 1969 — Concert chronology compiled from contemporary newspaper notices; September 27 Opposite Corner appearance and personnel. (Power House archive)
Opposite Corner / Palle Danielsson -6-: Club Jazz 5 — Identification of the 1971 shared SR album and the separate Palle Danielsson sextet. (The Swedish Progg Blog)
Åke Johansson — piano — Music education, return to Borås, Dexter Gordon accompaniment, and the 1974 trio debut. (Laila och Charles Gavatins Stiftelse)
Opposite Corner — Label account of the 1971 radio repertoire, Jazz Artdur management, the 1976 award, and producer Jan Bruér. (Caprice Music)