From the 1978 Jazzfest
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Rena Rama Quartet
(Sweden)
co-cponsored by The Swedish Institute
RENA RAMA started in Stockholm as a quartet
in 1973 with some of the foremost young Swedish jazzmusicians.The original members were Lennart Åberg saxes,
flutes, Bobo Stenson piano, Palle Danielsson bass, and Bengt Berger drums.They were inspired by the leading modern
jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter, etc., but also
had a great interest in African and Indian music. The group soon became one of Europe´s foremost bands and
toured extensively. Because of the great respect for Indian music it was natural to visit India in 1978 and 1980
at the Jazz-Yatra in Mumbai and the JazzFest in Kolkata. In 1978 with the late drummer Leroy Lowe and in 1980 with
Okay Temiz on percussion.
Okay Temiz started Oriental Wind in 1976 with Lennart
Åberg, Bobo Stenson and Palle Danielsson. And the cooperation between Lennart and Okay is still alive.
The collaborations between the members in RenaRama & Oriental Wind and Indian musicians has continued with
Hariprasad Chaurasia , Shivkumar Sharma, Zakir Hussain and Karnataka College of percussion. When Ravi Shankar got
the Swedish Polar Prize together with Ray Charles in 1998, Lennart Åberg, Bobo Stenson and Palle Danielsson
performed at the ceremony together with Zakir Hussain.
On the first Rena Rama record from 1973 a highlight was the Bengali folktune Batiali. The group has cooperated
with musicians as Don Cherry, Kenny Wheeler, Billy Hart, etc. In the 90-ties the group stopped performing regularily
but the members have continued to work together in different combinations like the duo of Bobo Stenson and Lennart
Åberg etc., and in 2003 Rena Rama’s two first LP:s were released on CD.
Lennart Åberg
( Saxophone & flute )
- Lennart has played with the best Swedish musicians and with Red Mitchell, Don Cherry, Clark Terry, Palle Mikkelborg,
George Russell, John Scofield etc. He was also the leader of the Swedish Radio Jazz Group till 1999 and of his
own quartet and big band with Peter Erskine . Their CD won a Grammy in 2001.
Bobo Stenson ( Piano
) - Bobo has been
one of Europes leading pianists for over 3 decades . An ECM-recording artist with his own trio and solo and together
with Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea etc. in the ECM-series ” Rarum ”. Tours frequently in Europe and US and has played
with Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Charles Lloyd etc.
Palle Danielsson ( Doublebass ) - Palle is one of the jazz-world’s great bass players. A child prodigy, he played
very early with Bill Evans. A highpoint was his years with the Keith Jarrett quartet .He has also featured on many
ECM-records with Keith Jarrett, Charles Lloyd, Thomas Stanko, Peter Erskine, and recently with Dino Saluzzi. Electrified
the audience in 1978 with a solo during a powercut at the first Jazzfest in Kolkata. Toured extensively with Michel
Petrucianni in the 80's.
Anders Kjellberg (
Drums ) - Anders
was the drummer for Rena Rama in the 80’s into the 90’s . One of the best modern drummers in Scandinavia, he tours
frequently in Denmark and Norway, but has also done several tours in Japan and the US.
Okay Temiz ( Percussion
) - Okay is one of
the first great world-music artists who has played with the best European, African and South African musicians
from the early 70’s . He is a megastar in his own country, Turkey. |
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