Spjärnsvallet -

Spjärnsvallet was a Swedish jazz-rock/folk band that released a 1975 self-titled album on MNW.

Members: Bengt Berger (drums, percussion, rattle), Christer Bothén (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, B♭ clarinet, piano, gunbri, balani), Kjell Westling (saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, cello, piano), Nikke Ström (bass, rattle)

Formation

Spjärnsvallet formed in 1974 in Gothenburg, where percussionist Bengt Berger and multi-instrumentalist Christer Bothén assembled musicians whose work already extended beyond Swedish jazz and rock circles.

Bothén (b. September 13, 1941; Gothenburg) played clarinet since childhood. As a teenager, he led a jazz trio influenced by Jimmy Giuffre. Between 1962 and 1967, he studied at the Valand School of Fine Art. Berger (b. August 31, 1942; Stockholm) studied North and South Indian during the 1960s and later deepened his work in West African percussion traditions in Ghana.

Their shared interest in non-Western rhythmic systems and open-form ensemble playing gave the group its core direction. Berger and Bothén added multi-instrumentalist Kjell Westling and bassist Nikke Ström to complete the quartet.

Westling (b. December 19, 1942; Stockholm) mastered multiple reeds, strings, and moved through Sweden’s wider improvisational music circles. Ström (b. June 8, 1951; Karlskoga) played in local bands, studied philosophy at Stockholm University, and partook in anti-war protests. In 1971, he joined the radical Gothenburg group Nynningen.

From 1973 onward, Berger and Bothén also worked closely with Don Cherry in Europe and New York. Those collaborations, which included sessions around Innocence and performances with musicians from Cherry’s orbit, sharpened the quartet’s sense of collective improvisation and cross-cultural instrumentation.

Spjärnsvallet took shape directly out of that period. Their name is a portmanteau of “Spjärn” (pushing against something, bracing, or resisting) and “Svallet” (a swell, surge, or wave; a strong, flowing movement). Interpretations of their name include “The Surge of Resistance,” “The Swell of Opposition,” and “The Brace/Push of the Wave.”

Spjärnsvallet (the album)

Spjärnsvallet released their self-titled album in 1975 on MNW.

The album features multi-reeds by Christer Bothén (tenor sax, b-flat clarinet) and Kjell Westling (flute, alto/soprano sax), who each take turns on piano and bass clarinet. Westling adds cello while Bothén sprinkles in balani (a Guinean a gourd-resonated xylophone) and gunbri (a Moroccan three-stringed lute); underpinned throughout by bassist Nikke Ström and drummer–percussionist Bengt Berger.

Spjärnsvallet moves between tightly worked horn-driven surges and quieter passages built from folk-colored lines, but the pieces rarely stay fixed in one state for long. “Desireless Bougoni från Vals Orsa” gives the album its widest span, opening room for freer horn bursts, steadier rhythmic lock, and a denser middle passage where the band settles into a more trance-like pulse before breaking outward again.

Shorter tracks turn more quickly: “Hara” and “Melodier från Sydindien” pass through calmer flute- and reed-led sections with a lighter, more reflective surface, while “Pojkarna” pushes a more animated pace and “Elvan” tightens into a more structured, forward-moving piece. Later on, “Ballad” drifts in a looser, more amorphous shape, “Mali” rises as another central peak with stronger ensemble pressure, “Gunbri” strips the texture back to a leaner, more austere frame, and “Örn 2” closes on a brisker jazz charge. Across the album, piano, bass, drums, reeds, flute, clarinet, and occasional violin keep the texture in motion, with mood and density shifting freely inside each piece.

Bothén composed five cuts and co-arranged “Desireless – Bougouni-Vals från Orsa” with Don Cherry. “Örn 2” appropriates themes by its namesake, Ornette Coleman.

A1. “Pryllåten – Ballasång” [The Gadget Tune – Ballad Song] (2:52)
A2. “Desireless – Bougouni-Vals från Orsa” [Desireless – Bougouni Waltz from Orsa] (11:10)
A3. “Haga” (3:20) – Haga is a district in Gothenburg.
A4. “Pojkarna” [The Boys] (2:52)

B1. “Melodier från Sydindien” [Melodies from South India] (7:14) – trad
B2. “Elvan” [The Eleven / Number Eleven] (2:35)
B3. “Ballad” (2:47) – Westling
B4. “Mali” (4:13)
B5. “Gunbri” (3:18) – trad
B6. “Orn 2” (1:59)

Spjärnsvallet cut five tracks on August 26, 1975, at the Swedish Radio, Radiohuset Studio with producer Lars Westin, a prior soundman for Rena Rama, Bernt Rosengren, and Björn Alkes Kvartett. Two tracks (“Haga,” “Ballad”) stem from an autumn session at MNW’s Studio in Vaxholm. “Mali” and the bookends of Side B date from a live performance at the Jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm.

Postlude

In 1976, Berger and Ström played on Sånger, a solo album by Berger’s former Arbete Och Fritid bandmate, Thomas Mera Gartz.

Spjärnsvallet regrouped in 1981 with former Archimedes Badkar bassist Sigge Krantz in lieu of Ström and recorded Till Soluppgång Och Till Lycka Sånger Med Texter Av Elmer Diktonius Och Nils Ferlin, a collaborative effort with English multi-instrumentalist Fred Lane.

In 2014, the original group reunited for Again & Again, released on Berger’s Country & Eastern label.

Discography: